Some advice..

[mumble_rocks]

I have recently been told due to people leaving my course at college there are going to merge my group of 9 and the other of 15 into one group in Sept. I stuggle to cope with a group of 9 some days let alone more!!

The alternative to leaving the course is to drop down a level instead of dipolma do certificate. This means less work which is good seeing as I have missed so many deadlines!

 

The downside the group dont know me, one of my lectures is concerned that I wont be accepted and would like to talk to the group before Sept when I join them. I have been asked what I want them to know about AS. He said is there any facts ect or any info to make it interesting. Also, can people think some ways to describe as behaviuor rocking, noise making ect as I can start doing this without being aware which can be embrassing also how can you explain sensory overload to NT's??

 

Thanks sorry for all the questions!

Katie

[Bagpuss]

Hi Katie,

 

Have you tried the NAS site? They may have information which could be downloaded and your lecturer may find helpful when talking to the rest of your class. Good luck with the new merged class, hope it goes ok for you, and think your signature is smashing <'>

[Bagpuss]

Here's the link

 

http://www.nas.org.uk

 

 

Take care

[Mumble]

Hi Katie,

 

I'm afraid I don't have any answers other than the NAS etc. publications which I'm not convinced are the most useful things for this purpose - they are brilliant in themselves but are general and probably appeal more to people who want to know, not to the people who need to know. If you have a mentor/tutor/lecturer you trust who you can work with, I would suggest that the best thing you can do is work with him/her using the NAS leaflets and other books to create your own single A4 page description, very briefly stating:

1. what AS is
2. how AS effects you (give specific examples - start with the positives)
3. how you experience these effects (i.e. what sensory overload is actually like - I'll come to this below)
4. what people can do to help you - generally and in 'difficult' situations
5. where people can go for more information and if you're happy for them to talk to you about it

I don't know about your experience, but I have found students in further/higher education are generally a bit more tolerant than in schools (though there's still a long way to go to get real understanding) and hopefully if they have something specific to you and can see that you are open about your diagnosis, they may be willing to support you. The students who are unwilling to listen/support you are not the type of student you want to be spending your time with anyway.

 

I have to say, I really admire you doing something like this to help other students know and understand. I'm at the end of the first year of my particular course and haven't told any students. Last week I was asked by another student if there was something 'cognitively different' about me that made me think and react in different ways. I couldn't come up with an answer for him and it has worried me a lot (particularly as he is the only student who will work with me when we have to pair up). I didn't handle his question well and had I had a preset response or some sheet to give him to explain the differences he has observed I think this would have made things much easier.

 

To some of your specific questions:

• Rocking and noise making - I do this too and I think I know what you mean about being unaware of it. Perhaps this could go in whatever you write for the other students so that they know to expect it. Think about when you do it - for me it is when I am stressed/not feeling in control and so seeking coherence over a situation. I think a useful way to explain it would be an exagerated form of the 'fiddling' many NTs do when stressed - think about stress balls - it's recognised that some physical outlet is needed for NTs to cope with stress. As your stresses, due to AS will be more exagerated, it seems only natural that your stress responses will be exagerated too.

• Sensory Overload - this is a very difficult one to explain because your sensory experiences are 'normal' to you and an NT's sensory experiences are 'normal' to him/her. To comprehend that different people have different 'normals' is quite a conceptually difficult idea to get across. Again, it is probably useful to think about when this affects you most and how you respond to it. I have heard is said that we experience sensory input at about 10 times the level of an NT. I think this is probably a useful way for NTs to understand how we experience the world although it is fraught with difficulties in that it fails to recognise that our sensory inputs change in different circumstances and it fails to show why this is a problem. After all, many NTs seem to like things loud and bright - a night club being an obvious example. If we were to say to these NTs that we experience noise 10 times as loud as they do, I can only imagine that they would think this sounds like a positive rather than the debilitating condition that it can be. I would suggest that writing specifics here into anything you write about AS would be helpful.

Perhaps think about college specific problems with sensory overload that you could try to explain (particularly in how people could help you):

1. In the cafe etc - needing a quiet place preferably with you back to a wall to absorb some of the noise
2. In seminars - only one person speaking at a time and facing you when they do so
3. In all classes - background noises removed wherever possible
4. Etc, etc - I can only give examples based on my experiences and the set up at my university.

