She who dies with the most toys wins.
Pooh left a very interesting comment on my scrabbled-together blahg post of late last night. Like later than I usually stay awake. She was talking about casting kids with diagnosed disorders like Asperger’s Syndrome. I have to disclaim here that I do not really think that Asperger’s (and maybe even ADHD) is a disorder. I think that the kids who have these “disorders” just do not fit in to today’s model of education. And that would be a whole ‘nother blahg or a hundred or so. Except that…
I will bet that, if I hadn’t grown up in a small town where my parents and grandparents were well respected and some wonderful cousins had already gone through the schools, that I may have had more trouble with school than I did. I don’t really think I have Aspergers but I was socially awkward and usually so bored with school that I could’ve easily started making trouble like so many kids who are nowadays diagnosed with that “disease”. I didn’t make trouble. I always tried to fit in. It wasn’t easy then but I sort of managed it and I actually do pretty okay as an adult. I can be social but I don’t tend to talk incessantly about my kids or my parents or whatever. That’s all my business.
The Ann Arbor Young Actors Guild is the organization where Mouse began her acting career at the age of eight. The YAG organization has always tried to include any child who showed any interest at all. I will never forget the morning that I walked a rather reluctant young Mouse over to the schoolyard behind our house and dropped her off with the wonderful British woman who runs YAG. I think that the YAG director has as much to do with my childrens’ upbringing as I do but I’m not going to go there tonight. The YAG vision was, in part, that anyone and everyone has talent and it is worth it to try to develop that for everyone and create a community in the process.
*Pooh is one of my uber cousins, that is the gals who share my birth year. She is not in the photo but I would bet dollars that she’s only a few feet away. Uber Kayak Woman is the dark-haired kid and I am the towhead. I do not remember that inner-tube so I can only guess that I managed to grab it away from UKW.
March 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I’ve had Aspies in class and they definitely have some sort of disorder–more social than intellectual in my opinion. They have great difficulty behaving appropriately in social situations(aka clueless about how to relate to people), OMG, I could tell you some stories. Thankfully, I usually have understanding students who are willing to deal with unusual behavior. However, it was touch and go this year when they moved an Aspie student from 6th period(nice class) into 5th period(not so great).
March 21st, 2010 at 11:43 pm
A former coworker of mine has an adopted son with Asperger’s and Oh My. They have a LOT on their plate. The only real emotion this child expresses is rage. Daycares keep expelling him. Schools keep expelling him. He’s only 8 years old. He’s a bright kid, but the social/behavioral issues are beyond the pale. And the medical/psychological communities really don’t have the tools to cope with it. (The company where we worked continuously wrote this coworker up for having to miss work due to unexpectedly finding out yet again that the child had been expelled from yet another daycare. Total nightmare all around).
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:24 am
Given those comments, maybe I don’t have any disorder. Guess I’m just generally awkward (-:
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:54 am
You’re right, I should have just said Asperger’s, not added the disorder. It is definitely more social than intellectual with this student. He’s very quiet and doesn’t show much emotion at all. Only once have I seen him upset, and I agreed with him, the other students were being “loud jerks”.