Average number of aspies in your school?
I met someone today who works in a secondary school (that's British for "ages 11 to 16"), and who talked about the number of children there with Asperger's, Dyslexia etc. There seemed to be rather a lot, or so she implied (I didn't press her further for an exact ratio) who were taught one-to-one in her school library. I would assume, on a 1:250 ratio, that in a school of around 1000 children of that age there would only be between two to five children who were with diagnosed h-f Asperger's.
So I'm interested what the ratio is in the 'average' British secondary school? Can anyone tell me what the ratio is in their school? Or has anyone read any estimates in the educational newspapers or professional magazines?
Can't answer about Bristish secondary school, but I know that in my son's US elementary school of 300 we have at least 2 that are Aspergers and at least 2 that are PDD-NOS (there could be more in the younger grades not yet diagnosed and, well, more overall that I don't know about - there is no official disclosure made by the school, I just know because I know the parents). As a public elementary school with a reputation for having a strong special education program, we are likely to have a higher concentration than average as parents choose this school over other public schools and over private (which in our area have no special ed services), not to mention that we are likely to have a higher concentration than average if you believe the techie connection, since we've got a high concentration of high tech business here (as in techie businesses attract Aspies, Aspies give birth to Aspies, etc).
As far as I'm aware of, I'm the only aspie at my middle school, althgough there couyld be others that I'm not aware of.
Up to 10% of the population is dyslexic, and diagnosis is getting better and better, there is also ADHD, and other classroom problems that your friend might not have been able to distinguish as people may need extra help for any number of reasons.
In my school there was me (asperger's syndrome) one other girl in my year who joined in 6th form who was a bit worse than me and another autistic boy. There were about 17-18 hundred students. I was mainstreamed with no support, the girl had a helper with her in lessons, and spent the rest of her time in learning support, and the boy spent all his time in learning support except he used to like to come to post-16 at lunchtime and open the door for everyone for no particular reason and he never spoke. (A few times he ended up in tears as older boys used to push him out of the way and open the door instead and it really upset him if he missed a person.
In my son's First school (uk ages 4-8) there are 177 kids & just him on the spectrum, although there is a lad who may be ADHD, but his parents shunt him around so many different after school carers he may just be 'acting up' for the attention, either way, no dx for him.
AFAIK when he goes over to the middle school (8-12) he'ss still be the only one, with a school size of around 350. So much for the avaergae ratio huh?
No clue about high/secondary school. Give me a few years & I'll come back & let you know though
in a school catering for ages 11-19, there are probably 3 kids in each year with diagnoses, and several across the school without (including one pupil in one of my classes who is a very likely candidate - she reminds me so much of me at that age)
Average number of aspies in your school?
I met someone today who works in a secondary school (that's British for "ages 11 to 16"), and who talked about the number of children there with Asperger's, Dyslexia etc. There seemed to be rather a lot, or so she implied (I didn't press her further for an exact ratio) who were taught one-to-one in her school library. I would assume, on a 1:250 ratio, that in a school of around 1000 children of that age there would only be between two to five children who were with diagnosed h-f Asperger's.
So I'm interested what the ratio is in the 'average' British secondary school? Can anyone tell me what the ratio is in their school? Or has anyone read any estimates in the educational newspapers or professional magazines?
This female is talking about special needs children in general so OF COURSE the numbers seem rather a lot when you think of all of them in terms of just Aspies/Auties. Also, NTs do have a tendency to exxaragete, it's not that they're being untruthful, it's just something they do, as part of their 'Formula Der Se'. Chances are, if you pressed her for an exact ratio, the numbers would be skewed slightly. However, there are some criteria which you need to consider before passing judgement on her comments.
.How many staff work in her one-to-one library?
.How long do the one-to-one sessions last?
.How long is the day? (so you can work out how many sessions fit into a day)
Having said all that, I believe there are three.
In my college of about 300 or so there were at least 2 that I know of. Me and some other lad in my biology class. He really didn't like me because I couldn't remember his real name (I have a problem with names) so I called him Dave and he always called me "weird".
But what was weird was the enthusiastic nature of his answers (he would stand up with his arm raised), which he always got wrong without fail.
Of course this was before I was diagnosed but I cannot ever remember anyone diagnosed at any of the schools I went to. The comprehensive school had a Special Needs department but no one diagnosed.
As I wasn't diagnosed back then I didn't pay any attention to it of course. I suppose that I was the only one at my school, as even though it was before I was diagnosed, I still had it!
There are two Aspies in the Jr./Sr. High School in town. None currently in the Elementary School. My son is the only autistic dx'd in the elementary school.
I was the only Aspie in my ten-student private high school. I was also the pariah; but by then I'd gotten used to it and didn't mind. Though the "penis" jokes were rather annoying... long story.
1:307.6 out of 923 meaning that there are 3.
We should not forget the people who are aspies and are actually coping well.
I teach at an all girls comprehensive school in Bath and, apart from me, there is only one other aspie in the school and that is a boy in the sixth form (it's a mixed sixth form). There is also 1 girl with ADHD and only about 10 girls in the whole school have any form of 'special needs'. Overall I think there is about 1200 pupils in the school, so there is a low proportion of aspies in the school.
At least where I am(Davis, CA), when I asked I was told that even an aggregate was "confidential information". Never mind that I've been in MIND Institute studies with most of the others, and the one who I hadn't was blatantly obvious.