Quote:
Originally Posted by boomoo
Not at all. Just wondered how I would have been diagnosed today.
I think too many children are being diagnosed as autistic or asperger's. I began teaching 50 years ago and I never came across a child who could not communicate with me. There were plenty of children who were afraid of a teacher and could not speak to them. The child did not have a problem the teacher did.
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From what I have heard from parents of children with aspergers or autism, or indeed other cognitive issues, like dyslexia or dyspraxia, it is quite difficult to get a diagnosis, and even more difficult to translate that into meaningful in-school assistance (such as learning assistants).
Back when I was teaching adult lit, we had a number of students with developmental disorders of various kinds. Most of them had gone through their schooling without any kind of diagnosis or recognition of what was going on in their brains that was different to the other kids. They were just seen as awkward, particularly those on the autistic spectrum. Awkward and insolent, even rude (that literal view of the world and lack of social grace). Some were probably thought of as shy, or nervous.
If they exhibit only mild signals these can easily be misread. And however they manage at primary school, most of them seem to have found secondary school a much harder trial.
Maybe you have had kids come through your class that were on the autistic spectrum, but only exhibiting mild and easily misread signs. And in the intimacy of a primary school class, with a teacher they trusted, they may well learn to cope with that setting quite quickly (I assume you are talking about primary school age kids?). Those same children who coped ok in primary school may not then fare so well in the less intimate setting of secondary school.
Often, the people I was working with had begun to have early issues at primary school, in terms of falling behind and feeling different, but it was often the move to secondary school that signalled a break down in their schooling.