We had a day last week that made me wonder about how different high school is today for kids with Asperger's in particular.I'm thinking about accounts I've read like in "Look Me in the Eye" by John Elder Robison and "Born on a Blue Day" by Daniel Tammet, even Temple Grandin in "Thinking in Pictures." They all describe high school as a torture socially, if they aren't ignored they are teased and bullied. Mostly it is their social isolation that drives their pain.
We strive for better. Does that sound lame? But as adults in a mass of teenagers we cannot create social success for the kids we help by waving a wand. We can usually make sure they get assigned to groups who will be supportive when teachers assign group projects. We can be there in class as an adult presence to discourage bullying. However we cannot create social success or friendships in the larger school arena. But in our resource room we can and do make efforts to guide and create some level of practical social experience, in a conscious way. Some days we are more successful than others. Enough blathering, here's the story, all names changed:
We have staggered lunches over three time slots so kids either have lunch before, in the middle of, or after their 4th period classes. Two of our sophomores who share first lunch, Steven and Claude, are often in the room together chatting after they eat. There are always adults in there too, but we try to stay out of the boys' conversation. Our goal is to have them support each other. Their topics seem pretty random but these two use appropriate language and best of all, actually appear to listen and don't just lecture one another. They were talking when Quentin, another sophomore, came in. He sat quietly at a different table, playing with small toy he carries for a few minutes. Then he called from across the room to the other two, "What are you talking about?" Steven and Claude stopped talking and didn't answer Quentin. Quentin repeated his question. This time I said "You guys have to answer him." Claude said "I'm busy." I said "That's not an answer. You need to say something like "Quentin, you are not in this conversation right now." So Claude repeated "Quentin you are not in this conversation." All three boys remained silent after that until the bell rang. At that point Steven left the room, but Quentin and Claude stayed in. A little later Claude was sitting on the sofa reading and and Quentin came up behind him and said "Claude your hair is so greasy you look like a penguin who swam in an oil spill."
Now it is true that Claude has sensitivity issues with showers and his hair was not clean. This is something he and his family are working on. Quentin clearly knew exactly how to target Claude. By now though Claude had forgotten all about the earlier interaction and was focused only on this insult, which seemed to have come out of the blue. He pouted, then huffed, then threw his book. One of the other adults asked him to walk with her out in the halls, a strategy that is often successful. They went out, I ate and the room quieted down. Quentin, mission accomplished, took off, so there was no chance to talk to him about his behavior.
Five or ten minutes later Claude was back, still teary and sniffy, still unable to move on. He and the adult had decided to call it a day. He got on the phone to see if his mom could pick him up. Then he and I packed up his stuff and went out to meet his mom. Another kid tagged along. We went out to a beauty of a day, sunny and warm. As we sat outside Claude was calming down. I asked him if he thought it was possible that Quentin's mean comment could have been connected to the earlier incident of shutting Quentin out of the conversation with Steven. He agreed, then added "I guess I could forgive him." I asked him if he thought he might be able to stay at school now and he answered that he though he could. We agreed to wait for mom and talk to her. As we were waiting Claude related that earlier in the day, at a weekly group session led by the school social worker they had discussed Quentin's behavior. (I don't attend group) Apparently Quentin had come in late and Steven had moved across the room to avoid sitting near him. At the end of group the social worker asked Steven and Claude about it and Claude had defended Quentin, saying "He can't help the way he is." In the moment of the insult Claude had forgotten all that too. Claude's mom drove up, he spoke to her and then went back in the building to class. I talked to mom for a minute, to fill her in on the story and she left.
The next day Claude showed up with clean hair, in a great mood. Quentin was not at school, his family had gone out of town. Steven was his usual self.
So, years from now, when Claude writes his own memoir, will he remember only the pain? I'd like to think we are helping, but I'm not so sure. some of the executive function issues (see my last post) will not just go away.
Related to this I am still processing my day yesterday. I went on an field trip with my son's elementary school class, a boat ride on the Mississippi. There were about 100 kids and 8 adults. I was just an observer, someone to watch and yell at kids to slow down and not climb the rails. I couldn't help noticing the two young Aspies in the group. They attended without adult aides. One stuck with adults pretty much all the time, mostly his teacher. The other was truly alone in this crowd all day. I noticed on the bus that he got on and chose an empty seat. As the bus filled up, kid after kid got on, looked at him and the empty spot and sat elsewhere. They would rather sit three to a seat than sit with him. At last his teacher sat with him but didn't talk to him. I saw him on the boat too, always alone. Can we do no better?
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Brain work
I've been doing a lot of processing these last two weeks. I had two courses to finish up, which meant a lot of squeezing together material and ideas from the last few months and attempting to force out some insight. Then last weekend I attended the Autism MN conference and heard several speakers, did a lot of networking and thought a lot more. I will be job hunting all summer, hoping to be hired on a provisional license next fall. This cannot happen unless a district knows about me and wants to hire me, and cannot find a licensed person for that job. So this will take some work and I probably won't know a thing until September. Or perhaps later.
At the conference I found myself still thinking about the video game addiction problem. I would really like to present on this, maybe even next year. Two of the presentations I attended were focused on what happens (and doesn't happen) once Aspies leave school. Achieving success depends on how you define it, but it is clearly difficult to find employment in this day and age which does not involve at least some interaction with other people. In other words, unless the young adult wants to never leave the safety of the parental home, he will have to have his disability front and center where he must face it and deal with it and probably be anxious, daily. To say this is not simple is to state the obvious, but really, how many NT's would choose to face their most anxiety triggers every day? Not too many. No wonder people on the spectrum would rather play videogames (or whatever they use to relieve stress) all day long. How can school do a better job of preparing them for life? We could hardly do worse. No, that's not fair, really. Most of the kids I work with would like to, and need to, attend some kind of post-secondary educational program, and the school skills we work on absolutely help prepare them for that portion of their lives. But the emphasis, the balance is all out of whack. Every year we get better at balance, but there is far to go.
