Reflection on Aspergers College - Essay Example

Running head: Reflection A Personal Reflection on Aspergers College First and The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my personal experience with the project of implementing and designing a College for Aspergers students. I hope to clarify how this college would contribute to its students in the following categories: career and professional education, personal development, and the student’s capability to act as effective citizens locally, nationally and globally. In doing this I hope to also indicate which part of the project I took responsibility for and carried out.

A Personal Reflection on Aspergers College Aspergers is one of the fastest growing learning impairments we see in the field of Education today. Aspergers students are typically extremely bright and have the potential to reach high educational achievements; however, the typical school setting does not meet their unique learning styles and requirements, and therefore hinders their success. As a part of a Counseling and Design course I, along with a group of my peers, have undertaken a project to design a College that would cater to Aspergers students.

By looking at how this college will help the students with: career and professional education, personal development, and the student’s capability to act as effective citizens locally, nationally and globally, it is easy to see why this college is in desperate need in the educational realm today. We will also take a look at exactly what my contributions were in helping design this college prototype. Career and Professional Education At the beginning of the semester I was excited, with anticipation, about the Counseling and Design course I was to undertake.

Sitting on the committee of college council, I was given the opportunity to approve, or send back, curriculum proposals. I currently sit on committees at my place of employment, where we discuss and go over curriculum design and change of courses. This class, however, opened up a bigger picture to designing courses, by way of designing a complete college. There were several parts of the learning aspects that took place in the classroom that also peaked my interest. One part in particular was when we went through the slides that discussed learning assessments.

During this time the professor noted that, “we should teach the way people learn”. This stood out to me because the majority of teachers tend to teach the way they learn, not their students. I have always felt that there should be varying methods of learning the same information. Seeing that not one style of teaching fits all students, by teaching it in various ways a teacher can insure learning takes place, which is the ultimate goal. This notion became extremely important when designing the Aspergers College, due to the fact that this portion of the population, in particular, cannot learn with the conventional teaching and learning methods used in classrooms today.

Personal development Having a college for students with Aspergers’ and others on the Autism Spectrum will contribute significantly to the growth and personal development of our college graduates. Technology based, the college affords the student the best line of communication. Therefore, working on a College for Asperger students is an ideal solution to many receiving a college education. The program we embarked on will help students learn social and behavioral skills in order to understand the world around them.

It will also teach them skills necessary to prepare them for a career in the field of their choice. Planned activities, and peer interactions will be designed to help the students understand the world around them. They will learn various ways of thinking and making connections in their environment. Author, Olga Bogdashina, stated that this is important since most students do not connect to those in their surroundings (Bogdashina, 2005). One way in which we will help Asperger students overcome this is by teaching them how to socialize and understand so called “normal cues” the general population possesses.

One example of this is maintaining eye contact when speaking with others typically shows a sign of respect. Another example would be, understanding facial cues, as either happy sad, may or may not reflect the person emotions inside. Due to the fact that Aspergers students do not relate to the world in this way it is sometimes difficult for them to decipher these clues in the world around them. In one study conducted by Baker and Welkowitz called, Asperger’s Syundrome, Intervening In Schools, Clinics, And Communities, it was postulated that in the “Theory of mind or (ToM) is a selected term to mean ‘mind reading’” (Baker, & Welkowitz, 2005).

It is in this reading the mind, or predicting what others will next, in which patterns are observed. Everyone does this in everyday life, but unlike typical individuals, a person with Aspergers reading these cues may not readily recognize them. Due to this they may not respond, as one should depending on condition. For example, if someone has a sad look on their face, the Asperger person may believe the person is sad. If the person is asked, the person may say, that they are okay, even if their face says otherwise.

This inferencing could present most confusing to a person with Aspergers due to their lack of connection with emotion and emotional cues. Sometimes Aspergers’ students have a difficult time with noise, sudden changes, or movements and disruption of routine (Baker & Welkowitz, 2005; Bogdashina, 2005). Therefore when any of these takes place their behavior has a tendency to become uncontrollable. To those that do not know what the behavior implies, or why it is according, many will often become highly upset and may even do things that will get them in trouble with the law (Weidle, Bolme, & Hoeyland, 2011).

Students learn how to react or how to not react after dealing with certain situations and learning to deal with others (Baker, & Welkowitz, 2005). Many Asperger students are smart, socially shy, and unfortunately are misunderstood being as arrogant (Baker & Weldowitz, 2005). They are likely to exhibit cogent reasoning as well and do not understand the typical: “joke” or that people make feel one way and look another than people may use around them. For that reason, some think they are without feeling.

