Content area
Full Text
This is a regular column which will serve to provide insight into the experience of students with special needs as well as suggestions for educators to help them reach their full potential. Each article will focus on an individual need or disability, its specific challenges, and practical recommendations for addressing those challenges. In this issue, Marie Fatscher, the Associate Director of the Learning Support Center at LIU Post, discusses Asperger 's syndrome and to best support these students.
As Associate Director of the Learning Support Center at LIU Post (formerly known as Long Island University/C. W. Post Campus), my areas of responsibility are Disability Support Services and our Academic Resource Program, which is our fee-for-service program for students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. Over the years, I have worked with a number of students with Asperger Syndrome (AS), and the one thing that I can say for sure, as many others have said, when you have met one person with AS, you have met one person with AS.
Of course, there are generalities in common that may or may not apply to the specific student you will encounter. Specifically, marked impairment in social interaction; rigidity - the inflexible adherence to a routine or ritual and/or the inability to handle change; sensitivity to the environment - lights, noises, loud voices; deficits with executive functioning - ability to navigate the environment, ability to monitor behavior, and ability to anticipate outcome and consequences of one's actions.
There is a wealth of information available to college personnel who are, or will be, working with students with AS. At the end of this article, I will provide several practical resources that I trust you will find informative and helpful. It is extremely important for college personnel to try to develop an understanding of how someone with AS perceives the world and most importantly the college campus.
Many times we are faced with meeting the student for the first time after a problem has occurred. With this in mind, it is also important that we stress to our colleagues who meet with students for admissions, orientation, academic advising and registration, residence life, and student activities the importance of referring a student to us. By being proactive rather than reactive, we...