October 12th, 2005

Pamphlet

Aspergers Syndrome:

For Those Who Want To Know

(a fictitious pamphlet on Aspergers Syndrome)

What is Aspergers Syndrome?

  Aspergers Syndrome is a tem coined by the Viennese physician, Hans Asperger, in 1944.  He was trying to decide on what to label a set of children he had been observing who had normal levels of intelligence,, but presented with chracteristics similar to several aspects reminiscent of  Autism.  This term wasn't  professionally recognized until 1994 when it was added to the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual : fourth edition).  Until that time, those who presented with the symptoms characteristic of Aspergers today were labeled as having high-functioning autism.  Aspergers is still regarded as an autism spectrum disorder and is characterized by children who posses normal I.Q.'s and express particularly refined skill in certain areas but have difficulty in certain areas of pragmatics and prosody related to linguistic competence.  Due to this deficiency, it can prove difficult for these children to become socially comfortable, and interact with peers and instructors.  This can sometimes have a profound effect on the child harboring symptoms of depression and creating academic problems which related to the ability of the individual to use the input and assistance of others to enhance their schoolastic achievment.                              

  What symptoms are characteristic of Aspergers Syndrome?

    Several symptoms that may act as incentives for a parent or counselor to refer a child to a physician who could properly evaluate them would be:

-Noticable deficiences in social skills.

-An overwhelming dislike for change.

-Easily distracted.

-Participate in obsessive activites.

-Express difficulties in expressing body language.

-Very excitable (easiliy startled).

Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support (2005)

                                                                                             What causees Aspergers?

    Aside from a familial (heretic) susceptibility, the exact cause of Aspergers is, as of yet, unknown. 

What kind of treatments are available?

    Treatments available are seperated into two categories for which a sufferer of Aspergers could be reffered to undergo.  These two categories are Counseling and Psycotherapys (which all have a central theme of working though and creating soulutions to issues the Asperger sufferer faces with their disorder) and Pharmacotherapys (which rely mainly on the effects of drugs to alter a childs behavior).

    Sometimes, these two therapys are used together to achieve the best results in an individual.

For more information on Aspergers, vistit:

                                                                                                                                              *O.A.S.I.S. : Online Aspergers Information and Support-www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/

                                                                                                                                              *Aspergres disorder homepage-www.aspergers.com

                                 

Posted by Miller216 at 02:55 PM | 2 comments

October 8th, 2005

Genre 3: Journal Entry


September 15, 2005

             I got made fun of again by Billy today at school.  I was just minding my own business over in the corner of the playground when he came over and threw a kickball at my back.  When I turned to face him, there must have been eight other kids from my class standing there laughing at me.  I didn’t say anything hoping that if Ignored the situation that it would just “go away”.  It didn’t though.  Billy stood there for a good 5 minutes taunting me and chanting, “Weirdos just cannot be cool, lets all hope they’ll just leave school.”  Kind of a complex rhyme for the likes of Billy, he must have had help thinking it up.  I guess after a while the kids must have got tire of saying the same thing aver and over, so they just walked aver to the big seesaw we have near the swing sets.  I just sat there, placing rocks on the ground in patterns similar to patterns on the shirt of one of my few friends in the class, Mary.

October 1, 2005

              Today, after my dad picked me up from school, we stopped by his office on our way home because he had forgotten to pick up some files he needed to review before tommorrow.  He left me in his office while he looked for what he need in the fileroom.  As I was sitting there, I noticed his electronic pencil sharpener sitting on his desk.  I picked up a pencil and sharpened it.  While I sat there, grinding the pencil, I began to imagine how many people must have been injured every day by these machines.  I wondered when a person gets the pencil sharpened down to a nub, if they eve just continued pushing into the sharpener and accidentally let there finger slipped in there.  I imagined what a terrible idea this was and thought that if I threw out all the pencils my dad had in his office, that he would be safe from this situation.  If there were no pencils to sharpen, then my dad couldn’t have an accident with this machine.  When he walked into the office and saw me with all the pencils in his office in my hands and me going for the trash can, he gave me an odd look. I didn’t understand.  He just let me put them in the trash and walked me outside to the car.  On the way home, I told him why I threw his pencils away.  He didn’t say thank you or anything.   
Posted by Miller216 at 06:23 PM | 2 comments

October 7th, 2005

Acroustic Poem

Aspergers is what they say I suffer from.
Startled very easily.
Problems with taking others point of view.
Everyone seems to worry about how I behave.
Routines are a big part of my day.
Great tendency for compulsive behavior.
Enigma to class mates
Relationships are hard to develop.
Smart, maybe smarter than you.
Posted by Miller216 at 06:28 PM | 2 comments

Project prospectus

Research question: What therapeutic strategies are most effective in enhancing pragmatic development in children with Aspergers Syndrome?

Some foundation questions I developed were:

1. “What is aspergers?”

2. “What is pragmatics?”

3. “What pragmatic behaviors do childrenwith  Aspergers typically display?”

