It can take any teacher a while to figure out the strengths and challenges of
children at the beginning of a school year. A child with Asperger
Syndrome, or a similar autism spectrum disorder, may not benefit from waiting to
be figured out.
If you’re a parent, you’d like to get teachers as much information as
possible about your child. If you’re a teacher, you want to get helpful
information in amounts you can absorb as you’re being deluged with
"beginning of school" input.
Both parents and teachers can be well served by a technique that’s used by
executives and politicians: the briefing document.
As a former corporate media relations manager, I prepared a lot of these.
As the name implies, a briefing document needs to be short. I’d condense
what I wanted executives to know before they were interviewed by reporters to
one or two pages. I’d include the name of the reporter and the
publication, the topic of the interview, the questions they were likely to be
asked, key data I’d researched that might be helpful in answering, and some
information about the reporter and his or her recent stories.
The shorter the document, the more likely an executive (or busy teacher) will
read it. Sometimes the briefings were verbal. I recall an evening
when I briefed our company treasurer over the phone for a Wall Street Journal
interview scheduled for the next morning. She took my information with the
phone to her ear, sitting on the edge of the tub as she bathed her four-year old
son.
Parents can prepare a briefing document that profiles their child with Asperger
Syndrome for teachers. In addition to being concise, the information
should be relevant. What are the most important things you want your
child’s teacher to know? Consider putting key points in a summary at the
top of the document.
Your summary might read something like:
"Bill is an outgoing child with an encyclopedic knowledge of Greek
mythology. Last year he enthusiastically participated in class discussions
and excelled academically. He came in second in the school spelling bee.
Bill respects his teachers, but because he has Asperger Syndrome, he can
sometimes appear to be intentionally rude when he’s actually missing social
cues. For example, Bill can get caught up in answering a question and
attempt to tell everything he knows on a subject. Last year, Bill and his
teacher worked out cues that would signal Bill that it was time to stop talking
and give others a turn. These cues, and a presentation that explained
Bill’s Asperger tendencies to classmates, helped Bill contribute, be accepted,
and have a successful year."
You can then flesh out the profile in more detail, remembering to focus on the
positive and limit the document to a page or two. That doesn’t
mean providing one page of tiny type and small margins. Let the teacher
see at a glance that it’s a quick, interesting read.
Here’s a link to a Positive Student Profile questionnaire posted on the
website of the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center. http://www.cpacinc.org/wp-
content/uploads/2009/12/
Positive-Student-Profile1.pdf
If you’re a parent, you can fill out this questionnaire and provide it to your
child’s teacher as is, or use it as a framework for a custom profile you write
yourself. If you're able to meet with the teacher, (a great idea) the
briefing document helps you focus on key points -- and you can leave it with the
teacher. If you’re a teacher, you might want to share this questionnaire
with parents to help you learn more about a child with Asperger Syndrome in your
class.
Providing a teacher with concise, helpful, accurate information about a child
with Asperger Syndrome before school starts is a win for the child, his parents
and the teacher. And what a bonus to start off the school year with a
win-win-win.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dan Coulter is the author of the DVD’s "Asperger
Syndrome, Success in the Mainstream Classroom" and "Understanding
Elementary School Classmates with Asperger Syndrome." You can find
more articles on his website: www.coultervideo.com
