| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | mainstream school? |
| Mainstream or Special Schools for Asperger Children? | | | | Frequently, not very well. With their unique interpretation |
| There has been a lot of emphasis over recent years | | | | of the world, and of social interactions, they often end |
| on "inclusion". The idea is that integrating children into | | | | up lashing out or getting into conflict with both other |
| mainstream schools rather than placing them in special | | | | students and teachers. Often they feel they are being |
| schools is a "Good Thing". But is it? | | | | unfairly treated, and unfairly punished. |
| Children with Aspergers syndrome see the world in a | | | | Fast forward this a few years and you have a |
| different way. With their fixed ideas and concrete | | | | dispirited child who is on the verge of being expelled |
| thinking they can often come across as very pedantic. | | | | from the school for bad behavior. |
| They may also be obsessed with some micro-topic | | | | A very different scenario could occur in a special |
| and have little interest in general academic topics that | | | | school. Staffed with teachers and carers with both the |
| they may regard as irrelevant. With their social skill | | | | traning and the time to take a special interest in these |
| problems they over act inappropriately in social | | | | children, the kids often get much more support and |
| interactions. | | | | help with their social skills. Their self esteem improves, |
| Because of all this, other people, particularly their peers, | | | | and so does their behavior. |
| may regard them as "weird" or "odd". Often this ends | | | | The students, likewise, tend to be much more tolerant |
| up with them being teased and bullied. Then, because | | | | of each other's idiosyncracies, since they have |
| of their problems with social interactions, they can | | | | themselves suffered teasing. With the right |
| react to this with aggression or violence - lashing out at | | | | environment, these children develop a positive self |
| those that torment them. | | | | esteem, a fascination for learning (in their unique style) |
| At the same time they have great difficulties with their | | | | and, ultimately, a much better outcome than they might |
| teachers who are just trying to teach a subject. With | | | | have had in a mainstream school. |
| their pedantic interest in micro-topics they can be very | | | | Every child is difficult. Surely it is logical that we cannot |
| tiresome to teach. Not only that, but if the teacher | | | | just apply a blanket ideology to all children as though |
| seems to handle situations in any way unfairly, this too | | | | they were merely sausage meat going through a |
| will be challenged by the Asperger child. | | | | sausage factory? Unique children require unique |
| Being perceived as oddballs by their peers, and having | | | | solutions in order to succeed, and if that means a |
| to cope with teachers who do not understand their | | | | special school, well, then so be it! |
| ways of thinking, how to these children fare in | | | | |