Tentative points:  I plan to describe what treatments are shown to facilitate pragmatic and social ability most effectively concerning children with aspergers.  I imagine I will investigate several types of treatment used to tackle the deficiencies experienced by those with Aspergers and also examine how poor ability in social interaction can affect the positive development of Asperger sufferers.Genres:

Genre 1:  Webliography

Voice:  Clinician’s

Audience:  General audience

Rational:  The webliography offers all those who might be interested an opportunity to get a sense of who I am and what I’m about.

Genre 2:  Powerpoint presentation

Voice:  Client’s

Audience:  Client and client’s family

Rational:  The presentation will further the clients, as well as the clients familiy members, knowledge of this disorder.  Hopefully, the power point will answer questions the familiy may have.

Genre 3:  Poem

Voice:  Clients

Audience:  General audience

Rational:  The poem will serve as a means for the child to relate how he feels about his disorder to the world.

Genre 4:  Email exchange

Voice:  Client’s and the client’s brother

Audience:  Client and the client’s brother

Rational:  The email exchange will involve the client emailing his brother, who recently moved away, and confiding in him regarding what a tough time he has been having in school.  The brother of the client offers encouragement and sympathy to his little brother.

Genre 5:  Journal entry

Voice:  Client’s

Audience:  Client

Rational:  The client will discuss how they feel and react around others in social situations and how this behavior affects their productivity in class and their self esteem.

Genre 6:  Letter a politician

Voice:  Parents

Audience:  politician

Rational:  This letter will regard the treatment and funding (be it adequate or inadequate) of Aspergers in schools today and what aspects, in the statewide or national level of regard of Aspergers, these parents think that their politicians should work to modify or strengthen.

Genre 7:  Pamplet

Voice:  Clinician

Audience:  General audience

Rational:  The pamphlet  will be developed In hopes of informing those not normally familiar with Aspergers about how it affects the social and pragmatic aspects of their lives as well as what measures can be taken to aid in treatment of these areas.

Anticipated genre integration technique:

            The client I will be involved with will have Aspergers Syndrome.  I intend to introduce the disorder to my client and their family by properly presenting informative material and descriptive information about Aspergers through my webliography, presentation of pamphlet concerning the disorder, and power point presentation.  My webliography will also provide both the client and their parents with an idea of who I am.  The poem, and email exchange will help the familiy members of this client realize what it is that their child is living with and how hard it can be for them sometimes.  The journal entry is a means for the child to commit there thoughts to paper, putting their thoughts out there and releasing them instead of bottling them up inside all the time, which may prove quite therapeutic.  The letter to the politician is the means by which the parents get the opportunity to take action and provide a service associated with bettering the treatment of children with Aspergers like their child.

Tentative resources:

Osbourne, L. (2002)  American normal, the hidden world of aspergers syndrome.  New York, NY: Copernicus Books.

Heweston, A. (2002)  The stolen child: aspects of autism and aspergers syndrome.  Westport, CT:  Bergin and Garvey

Moyes, R. A. (1988)  Addressing the challenging behaviour of children with high-functioning autism/asperger syndrome in the classroom:  a guide for teachers and parents.  Philedelphia, PA:  Jessica Kinsley Publishers Ltd.

Martin, I., McDonald, S.(2004) An exploration of causes of non-literal language problems in
individuals with asperger syndrome.  Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 343, 311-328.  Retrieved September 27, 2005 from the Academic Search Premiere


Kim, A., Volkmar, F.R., (1996)
Asperger syndrome: treatment and intervention. Some Guidelines for
Parents.  Disabilities and Gifted Education, 1-13. Retrieved September 27, 2005 from ERIC

Rubin, E. and Laurant, A.C. (2004)
Implementing a curriculum-based assessment to prioritize learning
objectives in asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism.  Topics of
Language Dissorders, 24(4), 298-315.  Retrieved September 27, 2005 from the Academic Search Premiere


Bauminger, N. (2002) The facilitation of social-emotional understanding and social interaction in high-functioning children with autism: intervention outcomes.  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 283-98.  Retrieved September 29, 2005 from ERIC

Safran, J.S. (2002)Supporting students with asperger's syndrome in general education.
Teaching Exceptional Children,  34 (5), 60.  Retrieved September 29, 2005 from the Academic Search Premiere

Baron-Cohen, S.,Woodbury-Smith, M.R., Robinson, J., Wheelwright, S., (2005) Screening adults for asperger syndrome using the AQ: a preliminary study of its diagnostic validity in clinical practice. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,35 (3), 331-335.  Retrieved October 5, 2005 from MEDLINE

Landa, R. (2000) Social language use in Asperger syndrome and
high-functioning autism. Klin, A. (Ed); Volkmar, F. R. (Ed), Asperger
Syndrome 125-155.  Retrieved October 2, 2005 from psychINFO.

Jones, R. S. P., (2001) Social relationships and Asperger's syndrome.
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 5(1), 35-41.  Retrieved
October 2,  2005 from psychINFO.

Johnson, S.A.(2004)  Social processing in Asperger's Disorder.
Dissertation Abstracts International, 64(7-B), 3552.  Retrieved October 2,  2005 from psychINFO.
Posted by Miller216 at 03:08 PM | Add a Comment

October 5th, 2005

Project prospectus

Posted by Miller216 at 02:32 PM | Add a Comment
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