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A school aspies club

Christian T

Christian T

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,

A close English teacher of mine, the school head of integration and I are setting up a school club for everyone with any aspie traits, which I'm hoping will be an enticing playground for all of the eccentric, socially rebellious students at our school, perhaps just to let our quirks run wild, exchange oddball ideas and pick at mainstream society. It'll be interesting to see what is made of it.

If any of you uncannily clever people could offer any suggestions, I'd be very grateful. For starters, what do you think of this poster:

https://docs.google.com/a/koonung.vic.edu.au/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1393e823cccefb13&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D090e7e21e8%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1393e823cccefb13%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_h620n8gx0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbTxhFYUkYGUZxdQ9Qq1XFDVSc6pqA

The link should work, if not thanks anyway!
 
Tried the link, it asked for a pword/uname. Maybe if you copy/save the poster to yr desktop then post it here using the add image feature it'll be visible.

This sounds like a wonderful idea! There are so many kids who are actual Aspies (diagnosed) & many like I was who know that they're just not normal & won't know they're Aspies until decades pass. This will enable them to be amongst their own kind & exchange knowledge, friendship (for those who want it) & information.
 
I am planning to form a club for people with Learning Disabilities in my college.

Anyway, I think there should be some areas to focus for any group of this nature:

1. Academics - How can people with LDs apply what they learn, to both exams and work?
2. Social life - How can we manage with our normal social lives better?
3. Support for our conditions - Do we get enough support from our LD-specific organisations? If they don't work, how can the school better able to help support them, to contribute to classes better?
 
Thanks for the support Soup, it means a lot. And Geordie, those are very helpful focus areas, so thankyou very much as well, and best of luck with your own club!

Oh, and this will hopefully work for the poster:

poster.jpg
 
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ChristianT, you got my support too!

I'd also feel so excited that I want to join the Club, too :)

Can I meet in your school? :P
 
I agree with Deno re all the different fonts & colours BUT, that being said, I enjoyed every word of it & would've jumped at the opportunity to join such a group!

Provide your group members with community resources like THIS forum (& Spectrumville). Getting them connected to the worldwide community of Aspies while they're young may spare them some of that feeling of isolation that seems to have haunted so many members here. Also, inform them about legitimate resources & info re Asperger's because there's so much nonsense circulating out there.
 
Wow, I wish there was something like this in my school. However, my school is pretty small, and I am almost certain that my best friend has Asperger's, but he vehemently denies it, so I've learned to not talk to him about it. Because of that, I may be the only person in the school who (knowingly) has Asperger's. But I wish you the best of luck!
 
That's the thing with so many of us in NT drag: makes it hard for those who want to make friends to do so.
 
buckyboy14 said:
I am almost certain that my best friend has Asperger's, but he vehemently denies it, so I've learned to not talk to him about it.
Click to expand...

Yep, most other aspies I've met are like that. It seems to be like coming out of the closet for them - they don't know who they can trust. Does your friend know that you have it, though?

Anyway, thanks for the continued support. I think I'll stick with the different fonts, actually, because it'll make it sound out from all the other school posters.

Oh, and Deno, I have a rather unusual question for you - is English your first language?
 
Happy to oblige:

It was a small thing really. When you said "like the phrases" I thought you might have meant to say "like the sentences". "Phrases" is French for "sentences" - a very easy mixup for someone going from one to the other - so this just slightly suggested to me that French might have been your first language, even though you're not from Quebec.

Pretty silly, now that I think about it. You are perfectly articulate, though.
 
OTT: My first language is Mandarin. I am strictly bilingual, that is, I only speak and write English and Chinese (Mandarin) fluently. However, I think some really serious ideas in Chinese. So if I sound 'weird' in English, please excuse me for my weirdness.

BTT: Well, if the next school Aspies club is meeting, feel free to update us here. We'll see how your club meeting goes, so it will be useful to future meetings in similar settings, in schools and universities around the world.
 
Our first meeting is in 6 days, and I put the posters up yesterday. At the moment I'm casting a net, and seeing what it will catch.
 
We had our first meeting today, with a turnout of five people - a pretty good start. Two of them I already knew quite well, one of which was a 15-year-old boy officially diagnosed as "brushed with Asperger's" - he's extremely mature for his age, and often mistaken for a substitute teacher - and the other an informally diagnosed girl of 17 many niche interests. We talked about quite a few things, mainly annoying assumptions NTs make of us, our need for specific instructions, how we find PE classes, our social self-reliance and ability to avoid being sheep, having to learn things like eye contact and turn-taking in speech etc.

I showed them this forum and mentioned Spectrumville too. I also showed them a number of books about AS - most of them haven't read much on it - and recommended personal, earnest autobiographies written by Aspies and for Aspies - a lot of books written by psychologists make me feel like a plant species. We also talked about how few people can understand our ways of thinking. One girl with as yet unidentified high-functioning autism was telling usabout many of these sorts of things that she experiences, every time adding asking tentatively if we understood, and every time the answer was a resounding "yes".

So it was a very satisfying beginning. Next session, on Monday, I think I might bring up the topic of education, and I've asked them to think of 1: a story they'd like to share of a confusing aspie-NT clash, and 2: a film clip with allusions to Asperger's.

There is something I would more specifically like some advice on: one member of the club is extremely non-talkative. He's not exactly shy, and I can see that he's understanding what we're saying, but he has extreme difficulty with expanding on what he's saying. If, for example, he'd just gone an excursion, and I asked him if he thought the trip was worthwhile, he'd say "yes" and leave it at that, not seeing the implied question of "why or why not?". I'm trying to think of ways to get him to contribute more. I asked him if he prefers communicating through writing rather than speech, but he said he's not very good at writing. I do want to hear from him, I'm sure he'd have many valuable things to add, but he gives very little.

Even as an aspie, this is tricky, but not impossible. I'm not about to get frustrated with him - I completely understand why he acts that way. I just have to find a way to reach him, so any advice would be helpful.

Thanks again to all of you for showing interest in this endeavour of ours, and I look forward to reading your feedback.
 
Thanks for updating us. ChristianT! I was watching for this. Sounds like you're off to a good start & that you made use of the time available to you. I've never heard of the diagnosis "brushed with Asperger's" before & it sounds rather ridiculous. Not only that, I checked both the current DSM & the upcoming one & it doesn't exist there either! Makes me wonder whether or not the Dr knew what he was doing. Sounds like being "Brushed with Pregnancy" to indicate a man with a rather large protruding abdomen!

The way we deal with students who use limited self-expression like the guy you describe is to be sure to ask him questions that cannot be answered with simply a yes or a no. You may get only short sentences at first, but by asking a few such question you wind up having a little conversation (which may be enough communicating for him at first). A better Question would be: 'What did you enjoy about the excursion?' Perhaps, too, since it was his 1st meeting, he was a little awkward & feeling the place out. With time, you may be able to discern what his keen interests & he may be more willing to open up if he gets to talk about them.
 
Thanks Soup, I'll certainly focus on asking those less simplistic questions.

Soup said:
The way we deal with students who use limited self-expression
Click to expand...

Are you a teacher? Anyway, since you evidently work with students, I'd be curious to hear your view on the issue of teachers' instructions not being specific enough - particularly in PE - or too confusing and chaotic like in a sport game situation. Another issue they all voiced old problem of being picked last for things like teams in sport or drama lessons. It's a repeat thing for them, and I know they're not the only ones who experience that, but I feel it's just an extra blow to their already crippled social situation.
 
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