Dear Faculty & Staff & Fello Students:My name is Samantha Sophomore and I'll be in your class this summer. I always take the time to write to all of my classmates and teachers or professors because I have Asperger's
. Many of you probably know about this syndrome, and it's not a disease! I have to tell people that all of the time. Silly.But it does make me behave in ways that sometime seems unorthadox. Here's a list of symptoms from webMD, and I'll note which ones I perform when in class.
- Not pick up on social cues and may lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking. THIS IS DEFINITELY ME. USUALLY IT'S BEST TO RAISE YOUR HAND WHEN I'M TALKING AND I'LL KNOW IT'S YOUR TURN.
- , his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent. MY MOM CALLS THIS MOTORMOUTH. I SPEAK IN A MONOTONE AND SOMETIMES IN A WAY THAT ONLY I CAN TELL WHAT I'M SAYING. AGAIN, JUST RAISE YOUR HAND AND I'LL LET YOU TALK NEXT
- Avoid eye contact or stare at others. I AM A STARE MONSTER. I'M NOT JUDGING YOUR HAIRSTYLE OR LACK OF HAIR, BUT I'M FIXED ON YOU AND REALLY PAYING ATTENTION.
- Have unusual facial expressions or postures. RARELY I LOOK LIKE MY MOUTH IS FROWNING AND MY EYES ARE LAUGHING.
- Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger's syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or studying astronomy. They may show an unusual interest in certain topics such as snakes, names of stars, or dinosaurs. I COPIES THIS WHOLE DESCRIPTION BECAUSE ITS SO FUNNY. I DON'T TALK ABOUT DINOSAURS, BUT I WILL TALK ABOUT MY OTHER CLASSES OFTEN BECAUSE I'M REALLY ENJOYING COLLEGE AND IT MEANS MORE TO ME THAN IT DOES TO MANY OF MY FRIENDS WHO ARE IN COLLEGE WITHOUT A.S.
I know this is an unusual email to receive, but i don't want anyone to be afraid of me. I have a 4.0 GPA from my first two semesters and I've had a great time so far. If any of you want to talk to instructors who've had me, Prof. Xxxxxxxx in History and Prof. Yyyyyyyyyy in English have agreed to be references for any staff or instructors who want to see about my background.
I can't wait until June 7th. Let's have a great summer.
Sammy!
What would I do? I'd probably send an e-mail back saying something like this: "Hi Samantha, welcome to class. Thank you for letting me know some of the things I can expect from you, and for telling me about some ways we can communicate better. Here are some things you can expect from this course [insert appropriate info, such as the discussion-heavy nature of the class]. Here are some strategies you can use in this course [insert learning/behaviour strategies for students with AS from your Disability Services office]. I am looking forward to meeting you."
ReplyDeleteI know it is up to the individual whether or not to disclose, but I sure wish some of my Samanthas had sent me an e-mail like this one. Then I would have known what to expect and could have prepared some classroom management strategies ahead of time. Instead I have spent the first part of the semester trying to figure out why the student acted oddly, and the rest of the semester trying to figure out how best to make class go smoothly for everyone.
Good luck! I think you could have a good semester with Samantha!
You can thank her for the background...and ask if she has been to the office that handles disability accommodations. This way, you tell her, we'll have a shared understanding of how to adapt traditional classroom interactions.
ReplyDeleteIf she's not willing to do that, then her motivation for writing is suspect in my eyes.
"motormouth....monster...raise *your* hand"
If I still drank, I would...and I smell trouble in River City! Good luck.
CC your dean/course supervisor for proper ass-covering.
My sister has high functioning autism just a little further along the spectrum from Asperbergers as well as a college degree. Most of the advise I will give you is based on that experiance.
ReplyDeleteI would do my best to avoid making any assumptions based on Samantha's social cues. I would also avoid attributing any gile to this email, it seems to me to be an honest if clumsy attempt to communicate with you. It is better she do this than show up and let you figure it out on your own, both for her learning and for the smooth running of your classroom. The disruption of this kind of condition can be minimized and I would view this email not as snowflake communication but as her willingness to engage in that process.
I would thank her for the information, explain the discussion heavy nature of this class and that you expect her to make every effort to be considerate of the other students. Ask if she minds if you make a brief explaination to the rest of the class if it becomes an issue otherwise your other students will spend a great deal of time trying to figureo ut her behavior rather than concentrating on the course material. If she says yes, do not allow her to make the explaination or you'll loose the entire class period to a verbal repeat of the above email.
