He loses his temper frequently...

Question

My son is 10 years old and awaiting an Aspergers diagnosis. He frequently misinterprets the actions of others and becomes quite angry. He loses his temper frequently. How can we help him?

Answer

Your son is experiencing a great deal of stress due to the symptoms of Asperger’s (high-functioning autism).

Some kids react by becoming depressed, some become anxious, and others become angry and experience rage against the frustrating events that occur in their day.

Some kids externalize their feelings and blame others, while some internalize their feelings and have a difficult time controlling their anger.

Their may be no particular event to his anger – just an aggressive mood or reaction to a frustrating experience.

Encourage self-control and teach your child to consider alternative behaviors.

Self-control can be strengthened by teaching your child to stop and count to ten, taking a deep breath and reminding themselves to keep calm.

Or for some children it is helpful that they have an agreed room or particular space that they take themselves too when they feel that they are getting anxious/angry.

Specific relaxation techniques can be practiced and your child can be taught the cues when they must calm down and relax. Explain the alternative to your child and in specific terms.

There are three stages to help your child when he/she is losing his temper:

1. Make a list of signals – Construct a list of the signals that indicate the person is becoming increasingly stressed (e.g. rocking, reddened face, pacing, shouting etc.).

2. Draw attention to the signals – Once these sign are recognized, the person’s attention must be drawn to their actions and behavior. The angry individual is usually the last to recognize the change in their behavior.

3. Find calming alternatives – Then construct a list of activities which will calm them and encourage them to participate in those behaviors.

Keep in mind that your son will most likely have difficulty expressing what is making him angry.

You will need to assess the situation to determine what may be provoking him.

Another alternative is to keep him engaged in activities that burn off energy and reduce his need to express the anger that he is feeling.

The Six Characteristics of Aspergers

1. Cognitive Issues—

Mindblindness, or the inability to make inferences about what another person is thinking, is a core disability for those with Aspergers. Because of this, they have difficulty empathizing with others, and will often say what they think without considering another's feelings. The youngster will often assume that everyone is thinking the same thing he is. For him, the world exists not in shades of gray, but only in black and white. This rigidity in thought (lack of cognitive flexibility) interferes with problem solving, mental planning, impulse control, flexibility in thoughts and actions, and the ability to stay focused on a task until completion. The rigidity also makes it difficult for an Asperger youngster to engage in imaginative play. His interest in play materials, themes, and choices will be narrow, and he will attempt to control the play situation.

2. Difficulty with Reciprocal Social Interactions—

Those with Aspergers display varying difficulties when interacting with others. Some kids and adolescents have no desire to interact, while others simply do not know how. More specifically, they do not comprehend the give-and-take nature of social interactions. They may want to lecture you about the Titanic or they may leave the room in the midst of playing with another youngster. They do not comprehend the verbal and nonverbal cues used to further our understanding in typical social interactions. These include eye contact, facial expressions, body language, conversational turn-taking, perspective taking, and matching conversational and nonverbal responses to the interaction.

3. Impairments in Language Skills—

Those with Aspergers have very specific problems with language, especially with pragmatic use of language, which is the social aspect. That is, they see language as a way to share facts and information (especially about special interests), not as a way to share thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The youngster will display difficulty in many areas of a conversation processing verbal information, initiation, maintenance, ending, topic appropriateness, sustaining attention, and turn taking. The youngster's prosody (pitch, stress, rhythm, or melody of speech) can also be impaired. Conversations may often appear scripted or ritualistic. That is, it may be dialogue from a TV show or a movie. They may also have difficulty problem solving, analyzing or synthesizing information, and understanding language beyond the literal level.

4. Motor Clumsiness—

Many children with Aspergers have difficulty with both gross and fine motor skills. The difficulty is often not just the task itself, but the motor planning involved in completing the task. Typical difficulties include handwriting, riding a bike, and ball skills.

5. Narrow Range of Interests and Insistence on Set Routines—

Due to the Asperger youngster's anxiety, his interactions will be ruled by rigidity, obsessions, and perseverations (repetitious behaviors or language) transitions and changes can cause. Generally, he will have few interests, but those interests will often dominate. The need for structure and routine will be most important. He may develop his own rules to live by that barely coincide with the rest of society.

6. Sensory Sensitivities—

Many Asperger kids have sensory issues. These can occur in one or all of the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste). The degree of difficulty varies from one individual to another. Most frequently, the youngster will perceive ordinary sensations as quite intense or may even be under-reactive to a sensation. Often, the challenge in this area will be to determine if the youngster's response to a sensation is actually a sensory reaction or if it is a learned behavior, driven mainly by rigidity and anxiety.

