Re: Hello from land

December 20, 2009

My son, who goes to a public school, has a reduced work load. Kids with AS

sometimes have muscle tone problems and coordination issues and sensory

integration dysfunction. This makes them tire more easily, more easily

distracted and overwhelmed. Many kids with AS do modified homework. If the

other kids have 10 problems, will to 3-4 for math. He is amazing at math

but is failing math right now because he is having to write out problems, not

just do calculations in his head. Word problems are often very difficult

because they require reading comprehension and organizing one's thoughts. He

should be graded on whether or not he knows the material rather than on

assignments completed. We've had that for for the last couple of years.

He's in a great school right now.

Where are you in land. got his dx at age 3.5 in County,

land. We lived in Hanover, MD in the County side of town. The other

side is in Anne Arundel. County School District was very very good for

us.

Miriam

>

> Hi, I'm Patti, and I joined the group a couple of weeks ago. My older son is

waiting for an assessment appointment-- his school counselor thinks he has

Asperger's. I am less sure, but I see a lot of him when I read this group's

posts.

>

> Kieran is nearly 13, and is in 8th grade at a private school, after being

homeschooled since he was 6. Putting him in school was a financial necessity,

but I had been considering it anyway-- it seems like most homeschoolers go back

to school when they reach his age. He only has one close friend, and I thought

a set peer group might be a good idea.

>

> I think K has adjusted pretty well overall to a GIANT change in his life, but

he has been " shutting down " when he gets frustrated in class. He gets

tongue-tied and upset, and sometimes cries. Fortunately, the staff and the

other kids are pretty nice and supportive. The other kids are friendly, but he

hasn't really made any friends in his grade. He really likes school, though.

He goes in and comes out happy each day, despite whatever " episodes " he may have

had.

>

> The counselor says that classmates made overtures to K, but that he said " No

thanks, I'm fine, " or similar. I am not sure how concerned to be about this-- I

know for sure he is capable of friendship, though he is shy and awkward about

the actual " making friends " part.

>

> Part of the issue is that we're not that " mainstream " a family, and K's

interests aren't that typical. There are only 17 other kids in his class, and

he doesn't have that much in common with them. He's not interested in being

friends with any of the particular kids in his grade, so the line between

" inability to make friends " and " not interested in available friends " is blurry!

>

> He has been making me a little insane with academic issues. He was in danger

of failing English first quarter mostly because of missing work. He was also

having a lot of trouble with writing output in class. His typical anxiety plus

inexperience at timed writing= tears but not much work. He made up a lot of

work and got a " C. " This semester he is getting A's and B's, but is STILL not

doing/turning in all his work.

>

> He has consistently been behind on turning in math assignments, too. It's not

that he can't do the work, or that he doesn't have time-- I've asked him why he

keeps doing this, and he says " I don't know. I won't do it anymore. " This

drives me nuts, because it's exactly the kind of answer I get from his father on

any given issue! I would definitely guess that K's dad is an Aspie, by the way,

even if I'm not sure about K.

>

> Well, everyone's probably out getting ready for the holidays instead of

reading my novel of a post, but-- hello. : )

>

December 20, 2009

If he feels safe in the school and supported that is great.

The academic issues can be tied to issues with executive

function that many AS kids are deficit in (organization, staying focused on a

task and processing speed and organizing written work).

Some AS kids just have social impairment and do well

in academics. Other AS kids have moderate to severe

executive skills and school is very difficult.

I hope your evaulation was done by a neuropyschologist and the

full battery of neuropsychological tests were done.

IF so you should get a very comprehensive report on what he needs

in school. If it is being done by the school staff don't

expect much unless they are autism specialists. The IQ test at least will tell

if there is a processing speed deficit or working memory deficit (part of

executive function).

Good luck,

Pam

>

> Hi, I'm Patti, and I joined the group a couple of weeks ago. My older son is

waiting for an assessment appointment-- his school counselor thinks he has

Asperger's. I am less sure, but I see a lot of him when I read this group's

posts.

>

> Kieran is nearly 13, and is in 8th grade at a private school, after being

homeschooled since he was 6. Putting him in school was a financial necessity,

but I had been considering it anyway-- it seems like most homeschoolers go back

to school when they reach his age. He only has one close friend, and I thought

a set peer group might be a good idea.

>

> I think K has adjusted pretty well overall to a GIANT change in his life, but

he has been " shutting down " when he gets frustrated in class. He gets

tongue-tied and upset, and sometimes cries. Fortunately, the staff and the

other kids are pretty nice and supportive. The other kids are friendly, but he

hasn't really made any friends in his grade. He really likes school, though.

He goes in and comes out happy each day, despite whatever " episodes " he may have

had.

>

> The counselor says that classmates made overtures to K, but that he said " No

thanks, I'm fine, " or similar. I am not sure how concerned to be about this-- I

know for sure he is capable of friendship, though he is shy and awkward about

the actual " making friends " part.

>

> Part of the issue is that we're not that " mainstream " a family, and K's

interests aren't that typical. There are only 17 other kids in his class, and

he doesn't have that much in common with them. He's not interested in being

friends with any of the particular kids in his grade, so the line between

" inability to make friends " and " not interested in available friends " is blurry!