Aemillia's suggestion to give her the disability office's list of accomidations for this condition is also good. Make sure the two of your are absolutely clear as to expected behavior and doing so with the disability office will cover your ass and also prevent you from making an ass of yourself. I have seen a great many teachers and professors do so with aspies.
In general I can tell you a little of what can be expected from this girl. It is very likely that she is very smart and knowledgable, but in narrow specialized areas that may seem random to you. The spectrum brings with it obsessive interest that are sometimes difficult to explain to outsiders. I would expect her to not be very good at the give and take of conversations, I always say my sister has conversations at you not with you. I would also expect to have to be very clear and very blunt with her when her behavior is harming the class as a whole. Subtle will go over her head.
Most of all, my advise to you is not to treat this student like a snowflake. She is not being difficult because she is lazy or entitled.
The heart of the matter: we do not get adequate training on disabilities other than the occcasional professional development seminar/ruse for pocketing grant money.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say something useful here. The system sucks.
There's someone with Asperger's in my family, and if he were this aware of the impact of his behavior on others, I'd be thrilled. Samantha may not be the best writer, but she's gotten her message across. Good for her.
ReplyDeleteFrog and Toad, that was my first thought exactly!
ReplyDeleteI started to write an enormously long lament about a student I just had and realized it was too long of a wailing jeremiad, but I'll just second the wish that more students with disabilities like this were as self-aware and willing to help out with making it work-- I could have used the warning with one guy (who didn't bother presenting paperwork acknowledging his situation until week fucking 14 of the term, meanwhile sucking up a huge chunk of my time and energy and never made the slightest adjustment himself to adapt (like a tape recorder, say, instead of asking me to repeat myself endlessly)--I have 129 other students to worry about, too)
ReplyDelete(to be clear, though, the majority of my students needing accommodations have been completely awesome about it-- this was just a very bad case that is stuck in my craw this week)
ReplyDeleteOne of my high school acquaintances works with kids with aspergers and often writes letters for her clients to schools, families, and so on to explain the behavior of students in her care. I think this student most likely had that sort of thing written for her before, and so believes that it is the best thing to do in this instance. Of course, she doesn't realize that she's also sort of freaking you out. The most important thing to realize is that she's really truly working on fitting in and making going to college work for her, and while this sort of letter from a student would make me slightly nervous too, I'd often much rather hear from the student than from the disability services people who tend to not be very detailed. (This student has X. They are allowed Y. Period.)
ReplyDeleteShe may not want or need accommodations specifically beyond what she described with the hand raising, so disability services would not be needed.
I'll agree with some of the other commentators -- it's great that Samantha is self-aware enough to announce this to you in advance. I had a colleague in grad school who I'm almost certain had Asperger's but was very high-functioning. After several disastrous teaching experiences, she started attaching a disclaimer to her syllabi that read something very much like what Samantha wrote (I think it began "I've been told I have trouble understanding social cues"). Needless to say, she was a nightmare to work with...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I would be thrilled to get something like this. I know that it is really hard for some students to make the switch from always having parents/specialists advocate for them to being able to do it themselves. This is likely the first time in her life she's ever had to figure this out. The letter might be a little clumsy, but part of college for this student is surely figuring out how to make life work on her own. This student's initiative and sense of responsibility (it is her syndrome, she's making you aware of it, she's trying to figure out strategies to compensate) makes me feel like she will be successful in college.
ReplyDelete@ My Little Proffie
ReplyDeleteProviding accomodation outside of what is recommended by DSPS is illegal.
I have a mild form of Asperger's myself. I wish I could say more, but I am not financially able to.
ReplyDeleteI have to bite my tongue sometimes because I often get mistreated and it has given rise to bitterness in myself.
The other day, a student of mine mentioned to me at random that her child was diagnosed with Asperger's and that he's so out there and hard to understand.
It was all I could do to keep from asking
her, "When exactly did he become hard to understand? Was it before or after he was diagnosed?"
THANK YOU to everyone who has posted intelligent and empathetic comments regarding this girl. My son has Asperger's - he's only 8, but every parent with a non-neuro-typical kid wonders about his future.
