Published on 12, July, 2020
I currently employ a lovely young chap of 19. He is an apprentice and has been working with the company for about 4 months. What we originally believed were excentricities are now becoming more noticably signs of Asperger Syndrome. He shows pretty much most of the classic signs. We have asked him to tell us about his medical history but there has been no diagnosis. My staff find him quote difficult to deal with at times as he has ritualistic behaviour which can result in mild arguements, repetive physical behaviours which interfer with his work and many occassions where he has been unable to empathise. To be honest we do not know what to do. My partner and I are both ex teachers and have both had experiences of working with children who have asperger syndrom. He is quite typical of the children we have seen. We feel that if we knew that he had it then we could accomodate his behaviour better..at the moment he leaves us and our staff frustrated an confused by his actions. By knowing we would be able to adjust and accomodate. The main question is "what can we do to help him and thereby help us?" I need to know if he he has the syndrome (although I am pretty sure that he does) and what I can do to support him if anything...?
We have not spoken with him about it. The subject has been discussed because we have observed unusual behaviour which has caused issues. For instance, at xmas I brought in a large box of Chocoalte celebration to share. The following day they had all been eaten by our young employee. We asked him why he did not feel it was important to share them and he did not understand..he said he did not know...he simply liked chocolate. When we organise an order for delivery he has developed a ritual for piling the itmes into stacks of 5....having been told not to do this he continues to do so. Every day there are numerous issues we face with him but we do not know if he has Asperger Syndrom because we have no official diagnosis. I am reluctant to say that our staff and at times ourselves have found his behaviour to be very irritating. Making an allowance for someone the AS is different to trying to deal with someone who has't and is just being rather difficult....I suppose we need some advice and support so that we can deal with him in the right way.