Quiz: Does your child have Aspergers?

1. Does your youngster tend to focus on one subject, to the exclusion of all others?

Yes - she latches onto one topic of interest and learns everything there is to know about it. She won't even think about something else!
No - she has some favorite topics, but displays a wide range of interests.

2. Does your youngster have difficulty interacting socially, particularly when it comes to nonverbal communication?

Yes - she seems unable to pick up cues in people's body language and vocal inflection.
No - she seems to be able to read the mood of a room pretty well, and understands what is and isn't appropriate in a conversation.

3. Does your youngster vary her vocal inflections, volume, or pitch?

No - she speaks in a monotone, regardless of the subject or the environment.
Yes - she shouts, whispers, laughs, whimpers, and more.

4. Does your youngster adhere to rigid, repetitive routines when it comes to everyday tasks?

Yes - everything has to be just so, from where we sit for breakfast to her bedtime routines.
No - she's pretty free and easy with her daily routine.

5. How are your youngster's motor skills developing?

A. She's a little behind other kids her age.
B. She's right where she should be.

6. Does your youngster understand idiomatic expressions, such as slang terms and figures of speech?

No - she takes everything literally.
Yes - if she doesn't know them right away, she easily learns their meanings.

7. Does your youngster show an interest in playing with others?

Yes - she's always engaging with other kids.
No - sometimes it's as though she doesn't realize there are other kids present.

8. How does your youngster's IQ compare to those of her peers?

A. She exhibits median intelligence, or is even smarter than her peers.
B. She has a lower IQ than most of her peers.

9. How old was your youngster when you first suspected she might have Aspergers?

A. Three years old or younger.
B. Older than three years.

10. Are there any cases of Aspergers in your family history?

Yes.
No.

Scoring—

If at least 6 of your answers coincide with the answers below, your youngster may have Aspergers:

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. No
4. Yes
5. A.
6. No
7. No
8. A.
9. A.
10. Yes

Classroom Difficulties of Children with Asperger Syndrome: Overview for Teachers

What is Aspergers?

Aspergers (high functioning autism) is a complex developmental disability marked by impairments in socialization, communication, cognition, and sensation. Like classic autism, Aspergers is a neurological disorder that affects a child’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is a lifelong disorder that carries with it considerable and long-term behavior problems. Although the characteristics of Aspergers will differ from person to person, common effects of the disorder include:

• A persistent preoccupation with objects or narrowly focused topics of interest

• An inflexible adherence to a nonfunctional routine or ritual

• Difficulties with fine-motor skills and sensory integration

• Repetition of movements or words and phrases

• Trouble understanding social cues and conversational language styles

Aspergers may be diagnosed when a child exhibits atypical repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, and activities, such as the examples listed above. All people possess some of these traits, but it is the excessive presence of these characteristics that makes life challenging for children with Aspergers. It is also important to note that these behaviors are neurologically based and do not represent the child’s willful disobedience or noncompliance.

Because Aspergers is a neurological disorder, children with the disorder often have difficulty controlling certain behaviors. It is important to understand the underlying psychological and medical bases of the disorder to develop an effective teaching strategy, as well as to help the child better manage these behaviors.

Aspergers is one of five Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) that vary in the severity of symptoms, age of onset, and presence of other disorders like mental retardation. Because language impairments are not a hallmark of Aspergers, kids may not be diagnosed with the disorder until they are in school and other symptoms emerge. Other PDDs include autism, Rett’s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). The cause of PDDs, including Aspergers, is unknown.

The term Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), which is frequently used in the field and in professional literature, is not a medical term. ASD is normally used to describe three of the PDDs―Aspergers, autism, and PDD-NOS―because these three disorders share common characteristics that are manifested on a continuum from mild to severe. Kids with Aspergers have, by definition, normal to above-normal intelligence, whereas kids with autism or PDD-NOS can have a range of intellectual functioning from below to above normal.

What Does Aspergers Look Like?

As mentioned above, the main characteristics of Aspergers involve impairments in socialization, communication, cognition, and sensation. These characteristics exist on a continuum, varying from severe disability to minor impairment. Each child with Aspergers is different and, as such, will present his or her own unique challenges.

Particularly challenging for teachers is the fact that symptoms can vary widely from day to day. It can often seem that the student you are teaching today is a completely different person from the student you taught yesterday. The chart below lists sample characteristics a child with Aspergers may exhibit that can impact the classroom experience. As emphasized previously, however, each child with Aspergers is unique and may display some, many, or none of these behaviors.

