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Non academic

Catlady31

Hello, can I ask whether any of you who are diagnosed with Aspergers struggled academically?

I'm asking because my Son struggled so much all the way through school.  He struggled learning to read and write as well as with taking in what the teachers were saying and with putting his knowledge onto paper so didn't do well with exams. I believe  his is a visual learner.

I maybe thinking too stereotypically and don't know everything about Aspergers, but I thought most people with Aspergers usually did well academically.  My son didn't manage to achieve grade 4's (old C grade) in any subjects.  He did manage to pass an IT course though which he was pretty good in although still struggled with the written side of things.

This is causing me some anxiety as he has just recently been diagnosed.  I'm wondering whether they haven't looked at this side of things very well.

Many thanks for any information.

  • Hello, 

    I think I can relate to this. My 7 years old son struggles in school although his cognitive test showed he is of avarage intelligence. The psychologists who assessed him think he could have scored higher but he was not interested in the test for all of its duration. Equally, most of the things he does in school are "stupid" (in his own words). So, that can be something to think of, interests. 

    Also, my son is slower than his peers at processing information and that penalises him in the classroom. Especially because he is sensitive to auditory stimuli. Finally, he has also been diagnosed with dyspraxia which makes it difficult to learn to read and write because of imbalance with fine motor skills. My son loves books but he becomes physically drained by reading too much. Writing is a tabu, he hates it.

    I am not an expert, just a mum but it would be useful to consider comorbidities which are very common. I hope this helps.

    Nana

  • in reply to Catlady31

    Hi, has he ever been tested for dyslexia? It is not uncommon in people with ASD. My older daughter had difficulties with conventional academic education, she had to drop out of A-levels. She then did two years of A-level equivalent fine art courses, got into Cambridge Art School, then switched courses and ended with a first class degree in audio technology. It can be that a particular style of learning and being taught is the difficulty and changing to an alternative can work wonders.

  • in reply to Martin

    Hi Martin, thank you for your reply.  We were told he is high functioning level 1, the old equivalent of Aspergers were the words the assessor used.

    My son is very good at perceptual reasoning tests but has poor verbal/written comprehension from tests carried out whilst at school by an Educational Psychologist and SALT. We were not asked about this in the assessment but I had commented on the school section of a questionnaire that he only achieved the equivalent of D-E GCSE grades.  

  • Most diagnoses since around 2013 are for Autism Spectrum Disorder/Condition (ASD), rather than Asperger's. Prior to 2013 I would have been diagnosed with Asperger's and I have had no academic difficulties - other than an inability to do mental arithmetic. Autism is a very broad diagnosis and even Asperger's (now equatable with ASD Level 1) contains people with a broad range of academic ability. Just as not all autistics are savants, not all are academically gifted.