Aspies For Freedom

You're welcome. I have enjoyed reading your postings, as well. I am a sociologist of religion, and I have a Jewish background, but I don't practice the religion.

I have, most likely, had some students on the spectrum. When I was a student myself, a looooong time ago, I never had any major problems. I suppose that is what encouraged me to continue with it.

I look at it practically. For me, and for most people I know, the excitement of having a Ph.D. wears off.

I did not have an option. If I wanted to be competitive as an academic sociologist, I really needed the doctorate. However, if a person can do without it, and is not interested in the research end, there is no point. Getting a Ph.D. can be a real pain.

lol. Mark is good.

That is really outside of my field. I am a sociologist of religion and a social theorist. I have, since my own diagnosis last year, began to develop an area in the sociology of disability, but I don't feel as though I am qualifed to answer.

It depends on the professor. I used to teach social statistics for advanced (upper-level) undergraduates in the social sciences, and I would encourage them to ask any questions which come to mind: "If you are thinking of it, most likely others are thinking of it, too."

  

A lot of colleges and universities have an office which is usually called something like Learning Strategies. They generally offer not-for-credit courses in subjects like organization, time management, and study habits. I would suggest contacting your Dean of Students' office and finding out whether there is an office like that where you are a student.

As I said, there should be. However, you would need to ask. It may be combined with some other office (possibly counselling). Where I teach, Learning Strategies has its own office.

It is always important to keep in mind that you undoubtedly are not the first person to have these concerns at your university or college. Anything you ask will have already been asked (and answered) by others. The main thing is to find the right office. If you have a professor who has been there a while, she or he would also likely be able to direct you to the right offices.

You've got a deal. ;-)

I just saw this, and it's kind of weird, since I've never made any comments about this. I'm not sure why you felt this necessary to state, and why you addressed it to me, and not to everyone.

Well, the thing is, learning is about learning, not about exams. While exams are designed to assess ability and often do a good job at it, studying not to learn the material but to pass the exam is self-defeating. The purpose of teaching is that students should learn the material. It's not that students should ace the exam. Acing a test should be because you mastered the material, it shouldn't be because you mastered the art of acing tests.

There are always those (especially, I think (and hope) in lower education) who manage to not learn but still do well with grades because they perfected the technique of learning exactly what the test will test for, instead of learning exactly the important things to learn.

And I say this not out of bitterness, because I generally do well on tests, but because I feel it's such a waste: education is about learning, not about grades, not about competition, and not about testing.

Where did those learning ideals of antiquity and the renaissance go?

"High functioning" is a medical term which only means that while being on the spectrum you still manage to score 70 or more points in a general IQ test. In other words, you do not qualify as a mentally retarded person. (ICD-10 F 70)
98 % of the population are "high functioning"; that doesn't mean all of them are perfectly organized.

Hmmmmm…

I can communicate, enough to pass IQ tests that scare people… I don’t cram for them…

Here’s a Clip from Wiki about: Apraxia (praxis: Greek for an act, work, or deed) is a neurological disorder characterized by loss of the ability to execute or carry out learned purposeful movements, despite having the desire to and the physical ability to perform the movements.

(first time that I’ve heard the word Apraxia…)

There are different types… for instance… ‘Speech Apraxia’. I personally have always had difficulty formulating speech from the pictures in my mind. Superficially I do quite fine. I’m a deep-thinker and slow to respond. My kids’ complain of this too (not being able to respond quickly to such things as banter, and teasing). I'm observed as the quiet guy in the corner....

I’ve met Autistics on-line and found them to be quite intelligent and interesting to chat with. And in no way will I measure their IQ by something communicated in speech or a standardized written test. I’m fortunate, I guess, that I can ‘communicate’ on such tests… though it is a disparity of sorts…(IQ is no measure of someone) I've said before: AQ is a better meter... Adaptibility Quotient). I like communicating with autistic/AS types… Mostly because of how intelligent they really are… and their genuineness nature...

Oh… the Thread:  ‘Students on the spectrum….’   I didn’t know that I was on the ‘spectrum’ until my kids’ were DX’d….  I did poorly in grade school, poorly in middle school, well, except for music and art… same for high-school… in fact, I dropped out of high-school with a 1.2 GPA… a couple of months later I took a test that gave me one of the highest IQ’s in the area… and subsequent college, years later, netted me a GPA of nearly 4.0…. My case is individual, as with all of us… Fact is… don’t doubt yourself because someone, some test, some pill, says you’re not capable …

If you really want it, believe it, you’ll find a way to ‘communicate’… somehow…don’t wait for ‘someone’ to give you the means… go get it…

I agree. Extra time for doing tests was never an issue for me and I certainly didn't need a note taker. What I did need was to be able to talk over issues such as being unorganised with somebody who would listen non-judgementally.

The most important thing was, I was being bullied, and this should have been addressed. However, I didn't realise at the time just how abusive the behaviour was and who I could speak to for support. Getting bullied and ostracised sometimes led to suicidal feelings and I took an overdose in my 3rd year.

The study itself wasn't such an obstacle: the bullying and resulting depression and self-loathing were. I don't believe autism was the issue so much as being marginalised for being different and not being able to address the abuse that was going on at the time.

I only wanted to give an answer to A True Monotheist's question about the term "high functioning" which he feels doesn't describe him very well. I never said that (and don't know if) the measuring of someone's IQ has to be accurate to be used for the ICD-10 qualification(s). As far as I know, you can easily score lower than your actual IQ is because of additional issues (e.g. having a bad day, obviously also having apraxia), but if you already scored "high" enough to be labeled "high functioning" that's not the question for you (whoever). You just want to know why reality feels so different from what that label suggests (i.e. you don't "function well/highly").

No offense meant.

Chimera, if you'd PM me the American Psychiatric Association position statement for IQ I'd appreciate it.