Another speaker I heard runs a lifelong care facility in California for people on the spectrum. She could have spoken all day but the core of what she was talking was the importance of preparing people to live independently, to not have to face radical change for the first time when their parents pass away. She is a neurobiologist by training, my notes are about what she called executive brain function, the kinds of things people on the spectrum struggle with. Iwant to post my notes with a couple of caveats: 1. These are MY notes, reflecting My understanding of what she spoke about, which may be imperfect. 2. Nobody (I hope) struggles with ALL of these, but they are common threads. OK?
(from Nancy Perry, PhD)
Initiation- the ability to get started
They are “on hold” waiting for cues. Not aware that their ability to direct themselves is impaired compared to others. Families do not recognize the cues they have been giving. What was the last cue?
Planning, Sequencing, Organizing- the brain, NOT the personality, is disorganized.
Problems sequencing the steps to a plan. They can see the goal, or the steps. Picturing the messy room, knows what needs to be done, doesn’t realize that he’s making a list.
Abstract reasoning- as opposed to concrete
Can take in abstractions but cannot initiate. Verbal presentation looks normal, often.
Mental Flexibility and response to novelty
Attention shifting. Some can do it, enough to drive, for example. Most can’t, and driving leads to trouble. Think of a spectrum of rigid to impulsive. They are at the ends of this spectrum.
Attention and Concentration
Attention deficits can seem like brain injuries, can look like personality problems, eg: getting distracted in the middle of a conversation by something unrelated.
Working Memory
Immediate use, storage and retrieval of present. Difficulty sorting information into categories of what you will need soon/later/not at all. Impaired ability to control one’s attention.
Regulation of emotions and emotions and behavior
Runaway anxiety, anger zero to 60 in seconds. Emotional behavior is perhaps the most culture based aspect of behavior. Control of behavior is related to moral judgments and self-monitoring.
Judgment and self monitoring
The pinnacle of human functioning. It is impossible to present as a normal adult if you are unable to self monitor behavior. Moral habits have to be inculcated as children because even when knowing all the “rules” when they want something they will break all the rules to get it.
At the conference I found myself still thinking about the video game addiction problem. I would really like to present on this, maybe even next year. Two of the presentations I attended were focused on what happens (and doesn't happen) once Aspies leave school. Achieving success depends on how you define it, but it is clearly difficult to find employment in this day and age which does not involve at least some interaction with other people. In other words, unless the young adult wants to never leave the safety of the parental home, he will have to have his disability front and center where he must face it and deal with it and probably be anxious, daily. To say this is not simple is to state the obvious, but really, how many NT's would choose to face their most anxiety triggers every day? Not too many. No wonder people on the spectrum would rather play videogames (or whatever they use to relieve stress) all day long. How can school do a better job of preparing them for life? We could hardly do worse. No, that's not fair, really. Most of the kids I work with would like to, and need to, attend some kind of post-secondary educational program, and the school skills we work on absolutely help prepare them for that portion of their lives. But the emphasis, the balance is all out of whack. Every year we get better at balance, but there is far to go.
Another speaker I heard runs a lifelong care facility in California for people on the spectrum. She could have spoken all day but the core of what she was talking was the importance of preparing people to live independently, to not have to face radical change for the first time when their parents pass away. She is a neurobiologist by training, my notes are about what she called executive brain function, the kinds of things people on the spectrum struggle with. Iwant to post my notes with a couple of caveats: 1. These are MY notes, reflecting My understanding of what she spoke about, which may be imperfect. 2. Nobody (I hope) struggles with ALL of these, but they are common threads. OK?
(from Nancy Perry, PhD)
Initiation- the ability to get started
They are “on hold” waiting for cues. Not aware that their ability to direct themselves is impaired compared to others. Families do not recognize the cues they have been giving. What was the last cue?
Planning, Sequencing, Organizing- the brain, NOT the personality, is disorganized.
Problems sequencing the steps to a plan. They can see the goal, or the steps. Picturing the messy room, knows what needs to be done, doesn’t realize that he’s making a list.
Abstract reasoning- as opposed to concrete
Can take in abstractions but cannot initiate. Verbal presentation looks normal, often.
Mental Flexibility and response to novelty
Attention shifting. Some can do it, enough to drive, for example. Most can’t, and driving leads to trouble. Think of a spectrum of rigid to impulsive. They are at the ends of this spectrum.
Attention and Concentration
Attention deficits can seem like brain injuries, can look like personality problems, eg: getting distracted in the middle of a conversation by something unrelated.
Working Memory
Immediate use, storage and retrieval of present. Difficulty sorting information into categories of what you will need soon/later/not at all. Impaired ability to control one’s attention.
Regulation of emotions and emotions and behavior
Runaway anxiety, anger zero to 60 in seconds. Emotional behavior is perhaps the most culture based aspect of behavior. Control of behavior is related to moral judgments and self-monitoring.
Judgment and self monitoring
The pinnacle of human functioning. It is impossible to present as a normal adult if you are unable to self monitor behavior. Moral habits have to be inculcated as children because even when knowing all the “rules” when they want something they will break all the rules to get it.
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