Common Characteristics of Children with Aspergers:

• Social Challenges
• Abnormal inflection and eye contact
• Concrete, literal thinking
• Difficulty differentiating relevant and irrelevant information
• Difficulty engaging in reciprocal conversation
• Difficulty generalizing and applying learned knowledge and skills across different situations, settings, and people
• Difficulty interpreting others’ nonverbal communication cues
• Difficulty understanding social nuances such as sarcasm or metaphor
• Difficulty with fine-motor skills, such as handwriting
• Echolalia – may repeat last words heard without regard for meaning
• Focus on single topic of interest that may not be of interest to others
• Inappropriate facial expressions or gestures
• Lack of understanding of social cues and subtleties
• Literal interpretation of others’ words
• Obsessive and narrowly defined interests
• Over- or under-sensitivity to different sensory stimuli, including pain
• Poor judge of personal space – may stand too close to other students
• Poor problem-solving and organizational skills
• Tendency to speak bluntly without regard for impact of words on others
• Universal application of social rules to all situations

What are the Classroom Challenges?

The characteristics of Aspergers just described translate into challenges to learning, behavior, and socialization for the youngster with the disorder and pose just as significant difficulties for the teacher in terms of teaching, controlling behaviors, and maintaining a classroom environment that is conducive to learning by all students, including the youngster with Aspergers. The chart below provides a quick reference guide for some of the common difficulties kids with Aspergers have in the classroom.

Common Classroom Difficulties of Kids with Aspergers:

• Academic difficulties

• Appear “normal” to other people

• Difficulties with abstract concepts

• Difficulty with learning in large groups

• Difficulty with reciprocal conversations

• Emotional vulnerability

• Inability to make friends

• Insistence on sameness/difficulty with changes in routine

• Interests limited to specific topics

• Low frustration tolerance

• Motor clumsiness

• Pedantic speech

• Poor concentration

• Poor coping strategies

• Poor organization skills

• Poor writing skills (fine-motor problems)

• Problem-solving abilities tend to be poor

• Restricted range of interests

• Sensory issues

• Socially naïve and literal thinkers

• Tend to be reclusive

• Vocabulary usually great; comprehension poor

Because these kids have so many strengths, it is often easy to overlook their weaknesses. Also, some of their behaviors may be misinterpreted as “spoiled” or “manipulative,” resulting in the mistaken impression that kids with Aspergers are being defiant and “troublemakers.” It is important for teachers to recognize that inappropriate behaviors are usually a function of poor coping skills, low frustration tolerance, and difficulty reading social cues.

Most teaching strategies that are effective for students with autism (structure, consistency, etc.) also work for students with Aspergers. However, because these kids are often aware that they are different and can be self-conscious about it, teachers may need to be subtler in their intervention methods.

Aspergers Students: Tip for Teachers

As a teacher, you are responsible for helping to shape the lives of young people and preparing them to be successful adults. Your Aspergers (high-functioning autistic) students may come from different family backgrounds and leave your classroom for different futures, but they spend a significant portion of their young lives with you right now. Next to their parents and immediate family, you have the greatest opportunity and the power to positively influence their lives. To do this successfully, you need to understand and be able to meet their needs. You already know that, in addition to intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm, teaching requires patience, sensitivity, and creativity.

Having a youngster with Aspergers in your classroom will present unique challenges for you as a teacher, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn new ways to teach young people the academic and social skills that will last them a lifetime.

With the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975 and subsequent legislation, all kids with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education. Inclusive classrooms, where kids with all types of disabilities are included in the general education classroom for part or all of the day, are now the norm in public schools. Given the increasing numbers of kids diagnosed with Aspergers, chances are good you will have a youngster with the disorder in your school and at some point in your classroom.

Having a youngster with Aspergers in your class will have an impact on the educational and social environment of the classroom. Kids with Aspergers have academic strengths and weaknesses like all kids, but the effects of the disorder require different teaching strategies to discover and capitalize on their strengths and facilitate successful learning. Kids with Aspergers also face many obstacles to successful social interactions and relationship building, which are essential elements of the school experience for young people.

As a teacher, you can help ensure that kids with Aspergers are fully integrated into the classroom and are able to participate socially with their peers in the day-to-day activities of school life.

The first challenge for you in teaching a youngster with Aspergers is to recognize it as a serious mutual challenge for the student and you. It can be very deceptive, almost invisible to the untrained eye at first. Kids with Aspergers can look and act like their typical peers and often perform as well or better academically, thus masking the potential effects of Aspergers.