University Life and Students with Asperger’s Syndrome: A Professor’s Guide.

1. University Life and Students with Asperger’s Syndrome: A Professor’s Guide. How to recognize, communicate with, and support a student with Asperger’s Syndrome Audience: Professors at Oregon State University Created by: Crista Ditzler

2. What is Asperger’s Syndrome? Asperger’s Syndrome, also known as AS, is defined by the National Autistic Society as: “A lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them.”

3. Common Trait • “While Asperger’s is a continuum of behaviors.... each individual will present differently and with different levels of severity of behaviors” (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). • “What is common to everybody who has an Asperger’s label is a significant challenge to understanding non-verbal behavior or social nuance. And understanding social nuance really is critical to success both in your classroom and in campus life” (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). Marcel Marceau/Online image

4. How many people in the US have AS? • Because AS was only recently identified as a diagnosis, a count of the number of individuals affected by this syndrome is still hard to come by. Recent survey results from the National Institute of Child Health and Mental Development estimate that 1 in 500 people have some form of AS.... Among people with Asperger’s, the prevalence of males to females diagnosed represents a ratio of 4:1 (Asperger’s Association of New England).

5. AS is on the Autism spectrum • The spectrum is a continuum of traits, behaviors and • disabilities • Students have a “lack of appreciation for social cues” • (Attwood, 1998, p.28). • Many AS students have difficulty in communicating as they may not understand the subtleties of language, such as irony and humor.(Autism Society.org) • Students with AS often have idiosyncratic • behavior (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). AS Facts

6. AS Facts-Continued • Students with AS may have difficulty writing legibly as they commonly have graphomotor skill difficulties defined as the coordination of cognitive, perceptual and motor skills, necessary to write (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). • Students with AS often have sensory sensitivity to sounds and smells as well as sights such as florescent lights that disrupt learning (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). • Students with AS often have very intense, very idiosyncratic interests (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.).

7. AS Trait That Becomes A Strength • Students with Asperger's Disorder frequently like to collect categories of things, such as rocks or bottle caps. They may be proficient in knowing categories of information (Autism Society.org). • This focus on subject can “be useful in the higher education environment as the individual may be able to spend their time studying their particular interest.... The unique qualities and different way of thinking and experiencing the world brings diversity to establishments and enriches the student population”(The National Autistic Society).

8. AS-An Isolating Disability Many Asperger’s Syndrome students want to be social but don’t understand the rules of social engagement. The lack of pragmatic language skills, those involving reciprocal language, and a lack of eye contact are two prominent features of AS students.

9. University Offers Hope • “For many students with Asperger’s Syndrome, coming to university can be, for the first time in their lives, an environment where they are not ostracised. There may be other students that share their love of maths or history, for example, and people who finally accept them for who they are” (The National Autistic Society).

10. Why Students Are Often Silent About Their Challenge: The Stigma of Information Sharing • From birth to death, ability is a salient and significant aspect of identity (Allen, 2011). • Individuals perceived to be abnormal or disabled are likely to be labeledin ways that can stigmatize them for the rest of their lives (Allen, 2011). • Persons with disabilities endure a common set of stigmatizing social values and debilitating socially constructed hazards(Allen, 2011).

11. Common Perceptions Professors May Have of Students With Asperger’s (When Student is Silent About Condition) • Student is “weird” • Student is disrespectful and disruptive • Student is not paying attention-eyes down • Student is challenging authority-eyes staring • Student is lazy

12. What’s the Difference: How do you tell a disruptive student from a student with Asperger’s? • Often a typically developing student who is disruptive in class will alter his/her behavior when given a look or some other non-verbal cue. • An Asperger’s student will not generally respond to a non-verbal signal that something is not going well, nor recognize the stares of others. • Sarcasm and nuanced language may confuse a student with AS – this may lead to responses or comments by AS students that seems inappropriate, out of place or rude. • On the surface, AS students behaviors may resemble many university student behaviors. The difference is the level and frequency of disruption to learning that behaviors cause.

