I am not against anyone being suspended from school if their behaviour has justified it, whether they have Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, GLD/DS or whether they are Psychopaths, bullies, truants or NT's or anything else but suspending or expelling children with Asperger's Syndrome from mainstream education without offering or providing any mentors and support is a cop-out. Of course it is the easy route to take in the short-term but it also is one that will cause more problems in the long-term.
Being a Teacher in a mainstream Primary or Secondary School in any part of the world is a thankless job in itself. To do that job well, you have to be a Counsellor, Psychologist, Disciplinarian, Motivator, Judge of Character and situations, a good communicator as well as being a Teacher of a subject.
Indeed, they are now doing jobs that many parents should be doing, such as having to deal with, in some cases, their out of control children and, even, out of control parents who come barging into schools like storm troopers telling Head Teachers they have no right to tell off or discipline their children.
When this happens the Head Teachers largely have my sympathy. Anyone who has to deal with such people does. Most Teachers do a very good job in difficult circumstances but having wrote that, a very small minority can misuse their position and can enjoy humiliating one or two pupil's, and those with disabilities and differences, among them those with AS, are prime candidates for this.
For many people who have Asperger's Syndrome and are in mainstream Secondary School, if they don't receive support and provisions, being rejected and isolated is inevitable and it isn't a case of if it happens but a case of WHEN. The annoyance and irritation the NT peers can feel towards children who have Asperger's Syndrome are often caused by, primarily, their social ineptness, socially inappropriate behaviour, poor performance at sports, behavioural differences and physical awkwardness.
Those with AS don't exist to keep anybody entertained and calm. They aren't court jesters or performing monkeys or seals, They aren't court jesters and aren't here to liven up anybody's boring day. If you want to see that kind of thing, then go to a circus. Indeed, it isn't uncommon for people with AS, or other conditions particulary if undiagnosed, in mainstream education, to be known by everybody but yet to have no friends, and the reasons why some people want to know them aren't good.
People with AS often find it difficult to make friends. They may be desperate to make friends, they may not, but unfortunately there are a few pupils in mainstream education settings who will sense the person with Asperger's Syndrome's vulnerability straight away. Not all people will openly or blatantly bully someone with AS, many people are tolerant, but a few would decide to some cheap entertainment with them. An example would be pupils approaching someone with AS and saying to them, "We will be friends with you but you are going to have to tell that Teacher to F**k off".
When the person with AS has told the Teacher to "F**k off" and has got into trouble for it, s/he will think those who told them this will be their friends, only to be told "That's not good enough. You are going to have to do better than that if you are going to be in with us. Let that Teacher's car tyres down".
When the person with AS has performed that act and then perhaps got a detention or even been suspended for a couple of days for doing so, the individuals who put them up to it may say, "That's not good enough, you are going to have to steal from that supermarket".
The person with AS do that and therefore get into further trouble. However, they could be told yet again that this isn't good enough. The person with AS may then break into a car or smash someone's windows and get into further trouble, this time with the police.
The wrongdoings will escalate until the person with AS finally tells the truth and says he was doing these things because a few pupils at school told him they would be friends if he did. When questioned about it, those behind it will vehemently deny ever doing such a thing and in many cases will be believed.
The social difficulties of the pupil with AS are never far away. Unless they receive social skills training, or support, or their condition is diagnosed early, they are going to experience great difficulty in getting on with their peers in unstructured, unsupervised places, such as the playground. Aspies often have little understanding of many of the games and social concepts that most children pick up easily - especially those that involve teams groups or gangs.
Most people with Asperger's Syndrome will not understand why other NT pupils don't always say what they think or mean, like them. Most pupils with AS have a need of things being fair and just. Indeed, someone in the class may steal something or do some offence, and the entire class could be asked who did it by the Teacher. Whilst the pupils instinctively keep quiet, the, AS person would volunteer the information, and in turn, obtain the hatred and wrath of all the other people in the class.
However, the individual with AS wouldn't see anything wrong with this, and wouldn't understand why the other pupils are being hostile, when in their mind they were merely telling the truth.