I suppose some of the things you can say to help people understand is that you have (if you do) problems with:

• Blocking out background noise - hence easily distracted, or more so unable to concentrate because of a particular noise
• Noise discrimination - if multiple people are talking, being unable to focus on the one person you should be listening to etc.

I also picked up on your changing course levels and missing deadlines. Are you missing deadlines because of the actual quantity of work, because you find it difficult to organise your tasks and work to get the right things in at the right time or as an organisation thing where you forget things have to be done/where to hand them in etc? I have problems with a mixture of the last two and compensate by being over organised. Maybe your mentor/tutor/lecturer can give some help here? At times I'm struggling/have a lot on, my suspervisor sits down with me and helps me draw up a plan for the coming week including important dates that things have to be done on (I think since I accidently missed an important date - I'd done the work, I just totally forgot to hand it in - and he had to smooth things over to have it accepted, he's been keen to make sure this doesn't happen again - in effect spending 15 minutes a week timetableing is a lot less work for him than that taking to go against college regulations). Can you find someone to help you plan/use a planner yourself?

 

Sorry, I've gone on a little there. I hope it is some help. I'd be interested to know what advice others give and how you get on with this as I need to be making some similar decisions about what I tell others. I'd be particularly interested if you/your lecturer do end up telling the other students to know how they accept and react to the information given.

 

Oh, and like Bagpuss says, I think your signature is excellent!!

 

Mumble

[mumble_rocks]

Mumble thank you sooo much that is a really HUGE help!!!

 

I like the ideas and will share these with my lecture when I see him on monday. The reson I am behind on assignments are becasue of lack of organisation and because I am not getting the notes in lessons becasue of being distracted and a few of the lectures send me out for being distruptive (for makign noises! is disruptive!)

[summertime]

just to say that I think its awful that they throw you out of lectures for making noises, do they realise this is all part and parcel of your AS and to throw you out because of it is discrimination

[Clare63]

Mumble rocks,

Don't have any advice but read your thread with interest, I truly hope you get all the support and help you need and that you successfully complete your course.

I always find your posts interesting and informative, thank you for sharing your experience as a parent with a child with AS it really helps me to understand, not to mention the inspriation you give.

Good luck Katie.

Clare x x x

[Mumble]

Mumble thank you sooo much that is a really HUGE help!!!

 

I like the ideas and will share these with my lecture when I see him on monday. The reson I am behind on assignments are becasue of lack of organisation and because I am not getting the notes in lessons becasue of being distracted and a few of the lectures send me out for being distruptive (for makign noises! is disruptive!)

Glad it was some help. It sounds like you need some help with organisation. I don't know about you, but I find when I'm stressed I really need my tasks broken down for each day, but at other times I can cope with a weekly timetable. I should be getting mentoring support for this - at the moment as I said in my previous post, my supervisor does this for me and it is so helpful - I just worry a bit about being a burden on him.

 

As for getting the notes in lectures - could you record the lectures so you have something to refer to? I know that this is more difficult that it sounds - I've been advised to do it beause I too get distracted and find it very difficult to concentrate on writing notes and listening and thinking (I also have dyspraxia, so if I do write notes, either I don't get everything down becuase I've written slowly to make it neat, or I do get most of it down but can't then read what I've written because my writing's a mess). However, I only record the lectures taken by my supervisor who knows of my AS, because I'm too scared of the reactions of the other lecturers. One got very cross with another student who wanted to record, and since then I'm too scared to ask because I don't want to be shouted at. It annoys me, becuase the recorded lectures I have are so useful to me, and I can see how much more I would get out of other sessions. I think this, especially combined with the lecturer sending you out, suggests a need for your lecturers to be aware/more aware of your AS. Maybe if you write something for the students you could give the same, or a version of it, to the lecturers? Again, I know this is easy for me to write, and I haven't done it myself. It's what I'm working on (and terrified by) at the moment. Do let me know how you get on if you decide to write/share something. I really don't know what to do, my main concern being that if I do share something, I can't then go and take it back.

 

Hope it gets better,

 

Mumble

[mumble_rocks]

My lectures have all been told but whether there akshally understand or are willing to understnad seems to be the main problem here!

 

Mumble I have been given a dicaphone and my LSA out of lessons thinks I am using it in lessons but I really cant get the confidence to do this! Same as you really! I also have dyspraxia we seem to have a lot in common! I dont really know the group and for that reson I dont want to write it myslef as it may come across as OTT if that makes sence??