Wednesday 28 September 2016

Do children need labels?

I'm having a problem.

A child I know *very* well is having problems at school.
He is an able, well adjusted, polite, well mannered child.
He speaks clearly and with confidence, and is able to express his emotions.  He is happy to approach an adult for support when he trusts them and accepts the judgement of adults when given fairly.

The problem is, he just cannot get on with other children.
Somehow, in his particular class, he is just not accepted.
It seems he feels 'different' and he behaves differently.

When there is disruption in class, he feels children are 'stealing' his 'learning time'.
When given responsibility, he appears to use it to have 'power' over other children.
He does not like playing football and avoids other team games.
He finds group or team working difficult unless he is 'leader' (as long as other children do as he asks).
He can be insensitive to the feelings of children and some of the subtleties of their language, for example when a girl said "my drawing is rubbish", obviously inviting reassurance of the opposite, Percy agreed, saying "yes, it is a bit".
He is acutely 'nosey' and always comparing himself in rights and responsibilities, to other children.
He is large and uncoordinated which makes him physically different.
He can be obsessive about interests, although he can have several obsessions at the same time.
He can become very angry and have verbal outbursts when 'wound up'.

He has set himself apart from his peers because he seems to a) feel superior to them and b) not relate to them, and c) feels his efforts fall unappreciated and so therefore it is 'not worth it'.
This child has a rich and varied social calendar and has friends outside school, he simply has not adjusted to the social 'scene' within the school he currently attends, and has attended for the last 2 years.

Now the question is:
As he has many of the key attributes of Aspergers symdrome as documented in many of the incidences above, should he be labelled as such?
How many of the features described above could also be attributed to adolescence?

This shows a few 'buzz phrases' often attributed to those with Aspergers syndrome:

                                                           


Many would argue it would be better for him if he saw a paediatrician and received a diagnosis of an Autistic Spectrum Condition.  It might enable him to better understand his own strengths and weaknesses and support himself.  But his family are more than capable of supporting him with this without confirmation from a paediatrician.

Will it make him more accepted at school?
Certainly, a 'circle of friends' approach, whereby a number of children are chosen and Percy's feelings are explained, along with a brief explanation of his difficulties, might help.  The children are given an opportunity to meet with an adult regularly and, it is hoped that, by becoming closely involved in supporting that child's needs, their better understanding, and that of the child with ASC, helps them to reduce incidents of isolation or outburst.
But why does he need a label to access this kind of support, and frankly, would the support be forthcoming anyway?
Supporting children with ASC is complex for schools and much less likely to happen, unless the child's behaviour becomes disruptive or their learning is affected.  There is no academic or behavioural impact in the case of young Percy, so the school has no incentive to support him other than to help him be happier, which is not a measurable outcome in  the current Ofsted schedule.

The decision is pending.



Saturday 10 September 2016

You should have started by now!

Why hasn't he started yet?

The task was introduced by a keen, vibrant teacher.  Visual prompts were used and real-life examples given to engage the class.  The children responded to their learning with enthusiasm.
So, why has Jimmy still got a blank page in his book 5 minutes later?
Why does this child, who has clear ideas when sitting on the carpet, not manage to get started on tasks of which the teacher is certain he is capable?

I am using Jimmy as an example (sorry to anyone named Jimmy reading this!) simply because most of the children I have come across with executive function problems are boys, by no means all, but certainly the majority.

Executive Functions are a suite of basic tasks which we deal with every day.  The precursors, if you will, to success in everyday life.  The building blocks upon which we build our daily lives.  Neurological diversities, in the form of Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia and Autistic Spectrum Conditions often encompass an executive function deficit in one or more areas, as do, I would argue, most humans.

Executive functions are not, in this context, anything to do with corporate entertainment or company cars!

Consider a simple classroom writing task from Jimmy's perspective:  Could you follow a task if you didn't first locate the page, the line on the page, find the pencil and hold it correctly, know how much pressure to exert on the pencil in order to create a mark and know how to prevent the pencil destroying the paper from too much pressure? Do you understand how to produce shapes from the pencil, in which direction you need to move the pencil, how to form a diagonal line and how to reverse over the same line to change direction? 

Phew! All this before we even need get to understanding the alphabetic code! 
Oh, and I didn't even mention the decision to stand, sit, lean on a hard surface to support the page, or understand the purpose of a table!

Consider the working memory required to hold the instructions given by the teacher in your mind long enough for you to be able to manipulate them and carry out a task. 
Repeating daily basics like date and learning objective may help reduce the number of instructions a child needs to remember but this is why we need visual prompts.

One of the children I work with showed me how she copes with getting started:

'DUMTUMS'
Date
Underline
Miss a line
Title
Underline
Miss a line
Start

You next need to plan your work, to know what you are going to write.  I am not referring to the 'story plan' format used by many teachers to help children think about their writing.  Long before that an inner conversation takes place in your brain such; "Okay, I want to write 'cat', so what do I do first? Pick up the pencil, ok, ready, where am I going to write? Top line? Which is the top? How far away from the very top do I need to write? Where does the page start? Where does it end? Shall I stop here, or here? OK, ready. 
What was I going to write again?"

Are you starting to feel Jimmy's pain?

Now he needs to get down to the 'secretarial' skills.
He has recorded his sentence on a handy recording device such as a Talking Postcard to support his working memory, so what to write is sorted.
Press play 'The cat sat on the mat'
Right, 'cat'.  First sound, /c/ which grapheme (picture) matches that sound c or k?
How big is a c? Which direction does the pencil move? Does it touch the top line?  Does it rest on the line or drop below it?  Much easier to make it float in the middle. 
Next letter, direction, where? Does it touch the other letter? Bigger? Next to the c, where is 'next to'....

Finally, at the end of playtime, after all his friends have finished, Jimmy takes his writing to show the teacher.

"Good, now go back and check for capital letters and full stops"

Jimmy spends the rest of the day with his head on the desk.