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Secondary School Success for Students with Asperger’s Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2016

Deslea Konza
Deslea Konza*
Affiliation:
University of Wollongong
*
Dr Deslea Konza, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522 Australia. Email: [email protected]
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Extract

Many students approach the transition to secondary school with feelings of both excitement and apprehension, but it is excitement that usually prevails. For students with Asperger’s Syndrome, however, those aspects of secondary school that most students anticipate with great enthusiasm, such as being in a new and larger environment, having different teachers and increased subject choices, and meeting new people, are sources of great anxiety. Despite the increasing numbers of students being diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (Safran, 2002), many teachers have limited understanding of the condition, or of appropriate strategies for the successful inclusion of students with this diagnosis (Williams, 2001). This paper examines aspects of secondary school that are particularly challenging for students with Asperger’s Syndrome and describes ways in which these issues were addressed by teachers who approached these challenges with flexibility and ingenuity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australasian Journal of Special Education , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 2005 , pp. 128 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © The Australian Association of Special Education 2005

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