There has been a 40 per cent increase in the identification of Asperger Syndrome (AS) in the last few years. This paper considers the characteristics and management of children with AS within an educational context. The purpose of the research is to find ways to ease the child’s social and educational integration into the regular classroom and to up-skill the teachers involved.
The method has involved analyzing theory and research underlying the Asperger condition and its management, Biographical details of cases are recorded and a clinical-educational picture of needs is drawn up. Then best practice is applied to the individual cases with which teachers have had to deal and outcomes are evaluated. Parents and teachers are involved in the proposed interventions as appropriate.
As multiple case studies have accumulated it has enabled generalizations and principles to be evolved. It is clear thus far that as yet there is no single best fix intervention that can be applied to all children with Asperger Syndrome. Their different personalities, home circumstances, experiences, learning histories and abilities make it important for interventions to be more personalized.
In addition it will be shown that as part of the complexity it is often the school itself or the pedagogy that needs some modification to create an ‘Asperger friendly environment’. These issues, cases and relevant strategies will be discussed and exemplified.