There are many different disabilities to support but this month is National Autism Awareness Month. I found this video on YouTube and thought I would link you all.
I believe Hayley has Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's syndrome is often considered a high functioning form of autism. It can lead to difficulty interacting socially, repeat behaviors, and clumsiness. The Mayo Clinic has some awesome information on Asperger's Syndrome: Mayo Clinic - Asperger's Syndrome. Hayley has always been socially awkward in the school setting and with other people. Some of the most common symptoms of Asperger's are:
Asperger's syndrome symptoms include:
- Engaging in one-sided, long-winded conversations, without noticing if the listener is listening or trying to change the subject
- Displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact, few facial expressions, or awkward body postures and gestures
- Showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, weather or snakes
- Appearing not to understand, empathize with or be sensitive to others' feelings
- Having a hard time "reading" other people or understanding humor
- Speaking in a voice that is monotonous, rigid or unusually fast
- Moving clumsily, with poor coordination
Hayley is also obsessive about patterns, clothing items, puzzles and many other things. Most things have to be just perfect for her to accept the way she has done something. Another classic sign or symptom of Asperger's is that these individuals do not have any sort of cognitive delays, they are typically of above average intelligence. I am not going to sit here and gloat on my child like she is the best, but she is genuinely bored in school. She went into Kindergarten knowing how to count in English and Spanish, knew all her colors in English and Spanish, shapes, her alphabet and how to do simple addition. Halfway through the school year now she can count well above 500, doing triple digit addition and subtraction, knows her alphabet BACKWARDS (starting at Z), is doing GREAT with her reading and is ready to conquer the world at almost 6 years old.
A little background about Hayley, she was diagnosed in February 2011 with Sensory Processing Disorder by Easter Seals. We are constantly fighting with our school district about getting her an IEP, they keep saying it does not affect her educationally. She was “segregated” from the rest of her classmates due to her being “fidgety” and says her legs are bored during the day. Meaning that she needs sensory breaks during to day to be less fidgety and to not kick other kids under their group table. Her teacher’s response to this was that she was kicking other kids intentionally under the table during the day and that she didn’t understand what was going on. This is coming from a self proclaimed “Special Education Support Staff” member in her prior school district. I have asked the teacher numerous times for more challenging work for Hayley to do at home and every time I was given the answer of get her some workbooks. That is exactly what I have been doing lately. I touched base with her teacher again and told her that she was doing 1st and 2nd grade workbooks and she advised me that it was not a good idea because she would be bored again next year. So WTF (excuse my french) but what am I supposed to do now? Seriously, give me some suggestions lady! Suggestions that are actually going to be beneficial to my child. I will touch on this more in a later post and update as things come in from her teacher.
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| Hayley made this at Math Night at school on March 24, 2013 |
