Asperger Syndrome

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Asperger Syndrome

• Dr. Michael Friga
• SETRC Coordinator
• TST BOCES

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Pretending to be Normal

• the fun came from setting up and arranging
  things. Maybe this desire to organize things
  rather than play with things, is the reason I
  never had a great interest in my peers. They
  always wanted to use the things I had so
  carefully arranged. They would want to rearrange
  and redo. They did not let me control the
  environment.

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Quality of Life

• 40 of people with AS also have a secondary
  disorder
• ADHD- usually in earlier in childhood
• Depression- adolescence adulthood
• (2001 Great Britain) Only 12 were engaged in
  full time employment.

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Social Impairment

• Maturity in friendship skills
• Vocabulary for characterization
• Response to peer pressure
• Preference for solitude
• Unaware of the codes of social conduct

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Social Impairment

• Level of maturity in deceit
• Limited ability with team skills
• Limited range of facial expression and body
  language
• Difficulty reading the facial expression and body
  language of others
• Limited ability to conceptualize the thoughts and
  feelings of others

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Instrumental Social Learning

• Child learns the relationship between specific
  scripted actions and desired consequences
• Associate scripts with specific settings and
  times
• Learn repertoires of behavior for various
  situations that will increase the probability of
  favorable, desired outcomes and minimize negative
  consequences

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Examples

• Pointing to an out of reach toy
• Standing in line at the checkout counter of the
  supermarket to get your food

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Experience Sharing

• Desire and skills to be a good reciprocal
  playmate, value others points of view, develop
  friendships, and conduct other emotion-based
  transactions
• Experience-sharing is an end in itself
• Setting-specific scripts

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Example

• You work hard as part of a group to produce a new
  product, and when it is completed, you celebrate
  together and feel a special strength and
  camaraderie
• Development of reciprocal friendships is
  considered a primary marker of successful
  intervention

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Social-emotional Coordination

• Joint attention
• Theory of mind
• Social referencing seeking of emotional
  reactions of significant others in order to
  determine your own course of action
• We-go

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Social Emotional Coordination

• Co-regulation participants continually alter
  their actions in relation to ongoing and
  anticipated actions of their partners (not
  scripts).
• While playing my favorite game, I notice my
  friend is yawning and looks distracted. I ask
  him, are you getting bored? And then suggest he
  choose a new game.

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Speech - Pragmatics

• The art of conversation
• Reciprocity
• Repairing a conversation
• Knowing when and how to interrupt

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Speech - Pragmatics

• Inappropriate comments
• Keeping on track
• Primarily interested in an exchange of
  information
• Appropriate topicsMonologues or scripts
• Recognizing and accepting different views
• Literal interpretation

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Speech- Prosody Melody

• Lack of change of vocal tone and volume to
  indicate emotion and key words
• Lack or variation in pitch, stress, and
  rhythmaccent not consistent with that of the
  local children
• Difficulty understanding the relevance of the
  change in tone, inflection or emphasis on certain
  words when listening to the speech of others

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I Didnt Say She Stole My Money

• I didnt say she stole my money
• I DIDNT say she stole my money
• I didnt SAY she stole my money
• I didnt say SHE stole my money
• I didnt say she STOLE my money
• I didnt say she stole MY money
• I didnt say she stole my MONEY

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The Educational Problem

• Educators and schools view academics as their
  primary responsibility
• While students with AS may struggle with some
  academics, their greatest challenge is social
• IEPs rarely address teaching social skills

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Teaching Visually

• Visual schedule
• Graphic organizers, semantic maps, Venn diagrams
• Outlines
• Note taking direct verbal cues, subtle cues
• Assignment notebooks Timelines

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Explicit and Concrete!

• Direct Instruction in the Hidden Curriculum
• Mutually Understandable Frameworks
• Amplified, Spotlighted Communication and Actions
• Dont take misbehaviors personally
• Being Manipulative

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Structure Social Interactions

• Social Scripts
• Topic management
• Expanding and elaborating on range of topics
• Ending topics appropriately
• Social Stories
• Social Autopsy

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Direct Instruction

• Explicit verbal instructions
• Taught in rote fashion (like a foreign language)
• Meaning of eye contact, gestures, non-literal
  communication
• Teach idioms
• Encounters with unfamiliar people

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Guided Participation

• Share challenges with classmates
• Buddy System
• Video Reflection
• Structured Play
• Adult Mediated
• Peer Mediated

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Those Alien Eyes....
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Girl Talk
She went out with him last night and No
way! I am not kidding, she told me he goesand
she
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Lukes Rules

• Dont invade peoples space- that means get to
  close to them.
• Dont stare at someone for whatever reason.
• Dont make comments about peoples bodies, good
  or bad.
• Dont tell dirty, sexist or racist jokes or make
  sexual innuendos.
• Dont hug or touch people unless they are part of
  your family or they have agreed to be your
  boyfriend or girlfriend and you both agree to do
  it.

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Literalism
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Applied Behavior Analysis

• Discrimination training (videos)
• Self-management implementation
• Consistent, firm and controlled interventions
• Recognize Anticipate Loops

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