Asperger's Syndrome Personal Reflection

Personal Reflection – Frankie

Supporting students with Asperger’s Syndrome requires an Educational Assistant (E/A) to draw upon the knowledge of the teacher, parents, peers, and of course the students themselves. Seeking first to understand will provide the necessary insight to create materials, implement strategies, and consider the most effective accommodations for the student.

When called upon to work with a student with ASD, my first goal will be to learn about their personality, their interests, strengths, and behaviours. I might learn these traits by observing behavior in the classroom, with peers on the playground, during nutrition breaks, transitions, and when entering and exiting the school. I will observe any toys, objects,

patterns of words, or repetitive actions that might give me insight to find books, puzzles, board games, computer games or sites related to the students potential fixations. Once I have this information my second goal will be to take this information and use it to develop a relationship with the student. By introducing the materials I have accumulated for the student I hope to begin the journey of working together by entering the students world with the goal of building an insightful connection.
One of my first strategies would be to create a schedule for and with the student. Looking at the environment and creating a schedule that is visual, with academic periods listed, allowing for breaks, and explaining some of the common disruptions that may affect the schedule. Preparing the student prior to these disruptions may help with anxiety and anger that might accompany such disruptions. I would talk very explicitly using pictures or ‘Model Me’ video clips, transition times, fire drills, announcements (that might mean stopping in the middle of something), chapel’s, assemblies, hot lunch days, vacation days etc.
My next strategy would be to consider the students academic needs.

I might ask the questions, “How can I best support this student pairing academic learning with social skills development?” Although students with ASD are typically reading above grade level, they have difficulties with comprehension. Students with Asperger’s are generally visual thinkers and have difficulty thinking with words. I would create word and picture cards and use them to play a memory game with one of his peers. Perhaps a peer who is a strong reader but weak on spelling could be paired with the ASD student. By pairing the two students, the ASD student will be learning the correct picture that matches the word and the other student who knows the picture will learn the correct spelling of the word for the picture. This activity has the potential to build on the strength of each student while providing opportunity for social interaction. I would seek to use this model of peer pairing in other

subjects.
As an E/A I would seek to assist the student in his interactions with peers on the playground or in the halls.

As he seeks to fixate on his particular interest I would seek to support him by modeling for his peers ways to monitor the amount of conversation about one topic. For example, I would tell his peers that he really enjoys (kites), if you ask a question about kites, or tell him something you like about kites he will feel included. If the ASD student continues to go on and on about kites I would again model for his peers by telling them to listen to two or three facts and then explain that they want to talk about something else now. I would then seek to support the ASD student by reading a social story (taught at an earlier time) to encourage, support and teach the student the importance of this social cue.

One final strategy I would use when supporting an ASD student includes the use of a choice board and a visual timer. I would break tasks into smaller segments and make use of the visual timer to indicate rest breaks. The rest breaks might include a walk down the hall for a drink of water, a walk around the playground, time on the computer, a trip to the library, or a visit to a teacher who the student

enjoys.
Through my course readings I no longer feel intimidated to work with an ASD student. The behavioural challenges, the socialization needs and academic supports required inspire me to grow as an Educational Assistant. I understand there will be good days and challenging ones, days to celebrate and days of disappointment yet the goal remains to learn, grow, and facilitate an environment of learning that is measured by small increments of success.