Why High Functioning Autistic children or people with Asperger's Syndrome should not be in special classes?
Most of the High Functioning Autistic kids or Aspie's kids could function well in a normal education classroom with non-Autistic kids unless they have another learning disability that blocks it out. I've noticed that a lot of schools have a strict requirement of 'Kids with any type of Autism need to head into a special education classroom' when they are too quick to be in those classrooms with folks who are intellectually disabled or have Down's Syndrome. Autism and Down's Syndrome are not the same thing, and Autism is a lot milder than Down's Syndrome on average. People with High Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome generally have normal mentalities and are highly intelligent like everybody else, but some of them might have problems socially. People Down's Syndrome tend to have the mental ages of a three year old, severe learning disabilities like nobody else, low intelligence quotients (in the retarded range), severe physical deformities, immature behavioral patterns and social problems are actually quite common as well. So how an Aspie or a High Functioning Autistic person the same level as a kid with Down's Syndrome? People with Down's Syndrome are at the level of learning how to say hello in school, while High Functioning Autistic kids or Aspie's who don't have any other learning disabilities present can learn about other things. Autistic people would generally insult folks with Down's Syndrome anyways, so why is this a good mix? I will agree that people with High Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome could have services, but they shouldn't be in special education classes since they will not learn anything. From what I've seen, they can learn better social skills if they are in classes with folks who have ADHD.
What is your personal understanding of autistic spectrum disorders?
I have done my Doctorate from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). So, I know some links from MIT sites which can help you. I don't have any idea or knowledge about these disorders of my own. Sorry. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cach... http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se... http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/5519... http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:OuJFGQthhrkJ:citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.72.7123%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf+autistic+spectrum+disorders+mit&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiw46eSPUTqYOjadTmYpXktoh6B-sfThE04dsd6wAaJIrnug4_dWMza6p5Uttjq8Xb2WzZ2zwJBIuEUmOI3twsbBZfuA4z3oGkmCEzWTeW6mkbLW3t8FRvkH86ZPHbkOcjh0FwB&sig=AHIEtbSrLkRUmQsKcnAg06McVjPM5wt0kQ http://autism.mit.edu/node/2 http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/autism-1205.html BTW, when I was in MIT, many of my faculty members were suffering from Asperger's syndrome and the condition is same even today. God Bless
How do I deal with people constantly telling me I'm autistic?
I'm 16-years-old, and I was very normal growing up, until around the age of 9. I went through some extremely traumatic things, and was surrounded by people who played mind games with me and verbally abused me when I showed emotions, so I was basically taught to repress any natural reaction to things. I wasn't allowed to make high pitched sounds or anything, and I wasn't allowed to hang out with many other children. I spent a lot of time alone. I do not fit the criteria for Asperger Syndrome, nor do I fit the criteria for autism. I'm very good at reading people, seeing how they're feeling, and score above average on tests where you're supposed to discern how someone is feeling (I've taken a few), but I don't know how to respond. It's like that part left me when I was younger. Whenever I'm out, people mock me because I apparently sound very monotonous. People say, "oh that's OK, he's autistic", which I'm not, and I've never lied to anyone saying I was. I also apparently seem very scared and startled when people come up to me, but it's not on purpose. People make fun of me all the time and call me autistic and it makes me so upset to the point where I have many times been near committing suicide. I feel like I'm in a little glass jar, and can observe everyone, but they can't hear me or see my reactions to things because even though I can feel them, they're buried so deep inside of me. It's so upsetting, whenever I try to go out and make friends, this happens. It's so upsetting to think of how normal I was as a young child, and how all those things ruined me, and I'll never be the same. I don't know what to do.
Should autistic children be moaning constantly??
The moaning is a stim (non-purposeful repetitive behavior). It is either to calm him down or hype him up. The trampoline (jumping) may be overstimulating him and he is self-calming by moaning. The trampoline is a sensory thing, too much of a good thing can be counterproductive. He may be an anxious type of spectrum kid, and he may be undermedicated or not medicated. Autistic children prefer to be alone, even higher functioning one's take breaks from the group to keep themselves together. The stimming is a common thing, usually kids have their thing like the moaning and it can change over time into a different stim or stop all together. My 2 yr old stims vocally by a high pitched scream perseveratively. We get a lot of looks in public! It is normal behavior for autism, there isn't much the parents can do but maybe medicate, or limit the trampoline time. My own stims are more socially acceptable. I am not autistic spectrum and stim more than both my 2 kids. I twirl my hair, bounce my knee, tap my pen, chew my lips, and rub my hands together (friction) I have seen spectrum kids do the last one.
Rocking back and forth, running, and spastic movements with Autism?
Sudden movement is NOT a hall mark of autism. Autistic people come with hypo- reflexes and muscle tone also. I don't use the aspergers word. Autism is autism. Lots and lots of people have compulsions to move...dancers, athletes, and just hordes of other kinds of people. I always say, the person is a person first, then a person with differences. It is too tempting to answer your question as definitely yes. I do not define my autism...i define it. I decide if I love my quirks or not, and i do. I give god the credit, not autism. i look to myself, and my fellow humans that tolerate me, not professionals, in the final say...people, to me, believe so many wrong things about autism, in innocence. It is time to change that. Look up the nine types of intelligence, by Howard gardner. You will see that you probably rate very high in the kinetic category. All of us have some talents in all nine areas...and then some of us rate very high in one or more.