General Chat

I worked in a school with 2 boys (in different classes) with Aspergers/Autism.
One was hilarious. I sat with him during tech drawing. The teacher was lovely.
The boy was extremely intelligent, and my aim with him, was to deter him from his obsessions.
So, he'd start talking about Nazis - some of his obsessions weren't particularly PC - and I'd have to find a way to subtly deflect this. It certainly kept the brain working, and for 'homework' I'd read up about the things he was obsessed with to find crafty ways of turnng the conversation.
I think it was about the second time I'd been with him. At the end of the class, a boy nearby turned to me and said 'I've never heard so many different topics discussed in an hour! Certainly makes 'D' seem more interesting'
As time went on, other children joined in our 'conversation', it was brilliant - they all knew what was expected (deferring unsuitable topics) and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. 'D' was accepted for what he was AND he was learning to socialise, and learn what was acceptable - the other children soon put him right if he committed a faux pas - both in and outside the classroom..
Unfortunately this was the only teacher who saw the benefits to ALL the children in this activity.

That's brilliant Maggie and that teacher is to be commended. Thank you for sharing that story. :-)