Informing teachers about Asperger's

Learn about: Informing teachers about Asperger's from Sarah Maizes,...
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Informing teachers about Asperger's

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When my daughter starts school every year, I don't tell her teachers right away that she has Asperger's. I like to wait a couple of weeks because I like to let the teacher see who she is and just get their own perception of her. I don't wanna run up to her teachers the first day of school say, "By the way, this is my daughter and she has Asperger's," because I feel like they're going to come - they're going to deal with her with their own preconceive notions and I feel like that's not fair to her. I want them to see who she is. And, then, usually a couple of weeks in the school, I will make an appointment to see the teacher and I'll say, "I don't know if you've noticed anything in particular about Isabelle. I just wanna let you know she has Asperger's syndrome." And, if you see in class that she is obsessing over a certain topic, for example Science and Health, and she doesn't deal well with anything that involves the body of illness or disease, and you have to learn about that in school, so she'll be particularly to feel fearful and nervous and in a way that the other kids aren't. And, I just want the teacher to be sensitive to that or at least be aware of it. I don't expect special treatment. I just want them to know that she - they may see slightly different behavior in her. When she was really little, I used to sit it right off the back because she needed to be in front of the class. When she was in kindergarten, she had a shadow. So, the teacher instantly knew something was going on. But, as she got older, I tried to step back a little bit more and a little bit more and allow her to make the first impression before I go in and even mention something is going on with her.

Learn about: Informing teachers about Asperger's from Sarah Maizes,...

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Sarah Maizes

Mom & Blogger

Sarah Maizes is an author, freelance writer, comedian and founder of MommyLITEonline.com, a parenting humor site. She is the author of several humor books including, Got Milf? The Modern Mom’s Guide to Feeling Fabulous, Looking Great and Rocking a Minivan; and three books for children; On My Way To The Bath, On My Way to Bed and the third book in the series On My Way to School to be published in 2014.Her work has been featured in Los Angeles Magazine, Babytalk, on MSNBC.com, E! Television’s “Fashion Police,” and on DailyCandyKids.com.She is a regular contributor to TODAY.com, The Huffington Post, and CBS/LosAngeles.com’s “Best of LA.”  Her work has also been featured on Glamour.com, MarieClaire.com, ParentsConnect.com, Momtourage.com, TheWellMom.com and Autisable.com – a website for parents dealing with Autism.She has appeared on The Today Show, KTLA, CNN Headline News with Brad Pomerance, NPR's "What Would Rob Do?,"ABC News Now’s “Moms Get Real with Ju Ju Chang,” and is a regular contributor to NPR’s “Tell Me More with Michel Martin,” and “HuffingtonPostLIVE” - but  is most celebrated for her ability to scale tiny jungle gyms, pack a lunch in under a minute, and park her full-size minivan in a compact space.     

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