One of the most amazing encounters I have had in researching Asperger's occurred through none other than ESPN (sarcasm). Clay Marzo is a world class surfer with Asperger's who struggles to interact with the public scene surfing usually embraces. When interviewed about his condition and what it feels like to be around a large group of people and socialize, he says his cup overflows. He looks at it as if he has a cup for socializing and everyone has a big bucket. When this cup overflows he just has to get away from it all. As a future educator for students with special needs, I need to always be aware and accepting of the different issues my students could be having and so my best to really get in and understand what's going on inside that head of theirs.
Awesome post, Brendan! Thanks for sharing. Love the brain scans and the surfer example. It truly is an amazing condition-and even further supports the notion that we need to treat each and every student as an individual learner.
ReplyDeleteI saw this E:60 and loved it. What I found so interesting was Marzo's mother's admittance that she "just kept testing him" in hopes of an explicit medical diagnosis. She felt that, through a diagnosis, she could help her son to "feel more comfortable within himself". The entire idea of diagnosis hits home with me--my family has seen first hand through my older brother the often inefficient and ineffective nature of attempted diagnoses, and the ways in which the longing to "know" or "figure out" what is wrong can have such a dramatic effect on both the individual under question and their loved ones. As Marzo's mother states in the video, I believe that it is so important to simply allow students to "be themselves" within the classroom--if you know your students, and have come to recognize the accommodations and modifications that they need to succeed, then a predetermined medical diagnoses should not be necessary.
ReplyDeleteI also am hoping to one day have my masters in Autism. During that Skype interview I was also really impressed with how open he was with all of us. I think it is really important for all teachers to get to know their students, especially students with special needs, so that they can help the student with different strategies that allow them to participate in every aspect of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAs a high functioning adult who only recently was diagnosed with PDD, I would be interested in research that looked for activity that isn't picked up by these types of scans. I personally struggle with the argument that this is a disorder because I am capable of holding down a job, and I often find solutions to problems in minutes that others have struggled with for hours or more. I think my brain is wired differently or runs on different frequency waves. As a result I miss social queues that other see, but I see many things others miss.
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