Exert more effort!
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Exert more effort!
| Mon, 03-17-2008 - 5:25pm |
Ds just got his report card and in several areas the teacher wrote under comments "needs to exert more effort" or "not reaching his fullest potential" We have all heard the term blinded by their strengths. When the teacher says he needs to exert more effort and use reading comprehension strategies taught in class I can't help but bristle. How do you separate ability from disability? Reading comprehension and theory of mind go hand in hand and are a huge struggle for children with Asperger's. I don't want to make excuses for him but at the same time he has real learning challenges and they keep just saying how high functioning he is! How do you approach subjects that your Aspie has absolutely no interest in? Can you make an Aspie mad about Mario and Zelda games ever interested in river basins? I guess what I'm really asking is how do I know what his real "potential" is and when he is in over his head?

I'm sorry but I forget if your son has an IEP or a 504 plan? If he has either one, then he is officially classificed as having a disability and you have a leg to stand on here. They can't tell him to 'exert more effort" if his disability is holding him back.
If he is not classified, then maybe it is time to try to (again?) have him classified. i have ADHD and my report cards said crap like that from the day I walked through the school door until the day I walked out again. I ant tell you how frustrating it is to be labeled 'lazy' when you actually have real difficulties.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Ya, exert more effort just sounds like a nice way of saying your kid is lazy.
We're dealing with a very similar situation with your almost 11 year old aspie.
Unfortunately there are those people, some of whom include teacher, don't realize that Aspergers is IN FACT a very real and debilitating disability. very very often it does affect cognitive ability but because these kids have excellent memorization, rote memory, etc. teachers and others won't see how it can affect their cognitive ability and how this will show up in academic learning situations.
You are completely right it is a matter of being blinded by their strengths. I wouldn't take the teachers comments to heart. I would be concerned if her attitude is affecting your son.
For yourself, take a look at a couple things. First look at his last evaluations. Likely there are some scatter in the tests (some really high scores and some really low). Those low areas will tell you what kinds of things he struggles with. If you had a good psychologist or other evaluator they will explain those areas in the report when they are interpreting it. It is likely he has problems with things like executive function, organization, cognitive flexibility, etc. This will help you understand what areas he may struggle with and what he needs mroe help in. As a rule of thumb most aspies have more difficulty with things like organizing and writing papers and essays, organizing and prioritizing their work, they may have trouble with work completion or turning in assignments, abstract concepts, multistep problems, reading comprehension(however, if the comprehension questions are mainly detail recall they may look like they do well on this).
On comprehension, watch out for that one. It is tricky. My son often got those comprehension questions for readings where it was 4 questions about details and 1 that was inferencing. He got an 80% nearly all the time and you can guess what he got wrong. However, if he was asked to write a book report he could not even come close and would break down. His comprehension appeared higher on those kinds of tests than it actually was. He was not able to put together the story and summarize it afterward.
Also, you know your son best. Though his behavior you can see if he is putting in his best effort. My kids know moms only rule is that they try their best. If they can honestly tell me they tried their best then all is golden (even if they failed, they can always just try again). I have gotten to where I can tell pretty much when they are trying and when they are pulling my leg. Take the objective stuff like test scores otu of the equation and study the behavior. Soemtimes it seems like our kids aren't trying because they fall apart and do nothing because they are under stress. It is hard to tease out when it is really they can't do more and when they are working it but you can do it.
Renee