ReplyDeleteYes, the student who wrote the letter seems odd. But the great thing about Aspies is they often take rules very seriously. So if you can express your expectations up front, then when there's an issue, refer to the expectations, she should be able to adjust.
@Jen Jake,
ReplyDeleteThank you! That's exactly how I am, and I get so pissed when I feel like I am being reprimanded for following instructions.
However, I don't go to extremes like jumping in a lake just because some superior told me to.
Like many others above, I've had good experiences with students with various learning disabilities who've gained a degree of self-awareness and the ability to self-monitor through good counseling and/or coaching. I've also found such students -- especially those on the autism spectrum -- to be quite amenable to correction (much more so than the average student, in fact).
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this student has good self-awareness, but may still be working on the self-monitoring. It also sounds like her main problem might be talking too much and/or for too long. I'd definitely consult with your LD resources center, and make sure she has done so, but it sounds like this might be a good class in which to start off with some of the more mechanical methods of making sure everyone talks, and takes turns: tossing a ball around, giving everyone a certain number of cards, or something along those lines. I could also imagine suggesting to a student in this situation that she take a class session or two to observe before jumping into discussion, perhaps even using a stopwatch (or similar timer function on her phone) to measure how long students typically talk for before giving someone else a chance, then try to model her own behavior on what she has observed. She might also need to be told that a certain percentage of her comments should pick up on something that one of her fellow students said (rather than something you said).
I also wonder whether she might enjoy reading some of Deborah Tannen's books, which might serve as a sort of "field guide" to conversation, how it works, and how it differs from group to group?
I am an old cynic. Any student with a disability has to go through the Office of Student Affairs. The first thing I would ask this student is if she's gone through it. The second thing I would do is check her transcript to see if she is telling the truth about her average. The third thing I would do is ask her former professors more about her classroom behavior. The fourth thing I would do, if the student claimed she hadn't been through the office of student affairs, would be to tell her I can make no sort of accomodation for her unless she has an accomodations plan from that office.
ReplyDeleteSadly enough I've had many students outright lie to me about their various "disabilities". More often than not when students claim something is "wrong" with them, they have not been diagnosed and maybe haven't even seen a doctor. I'd thoroughly investigate the situation before I assumed anything about the student, including whether she has asperger's.
Where I work, there is a nearby thrift store that sells wheel-chairs.
ReplyDeleteWe could hold a revival at school!
@Contingent Cassandra
ReplyDeleteInteresting you mention the ball tossing. I tried that myself until a silver-back told me that it could be interpreted as violent behavior.
Right, like we have a morally superior society.
My son's OT said autism spectrum disorders can run in a family and that they intensify through the generations. I never asked the actual doctor about that, but she (the neurologist) misunderstood something I said and took it as my acknowledging that I have asperger's syndrome. She said something like "well you know from your asperger's...". Initially, I was surprised and she apologized and said she wouldn't have diagnosed me unsolicited but she thought I already knew. And then retrospectively, I had to admit, it all adds up. I get annoyed easily when I think someone is being illogical or not following the rules (my ex used to say I should be a traffic cop). My students write things like "she's got a staring problem" on ratemyprofessors and "she thinks everyone is stupid" (which isn't even true despite my surprise when people are illogical/don't follow rules) so obviously when I correct someone (because that's my job), I don't do it right and it comes off like thinking they're stupid when all I mean is what they said was wrong and that I want them to know what is correct.
ReplyDeleteSo that's my "all about me" anecdote thrown into the middle of a conversation about something just tangentially related. I guess I do this stuff more than I notice, unless it's specifically the topic and I have to stop and think about it.
What you should do is what everyone already said. Encourage the official pathways, and hope for the best. Do a google/wikipedia search for famous people with or suspected of having asperger's (there are even lists of fictional characters that can be found). If you know what you're facing, Aspies can kind of be fun. They can be torture or they can be fun, but her awareness makes it sound like she might be closer to fun than torture.
I wish most math faculty were that self-aware.
ReplyDelete@ Wombat,
ReplyDeleteLt. Barclay is a fictional character with Asperger's.
Sadly enough I've had many students outright lie to me about their various "disabilities". More often than not when students claim something is "wrong" with them, they have not been diagnosed and maybe haven't even seen a doctor.
ReplyDeleteThis has been exactly my experience as well. And with some students, I could tell "something was off" about them, but I am not qualified to either diagnose a documentable disability or provide the appropriate accommodations. Telling them to go to the appropriate office fell on deaf ears, and the negative student evaluation usually followed suit.
