Schooling

Hi, I have a few questions for you. Can you please answer them for me? Thanks BV

Hi, I've answered them inmeddiatedly after your questions for you. Thanks AJ

Q: He was tested for autism then diagnosed as gifted (according to the psychologist he was "only"in the top 2% because he couldn't do any of the auditory processing tests) Although he is bright, he only ever scored average at school, there was just such a difference between he abilities at home and at school I really felt like maybe I was expecting too much from him and he wasn't gifted.

Answer: I have the same problem. At home H is a genius with building stuff, especially building paper model airplanes and rockets. He learns very quickly and remember things immediatedly. I've realised this year that the learning they do in school is more orientated for left-brain children, who are good with abstract things like ABC's, writing and reading and route learning (learning things out of there heads). Our kids is right-brained and they learns via visual and spatial learning. That would explain the ways your kid is learning. So everything I'm teaching H is via visual or spatial movements. For example I put the words sounds in different colours and blocks. Our short term memory can learn 7 units of meaning at one time, imagine 7 blocks next to each other touching. If you chunk the sounds into one block, you can remember more. The same principle works for our kids.That's why certain school don't work for our kids, because the teachers doesn't want to adapt their teaching to suite our kids. H also changed schools, and his present school try to accomodate him as far as possible. As I see it, it will always be a battle against teachers, his teacher this year (2008) teaching style is a visual and spatial style, so this year he made the most progress he ever made in his whole life.

Autism Support and News

Hi

My name is AJ. I have 2 Autistic sons. One is 8 years and the other is 6 years old.

I started a blog for support of Autism parents. I want parents to put their stories and advice on it, so that there is a 'constant' support going. Parents can also asks questions on it.

It is always helpful to hear other parent's stories and learn from their experiences. So go ahead and share your stories and advice with us!