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Mom2Froggy
Newbie
Joined: November 01 2009
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Posts: 2
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| Posted: November 01 2009 at 6:13pm | IP Logged
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First off I want to say that while I am not a parent of an autistic child, I am a student in school going for a minor in special education. Autism and it's variants fascinate me, I think it is such a complex yet such an eye-opening disorder. I would like to ask some questions for parents of autistic kids and truly hope no one finds what I write to be taken in the wrong context... I am trying to educate myself but also gather information for my final research project. I'm here to learn, and hope no one minds me joining for that reason :) I've worked with some autistic kids and love them, they are so sweet and such delights, they have such interesting little "quirks" which is what drew me to this subject.
I have learned a lot about autistic kids even before I decided to become a special educator. As said before, the quirks they had drew me in. To listen to stories about the special avenues their kiddos took just fascinated me. I've heard stories of some kids taking up art as their special avenue and the level of creativity they had blew me away. Some kiddos liked to build things like model cars, woodworking, drawing, a sport, all these different skills they excelled at far more than their peers without a disability. I've read things where kids don't even view autism as a disability because of the advantages it gives them.
That being said, I've heard that from high functioning autistic/Aspergers kids. The kiddos I worked with were on the very severe end of the spectrum, one was completely non-verbal, the other kiddo I worked with had limited vocabulary. They were such sweet kids though and such a delight to work with. It gave me perspective to see both ends of the spectrum and see how greatly it can effect the kiddos.
So why I am here is I'd like to talk to parents with autistic children and see if someone can point me towards a topic for my research paper. I can't just write about Aspergers (my main focus) it needs to be much more detailed than that. I went to look on alternative treatment options and the resources for that was very low, so I think that would be hard to write a 10 page paper on something I don't have enough information about.
Does anyone have any information, sites, ideas that would be good to help me narrow down a topic? Personal experience? I am thinking about the differences between girls and boys, perhaps alternative treatments, effects on schooling, social implications... there are lots of topics for me to look at but I am not sure what I should take. I would just like some thoughts on what may be an interesting, yet informative topic to choose. I want to learn from this and take something away which will help me in the classroom but there is so much information out there it is overwhelming.
For whoever could chime in and help me out, thanks a lot. It means a lot to me and will greatly help me in my future classroom. If anyone wants any more information from me I would be glad to give that as well.
Once again, I want to reiterate I am not trying to be disrespectful by posting this, I want to learn from this subject and help understand these complex but amazing kiddos with aspergers/autism :)
Thank you!
-Jenn
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OZZIE-ROZIES-MA
Senior Member
Joined: July 13 2007
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Posts: 401
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| Posted: November 01 2009 at 11:52pm | IP Logged
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Kathie Snow has some good articles about disability. They're under the Explore heading here: http://www.disabilityisnatural.com
Positively Autism offers newsletters about autism which may contain recent info, views and strategies geared to teaching kids with autism. www.positivelyautism.com
__________________
Alice
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Emma'smom
Senior Member
Joined: April 08 2007
Location: United States
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Posts: 270
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| Posted: November 02 2009 at 7:04pm | IP Logged
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Being a special ed teacher and a mom of daughter with PDD-NOS, I am interested in the fact that high-functioning girls often fly under the radar and do not get diagnosed. My dd was not diagnosed until she was nearly 8 years old, despite that I had been insisting something was wrong since she was 18 months old. Rating scales are based on behaviors presented by males. Females often do not present as males do. Thus higher-functioning females are often labeled shy.
I read an interesting book, Girls Under the Umbrell of Austism Spectrum Disorders. It was written by a mother of a girl with Asperger's and her struggles to get her daughter diagnosed. A lot of what she wrote about her daughter was just like my dd. The author commented that her daughter loved to play with dolls, so doctors said she had imaginative play. But she mainly liked to dress her dolls and line them up. That was just like my dd. She would line those dolls all day long...but never act out a scene with the dolls. Another thing the author mentioned was her Aspie daughter was interested in peers but it presented in an unusal way. She memorized all the kids' names at school and made lists of them but wouldn't talk to them. My daughter spent her summer going through her yearbook and writing everyone's name down. She made lists of kids with the same names, and lists by grades and classes, but when these kids try to talk to her she is unresponsive.
My dd's school will not accept she is on the spectrum, because she doesn't tantrum when she is dysregulated. Even though her OT told them she shuts down and becomes unresponsive when dysregulated, the school insists autistic kids have to tantrum. Again, this is typically a male presentation of autism.
I have even read some early articles in the field speculating on whether females can have Asperger's or if they just present so differently from males it's not diagnosed.
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Topic: Could someone help me out?