>

> He has been making me a little insane with academic issues. He was in danger

of failing English first quarter mostly because of missing work. He was also

having a lot of trouble with writing output in class. His typical anxiety plus

inexperience at timed writing= tears but not much work. He made up a lot of

work and got a " C. " This semester he is getting A's and B's, but is STILL not

doing/turning in all his work.

>

> He has consistently been behind on turning in math assignments, too. It's not

that he can't do the work, or that he doesn't have time-- I've asked him why he

keeps doing this, and he says " I don't know. I won't do it anymore. " This

drives me nuts, because it's exactly the kind of answer I get from his father on

any given issue! I would definitely guess that K's dad is an Aspie, by the way,

even if I'm not sure about K.

>

> Well, everyone's probably out getting ready for the holidays instead of

reading my novel of a post, but-- hello. : )

>

December 21, 2009

On Dec 20, 2009, at 12:05 PM, mimasdprofile wrote:

> He is amazing at math but is failing math right now because he is

> having to write out problems, not just do calculations in his head.

This just burns me up - my younger daughter (not the one with possible

AS) is going through something like this right now. I know she is very

good at math, but she has points subtracted from her grade for skipping

steps. I told the teacher she needs more interesting problems to solve,

and the teacher told me she has puzzles for the kids who are able to

finish their work in class. That is just not going to happen for her.

She has her own issues with tedious desk work.

I was tracked out of advanced math in the public school system because

of homework " failure. " With no credit to the schools, I managed to get

my act together and get myself into college at age 23. I graduated with

highest honors with a double major in Math and Physics and had a

stellar career writing mathematical algorithms for computational

software. I was never diagnosed with anything back in school (just

punished a lot), but had I been born today I would definitely have had

an IEP. I did have one teacher (3rd grade) who found me some

interesting math problems to solve. But that was it. Nothing has

changed.

The public schools are not teaching math. They are teaching compliance

and at the same time sorting children into two groups. Those who are

pegged for " success " are the ones who are compliant and those who are

pegged for " failure " include many talented individuals. Even if not

particularly talented, nobody should be sorted. The success/failure

paradigm is firmly entrenched and artificially creates " failed " human

beings who then fill our prisons and require " human services. "

Furthermore, most of the ones who " succeed " cannot really do math. The

level of mathematics my daughter is learning in the sixth grade is

frighteningly trivial. From what I have seen, they teach rote

memorization in elementary school and computational skills (such as

long division) in middle school. The fundamental purpose of math is to

solve actual problems, but problem solving is tacked on (sometimes) as

an afterthought. My observation is that the people certified to teach

math in the public schools are not well versed in solving problems

using math. They know how to teach computational methods using a

particular pedagogical system, and their goal is to make sure the kids

learn how to get the right answers to meaningless calculations

according to the system.

I am not just making this up - my daughter's " math teacher " is not a

mathematician - she told me so herself. She gave the kids a problem

where an equilateral triangle with sides of 10 had a height equal to

17.32, which is impossible (the sides should be 20). To her credit I

have to say she did not make up the problem herself. She only

photocopied a worksheet. By the way, this is a " good " teacher. This

school system is ranked in the top 100 in the country, according to

" college readiness, " whatever that means. Ability to crank out reams of

meaningless work, I suppose.

Sorry for the rant, but I can't believe I am watching this happen to my

little girl. I would take her out of that school, but that is where she

wants to be.

What we are doing now is biting our tongues and having her do about

half of the homework problems. My husband is going to have a talk with

the principal. But I don't have a lot of hope that things will improve.

Nothing succeeds like success - which by their standards is a high

number on a scale of questionable meaning.

Cris

December 30, 2009

Wow, the math program sounds horrible. Our school does " everyday Math "

and it is really a horrible program. They don't fully teach each

concept. Then the kids are exposed to bits and pieces in a " spiraling "

sort of methodology...it really is bonkers. My ds (13 yo, hfa, gifted)

scored in the 99%ile in math but was not allowed to be in any of those

advanced math courses because he is disabled. It is terribly illegal

but they don't really care. Consequently, he was sleeping in math

class and when we pulled him out of school, he was making an F in math.

We went on to finish a year's worth of math in a few months time and

that is only because I made him do each problem. He probably should

have tested out of that year. But it was new to us all. We moved him

up a few grades in math after that and now he's taking his 2nd year of

high school math and is semi-bored, semi-interested. It beats

completely bored. lol.

Anyway, what was interesting for me was that he could not do some very

basic math functions. For instance, I asked him to divide a double

digit number into a large number and he started drawing this rectangle

and making slashes across each box he made. He had to make this

diagram in order to divide. Then, he did not know how to divide

anything more than a single digit into this contraption. I couldn't

believe they didn't just teach him regular division. It seemed fairly

simple and straightforward when I was in school. Well, this spiraling

math program teaches the kids a whole variety of ways to do the same

thing - several ways to divide, for instance. But with kids who have

an LD, this can be really confusing and can complicate their ability to

learn how to do the computation at all. I found this true for my older

ds (dyslexia, hfa) as he had to be taught using the " old " books that

just taught one way to do this stuff. It was certainly true for our

middle ds. I taught him quickly and easily how to do regular division

and he went on his way to learn. He also had a problem with fractions

that was very minor but also odd that he could do much more complicated

material but be stuck on a simple basic concept...again, that spiraling

curriculum...

There is a limit as to how much crap I can watch my kid deal with.

Roxanna

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do

nothing. " E. Burke

Re: ( ) Re: Hello from land