Last post Mon, May 05 2008 12:09 AM by Tickmeister. 7 replies.
Ms. Stein,
My question might be a little bit outside of what you are expecting here, but do you know of any people in the special education field who are autistic? There are people with Asperger's and ASD in my family and I wonder if I have children, if they might be Aspie/ASD/Autistic. If they are, I think they would benefit from having a teacher who can relate to the way they communicate. It would be a long time yet, but I wonder if there is anything like that around currently? I know many Autistic adults like Temple Grandin do very well in their fields, and Temple Grandin of course teaches at the university level, but what about the elementary level?
If you don't know of anything like that, could you give your thoughts on teachers with disabilities in general, and how that affects (positively or otherwise) children with disabilities who are taught by them?
-Lisa
I do not have an ASD but I am visually impaired and I am working towards becoming a teacher of studentus with visual impairments. I do think that it is important for students with disabilities to have a positive role model who has a similar disability. This role model could be a teacher or another sdult who is successul in life in another career. As for me, one of the reasons I want to teach students with VI is so that I can serve as a role model and show students that they can do anything they set their minds to.
I'm a SLP graduate student in my last year. I am also severely Dyslexic. I have often felt that I might not be able to make it as an SLP but I'm still trying. I think my unique insight can help me to be a better speech-language pathologist. I have had parents upon discovering that I'm dyslexic ask that I be pulled from their child's case. It has infuriated me at times to think that a parent is that naive to believe that someone can "fix" their child but don't honestly believe that someone who has succeeded can help their child. What does that say about their feelings about their child succeeding. In my opinion they are giving up on these kids before they start. My parents were very supportive of me and I can't imagine that I would have succeeded if they hadn't been. Ok I guess I'll get off my soap box now.
Beth
Feel free to stay on your soapbox. I have worked with several therapists who are severely dyslexic; OT's, PT's and Speech. I have never found that it interferes dramatically with their work; report writing can be a chore but that's about it. I'm glad you posted; you do have a unique insight that is valuable. Stick it out if possible; this field offers so much variability.................
I think providing children with role models/mentors/teachers with disabilities is an invaluable contribution to their self-esteem and even the practical sides of making it in this world with the talents we've been given.
I think this is an excellent question and hope to see more professionals with disabilities available for the future members of our culture.
I'm sure there are autistic/Aspergers teachers out there.
I'm not officially autistic but when I look at the diagnositic criteria I identify with a lot of them. Very verbal, don't always see social cues, unusual hobbies in depth, need for strutcure and routine. . . I also am borderline for a non-verbal learning disability. (This on top of some physical disability and chronic illness stuff)
And I taught special ed for a number of years. I worked in a residential school for kids with severe ADHD. I taught biology and was a house parent. Kids were 11-19.
And I think my own learning and processing issues helped at times. I'm a very verbal learner. But that makes me aware that many of my students were very visual learners. So I would try to present topics in multiple ways, with words, with books, with pictures, with models, with real life examples.
Also we kept the kids on a rather structured schedule. My desire for structure really helped out there. And the kids needed to be taught social rules that they didn't pick up naturally. I had a better understanding of what it's like to need cues taught than some of the very typical teachers I worked with.
Of course my poor visual processing skills meant I couldn't tell when the kids rooms were clean or not, or if their clothes were on correctly or not. .. but that's why we worked as a team.
I'm diagnosed with Aspergers & ADD. I've tried to speak to parents of autistics and explain behaviors to them, but they seem very closed minded. I mean they have some bad misconceptions about certain things their kids are doing or not doing and they are dead wrong about why they behave that way. I try to enlighten them, but they don't want to hear it as they prefer to believe only the so called "experts" who sell autistic treatments and books.
I think sometimes disabilities help someone in certain fields. Like my OT I am positive has OCD, but it makes her very organized and a perfectionist which are skills for instance that she has been trying to teach me so my home is in more order.
Should anyone want help with understanding their kid I am always open to answering questions.