Oh, geez. I have kids WITHOUT Asperger's who can't tell when it's time to STFU and let someone else have a chance.
ReplyDeleteThis is what we in the biz call "Owning your Condition."
ReplyDeleteIf you have fainting spells, you need to set up ways to cope. If you have seizures, you need to work extra hard to ensure your notes are adequate enough to counter any memory loss. And if you have problems reading social cues, you need to let people know ahead of time.
Those who don't take their education seriously use conditions as excuses. Those who do take life serious "OWN THEIR CONDITION" so that they can be productive in spite of the particular way they experience life.
It's a badge of honor among us to work harder than those who do not have any particular extra challenge in life.
So when you think someone is too reliant on the excuses, ask them how they own their condition and direct them to a regional support group for help developing coping mechanisms.
I too have had students claim a disability that was completely made up. Which irks me to no end, especially the ones that claim ADD/ADHD. It seems to be the "it" disorder these days. Several of my family members have been formally diagnosed with ADD/ADHD (back before it was cool), and they, as Monkey calls it, "own" their condition. I've watched them struggle with it, and overcome it because they refused to let it hold them back. Which makes me want to scream at the ones who use it as an excuse (I had several students try to do so this semester and it drove me crazy). Luckily, this doesn't seem to be the case with Sammy. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteDid I tell this story before?
ReplyDeleteThe lady who sat next to me in one class this semester has ADD and told the professors that it's the reason she leaves class so often. Fair enough. She also claims that it's why she neglected to turn in a major assignment and received a zero. Believable.
What annoys me--and would downright DRIVE ME UP THE WALL if I was the proffie--is that she spent the majority of time in every lecture typing on her laptop. Taking notes? Of course not, silly. Exchanging instant messages with the boyfriend.
What makes this particularly irksome is that I suspect that her laptop was part of her disability accommodation. So basically, she used her disability as an excuse to bring a distractor into the classroom.
SMH, and I feel a twinge of vicarious FML for you proffies.
My response to Sammy would be:
ReplyDelete"Thank you for the notice. I look forward to discussing your university-arranged accommodations at the beginning of the semester. See you in X weeks."
And then I would forward the whole kit and kaboodle to the accommodations office with a pointed note that the student needed a discussion of appropriate boundaries and information sharing. I might try to drop some hints when I met with her, but I don't have the training to counsel someone on how to manage their special needs.
The e-mail shows a high degree of self-awareness, but it's still completely inappropriate. Seriously - should Sammy send similar notes to potential employers? "During an interview I may talk continuously; signal me to be quiet by holding up your hand"? That wouldn't fly, and this shouldn't either.
Self-disclosure is one thing, but sending this to the professor *and all her classmates* indicates a self-centered attitude. Yes, I realize that this is one of the symptoms of the syndrome, but that doesn't make it completely excusable. Good for Sammy for being proactive; but her way of taking action needs to be adjusted.
What annoys me--and would downright DRIVE ME UP THE WALL if I was the proffie--is that she spent the majority of time in every lecture typing on her laptop. Taking notes? Of course not, silly. Exchanging instant messages with the boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes this particularly irksome is that I suspect that her laptop was part of her disability accommodation. So basically, she used her disability as an excuse to bring a distractor into the classroom.
Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner.
I have observed this in my own classes so often.... One guy had a broken arm, got permission to use his laptop in class from the disability office, and then watched movies during class time. I sat behind him once during a video clip, saw what he was doing, and kicked him out. Guess who did NOTHING all term, failed every exam, and then failed the class?
But he had a broken arm! I'm so mean!
I agree with the posters who advise you to wait for DSS. I think the student does have good intentions, but we have to be very careful about all this as accommodations are a legal issue.
ReplyDeleteI've had experiences on both ends of the disability spectrum. As a person with one myself, I get ADA accommodations to help me do my job, and I'm very careful to use only what I need and not make things difficult for others. I've had students who had accommodations refuse to use all of them because they didn't think they were needed or just wanted to feel more like they fit in. I've had students claim they needed accommodations but never go through the process to get them and then blame me when they did poorly. And I've had students who abused accommodations like some of the ones mentioned here. I think students are students and will be all over the place. Disability is just one more facet to consider.