Problem Statement Asperger's Education

As my research on Asperger’s Syndrome has deepened I’ve learned a lot about the issues that those afflicted with Asperger’s face daily. Unfortunately I’ve also learned that a lot of the issues that Asperger students face could be eradicated with base line knowledge and with communications strategy training. In my research I found that there is ample information on both Asperger’s Syndrome and strategies for working with and communicating Asperger students.
The problem that I encountered was that the information was scattered with no real cohesive websites that covered more than one aspect of Asperger’s Syndrome. What especially hoped to find was a website dedicated to educating teachers on Asperger’s Syndrome, a site that not only informed but also trained teachers on strategies and methodologies for classroom achievement. There is great need for an Asperger’s website that is dedicated to the education of those who teach the Asperger’s afflicted.

Sometimes the failed plan is the plan. My meeting with Robert to talk over my action research plan didn’t happen due to previous engagement that Robert had forgotten about, so we rescheduled for next week. The time I would have with Robert I did researching for my current groups proposal and project during that I stumbled across a lot of materials for my own action research. I’m finding out rather rapidly that my reading list is starting to grow like a bamboo in the monsoon season. I have also come to realize that the delay in my meeting with Robert has allowed me to become more knowledgeable on my subject of Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and the socialization issues that students inflicted with AS face. I really believe that the delay in my meeting has allowed me to become more of a student of AS and will take my meeting time with Robert more productive because of the groundwork we won’t have to cover. Often, it is said that a little bit knowledge can be a dangerous thing but I would argue that a little bit of knowledge is also a starting place or a key that may unlock the door to great knowledge and without that knowledge we may never ask the questions how and why.

Why Asperger's Syndrome and the Critical Focus Question

Asperger’s Syndrome has recently been brought to the forefront of my attention due to great number of young people who continuously cross my path in education. One of these young people captured my heart one morning, often this young man and I struggled to communicate and connect with each other. One day for some reason I asked him what was on his mind and he told me that he had joke book and he was excited that he had learned so many jokes to tell, for the next twenty minutes we spent sharing jokes with one another. My relationship with this young man was forever changed that morning and all because of changing my approach in communications and simply asking what was on his mind. All of my earlier attempts to connect with this young man were failures, simply because of my approach, all my motives were right but the method I used was all-wrong.

So after a lot of soul searching I’ve come to this critical focus question. Is there teaching and communications training for traditional classroom teachers who have mainstreamed students with Asperger’s Syndrome?

So What is Asperger's Syndrome?

An autism related developmental disorder characterized by severe and sustained impairment in social interaction and nonverbal communication and by restricted, repetitive, pedantic and stereotyped activities, interests, speech and routines.

Sometimes my mind is my worst enemy, I love to dream big dreams but that’s is usually where my dreams end, because the next step is always the hardest one for me, I don’t always know how to make my dreams come true. So, what’s my dream? I want to have an action research project that shows through media what it’s like to have Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) to really be able to convey what it is like to live and function in an AS world. What an amazing starting point it would be to show the world that an AD child lives in, what a powerful teaching tool this could be, what a connecting point. I hope that this one dream that will come to life.

Somebody once said, “ The more I know the more I realize I don’t know” and so it is with my research on Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The deeper I dig the more I find, the more I find the deeper I dig. Sometimes oddly enough it is the search itself that changes the course of the project and then when you least expect it, an epiphany strikes you and realize that the information you’ve been looking for is the project. In essence my action research has become the charge to share with my colleagues what AS is and how to communicate with students afflicted the disease. Hopefully, my passions won’t cloud my desire to have other commit to communicating and entering the world of the AS learner. So off I sail, in a new direction, I hope that waters are smooth and the journey is a rich one.