13. Professor and Leader of your Class— Things You Should Know • “Your first meeting with an Asperger’s student won’t necessarily indicate default to thinking that the person has such a significant difference that they would have a disability label” (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). • “But as you spend time with them and get to know them as an individual you will notice some differences about them particularly compared to the rest of the students” (Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P.). • Talking with students and getting to know them outside of class will allow a closer look at behaviors, making it easier to understand what you are dealing with and whether or not it might be AS. • Many times students with a diagnosis will share this information if engaged in a conversation about behavior that is respectfully handled outside of the classroom setting.

14. Classroom Specific Challenges for AS Students • Difficulty with organizational skills is a key deficit in AS students, including note taking, time management and follow-through • Verbal information may cause struggles in the class through note-taking coordination, nuanced language confusion and difficulty with organization of thoughts and materials • Class participation/comments are sometimes off topic or “out of the blue” • Difficulty in reading body language and facial expressions may make appropriate interaction in class with professors and other students difficult for AS students

15. Instruction VS. Criticism Asperger’s Syndrome is not a disorder of motivation…. If you have a student with AS in your class, it is because they deserve to be there. Give them skills to succeed in your class by giving them feedback in the form of instruction vs. criticism. Dr. Peter F. Gerhardt, Ed. D. President, The Organization for Autism Research

16. Support in the Classroom • Provide seating that allows for less distraction like the front of the room or away from noisy equipment or lights • Provide note-takers or allow tape recording lectures for students with handwriting and organizational challenges • Provide lecture notes in advance so student has context as well as content of the material • Speak with students after class to discuss expectations as it relates to the student and their individual challenge • Remember, you set the tone. If you treat students with respect and show them you are flexible toward diverse learning, then so will the rest of the students in your class Dr. Peter F. Gerhardt, Ed. D. President, The Organization for Autism Research

17. Where would we be without them? Famous people thought to have had AS • Albert Einstein provided the theory of relativity and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the work he did with photoelectric effect.  Characteristics, which may indicate that Einstein was a fellow Aspie:  Einstein could not speak fluently at the age of nine.... His parents suspected that he might actually be mentally retarded (Botham, 2006, p. 16). • Isaac Newton dropped out of school as a teenager (Botham, 2006, p. 15).  A person with Asperger's may not be able to accept rules in school if they appear illogical, pursuing a point or argument "as a matter of principle," which can lead "to a significant conflict with teachers and school authorities," (Attwood, 2006, p. 11). • Beethoven was such a poor music student, that his music teachers decided he was hopeless as a composer and each time he sat to write music, he reportedly "poured ice water over his head," (Botham, 2006, p. 30), indicating the potential inability to "show" what he could do and a potential preoccupation of sensory experiences (Attwood, 2006, p. 4), or need for unproductive idiosyncratic routine. Source: http://www.disabledworld.com/artman/publish/article

18. Final Thoughts “Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you cannot count, really count” --Albert Einstein “To become a truly inclusive society…we first have to acknowledge the different challenges that are faced by those who are in the behavioral minority, because what we are after is the same opportunity to success, not the right to success” Michael John Carley, Executive Director of GRASP and Author of Asperger’s From the Inside Out.

19. Resources for students and professors http://www.grasp.org/ http://www.aane.org/about_asperger_syndrome/asperger_faqs.htl http://www.autism.org.uk/About-autism/Some-facts-and-statistics.aspx http://www.wrongplanet.net/article392.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=233-3jtEZck http://www.autismsociety.org/about-autism/aspergers-syndrome http://ds.oregonstate.edu/home/

20. References Allen, B. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity (2nd Edition). Long Grove, IL : Waveland Press, Inc. Asperger’s Association of New England website. Retrieved on April 14, 2011 from http://www.aane.org/about_asperger_syndrome/asperger_faqs.html Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger’s syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Autism Society website. Retrieved on April 14, 2011 from http://www.autism- society.org/ Carley, M., & Gerhardt, P. (2008). The college professor’s introductory guide to their students who are on the autism spectrum. Retrieved on April 14, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=233-3jtEZck Disabled World website. Retrieved on May 1, 2011 from http://www.disabled- world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml National Autistic Society website. Retrieved on April 14, 2011 from http://www.autism.org.uk/engb/workingwith/education/education- professionals-in-fe-and-he/university-how-to-support-students-with- asperger-syndrome.aspx