Suggest reading for a 12 year old with Aspergers

November 7, 2005 10:37 PM

Suggest readings for English class for a 12 year old with Aspergers!

He has real Aspergers... not, like, I'm-such-a-geek-and-I've self-diagnosed-myself Aspergers--no offense... some of my bestfriends are very high functioning/subclinical/self-diagnosed (whatever you want to call it). Although he has an average-to-above-average IQ, his academic skills are very low (except in math), mostly because his education in public schools thus far has been consumed by his difficult-to-manage behavior.

I am helping to develop academic programs for him, but I am mostly familiar with working with lower functioning Autism and other similar disorders. We are having particular trouble with literature. So far, I've observed that he has a lot of trouble understanding that characters in a story are not privy to the same information that the reader is, and vice-versa. He also has trouble sequencing plot, especially in non-linear narratives. Character motivation has been rough, and he's had a lot of trouble with character's perception of other characters and events.

Also, he occasional suffers from short-term memory loss. We developed and located graphical organizers to help address this issue.

Eventually, I plan to address all of these concerns, but for now, it's going to be baby steps. He needs to read and learn to write about literature that meets his current needs. Right now, we're sort of in a quagmire. We've tried the 6th grade, 5th grade, and 4th grade state cirriculum, but difficulty isn't the issue. We've tried modifying the readings in these collections, but that seems to eliminate most of the meaning from the stories. We've tried science fiction, particularly selections from Ender's Game and other books that higher functioning/self-diagnosed people with AS have enjoyed, but that doesn't seem to work for him any more. I've also done extensive research in journals that specialize in Autism spectrum disorders, but have found very little that applies, and we're really groping for leads that will help us address this students literacy needs. Any suggestion are appreciated!

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posted by anonymous to education (12 comments total)

Try Goedel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It is mainly a book about AI and formal logic, but the prelude chapters deal with Achilles and the tortoise discussing the following chapter in a more indirect manner. The best example is a dialogue which is the same read backwards and fowards (crab cannon). With any luck, the form and pattern behind the preludes will be enjoyable to him (I know it was to me).
posted by scodger at 11:14 PM on November 7, 2005

What if you found some books told in the first person? That way, you get around the omnipotence issue for now. The person telling the story has the same information as the reader. If the main character is telling the story, then perhaps there's a greater chance that plot will proceed in a linear order. Unfortunately, I'm not well-versed in children's literature, so I can't think of a book that fits here. But maybe this will be a jumping off point for someone else.
posted by acoutu at 11:15 PM on November 7, 2005

I had two thoughts, the first being what I'd call "boys books." These are first person adventure stories with linear plots that take a typical boy out of his daily surrounding and through him into the middle of an adventure. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Kidnapped epitomize this genre.
Also, folktales or myths might be a good choice. There are various retellings of the Chinese "Monkey" stories that might be good. Folktales are episodic so the plots don't need to extend very far before the story raps up and you get another plot, but you build familiarity with the haracters and their world over the episodes.
Actually, Ill ad one specific book, "The Scarecrow and his Servant" by Phillip Pullman. It's brand new, somewhat episodic, and really engaged by kids.
posted by putzface_dickman at 4:09 AM on November 8, 2005

would the mystery of the dog in the nightime or whatever it's called be approrpiate? the narrator is a boy of about that age with aspergers, iirc.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:20 AM on November 8, 2005

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
posted by andrew cooke at 5:22 AM on November 8, 2005

incidentally, you might want to read it, since your comment about him not understanding the difference between different characters in a book is the kind of thing that is illustrated very well.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:24 AM on November 8, 2005

oh, sorry for hogging this topic, but the narrator in that book also mentions books he likes. i think they are mystery/whodunnits. that is probably taking parallels too far, but you might give it a try.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:26 AM on November 8, 2005

IIRC, the boy in The Curious Incident of the Dog in he Night-Time had full-blown autism, not Asperger's, and he liked Sherlock Holmes stories. Maybe Sherlock Holmes books would work well? They don't have much in them having to do with personal relations, there's no narrative trickery, and the reader discovers information at the same time as the characters. Perhaps they will be too difficult, though, and the historical differences might be confusing.

If you feel like blowing your anonymous cover, listing some movies he likes would be helpful.
posted by painquale at 6:29 AM on November 8, 2005

Have you tried comic books? The pictures may draw him in. If he watches cartoons, find out which ones and see if they have any comics or manga associted with them.
posted by doctor_negative at 6:40 AM on November 8, 2005

ah, sorry, yes - it is autism. but it could still be appropriate, right?
posted by andrew cooke at 6:48 AM on November 8, 2005

Why not try some memoirs or letters? I'm thinking some Frederick Douglass, Laura Ingalls Wilder, that kind of thing... all of them fairly linear, first person.
posted by Sara Anne at 7:23 AM on November 8, 2005

My immediate thought was Sherlock Holmes as well. As a bonus, they're mostly short stories, so you have a smaller committment for there to be success.
posted by anastasiav at 10:18 PM on November 19, 2005