Capacity to Act as Effective Citizens Locally, Nationally and Globally As our Aspergers students are understood, they will learn to trust, others become grow confident in themselves. Students will have community service and become immersed in the community at large. One of the model colleges is, Gallaudet University. Gallaudet centers on its students success by providing a host of service in their Career development area ("Gallaudet University," 2011). In our Aspergers College there will be a host of different aspects that will be offered so that student can feel connected, and begin to determine where they what they would like to do with their life.

Such as, meeting with their advisors, where they are aided in making important career decisions. The student is not left alone to experience what area of employment they want to pursue. Since our Aspergers students are highly intelligent, they usually will study careers in technology, business, or the arts. At the start of college our student may obtain jobs in local stores, nurseries, and the community garden. Some are good with working with their hands, such as in farming and other business ventures.

Our aim is to empower our students so that they will be employable in whatever path they choose to pursue. Widening a student’s curriculum is necessary to enrich student life so they may benefit from a well-rounded college education. These students do well in careers such as technology, engineering, fine arts and science which are part of progressive learning. Intertwined in their curricular courses, students gain valuable knowledge to which the can contribute to society locally. To aid our students in becoming citizens who are adept nationally and globally our college will administer imaginative, innovative, and creative approaches to all their endeavors.

In doing so we hope to enable our students to feel a since of respect for their self in the development of their personal, social, physical and intellectual abilities. One this since of self is realized, and once they make the connection that they have the ability to take charge of their lives and destinations in this way it will help them in forming caring and collaborative relationships with other members of the community. This is due to the fact that through this education and personal development they will gain a sense of respect for the varied qualities of individuals, communities and globally.

This should also aid them in becoming ethical as well as responsible citizens in the service of their community and in the pursuit of ecological sustainability. Above all however, the Aspergers College, would hope to enable our students with what should be the ultimate goal of any learning institution and that is the ability of the students to continue a lifetime of learning and personal achievement. The Part of the Project I Carried Out I like to see the big picture before I can understand the smaller picture.

For me, looking at the outside, then breaking it down into smaller parts aids my understanding of what I am about to embark upon, and enhances my comprehension. It was not until the last piece of information was given did the whole idea, for me, come together. I aided in researching and brainstorming all of the activities and goals the college planned for their particular population. I researched the usage of technology in the classrooms and provided the sight to other member sent links to each other’s.

I also researched a local school and college that dealt with student son the autism spectrum and aspersers. I interviewed our learning specialist in the disabilities office at the community college. However, the information the disabilities coordinator provided was only conductive to her work with students on the community college level. In addition, I provided the Learning Outcomes and Assessments, of which we all took part in revising and rearranging. I did not have a lot on the PowerPoint because I did not have full access to it until the evening before our presentation.

I asked several times what everyone was working on and all I got was “Do the parts emailed to the professor.” Miscellaneous On the other hand, there was huge problem with the group sharing and discussing information. I do not know why this was the case, nor was anyone talking. We would meet together, and not become productive. When trying to assertion what information we had and what was needed next, the answers were given in one to three syllables. This was frustrating as I was looking up information of which I did not know would get included in the citing for the papers.

We did agree that for no duplication purposes, the work would be combined, which was fine. This is not intended to sound like a gripe session, but I am not used to working with groups that do not talk to each other. A couple of times I felt like asking to go with another group, but I decided that, that is what many people of color do and then blame others for their failure, I decided to go on, and whatever the outcome, I would deal with it in the end. Conclusion This project has taught me invaluable lessons into the life and learning capabilities of the Aspergers students.

It also gave me more insight into the general learning and teaching requirements that go into the educational realm. After looking at how our prototype would help students in career and professional education, personal development, and the student’s capability to act as effective citizens locally, nationally and globally, it became clear that a college of this magnitude is definitely needed in the world today. I feel what I learned from working in my group has also prepared me for future projects in and out of the classroom.

References Antioch College. (2011). Retrieved from http://antiochcollege.com Baker, L., & Welkowitz, L. (2005). Asperger’s Syundrome, Intervening In Schools, Clinics, And Communities. Mawheh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Bogdashina, O. (2005). Communication Issues In Autism And Asperger Syndrome Do We Speak The Same Language?. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Associates, Inc . Gallaudet University. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.gallaudet.edu/ New England College. (2011).

Retrieved from http://www.nec.edu Weidle, B., Bolme, B., & Hoeyland, A. L. (2011). Are Peer Support Groups For Adolescents With Asperger’s Syndrome Helpful?. Retrieved from http://ccp.sagepub.com