Torrance
10-25-2007, 03:51 PM
Hi,
I teach in a level 4 setting that has a high concentration of students with asperger's disorder. I teach students who range in grade levels from 8-10. I have one boy, Joe who is 16 and we are working really hard with him in terms of his learning how to meet new people and getting comfortable around new people, etc. Joe tends to gravitate towards Kyle, who is 15, and is a student that he has known for the last two years. The problem with Joe gravitating toward Kyle is that when the two of them are together, Joe buys into Kyle's negative and inappropriate behavior. Joe goes from a 16 year old acting age appropriate to a 5 year old. They escalate each other. I do have Kyle out of the room for large portions of the day working 1:1 with a support aide. Kyle uses, Joe for his own kicks, as it were.
Some of Joe's IEP goals are around developing new relationships with others. I got a new student a few weeks ago who would be a more appropriate peer for Joe. I have encouraged Joe to do activities with the new boy in the hopes that they will start building a relationship. Our social worker will be taking them out to lunch tomorrow to continue to establish a rapport.
Today Joe got angry with me when I told him that he could not participate with Kyle in a leisure activity. According to Joe, I can't tell him who he can and cannot be friends with. I told him this is true. However, in school I can certainly dictate whom is with whom. Joe is overly resistant to change and Kyle is what is familiar to him and this has a lot to do with it. I hear every day from the technolgy teacher about Joe and Kyle's behavior together. I am just at a loss because I don't know what do for Joe to better understand how negative Kyle is for him? And, that Kyle is not a friend. I should say that the two do not communicate outside of school. Joe is very much anti-social. Joe and I have talked about this on several occassions. Joe is the one who told me that Kyle is the most familiar to him. Everyone else in the group is annoying to him.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.
I teach in a level 4 setting that has a high concentration of students with asperger's disorder. I teach students who range in grade levels from 8-10. I have one boy, Joe who is 16 and we are working really hard with him in terms of his learning how to meet new people and getting comfortable around new people, etc. Joe tends to gravitate towards Kyle, who is 15, and is a student that he has known for the last two years. The problem with Joe gravitating toward Kyle is that when the two of them are together, Joe buys into Kyle's negative and inappropriate behavior. Joe goes from a 16 year old acting age appropriate to a 5 year old. They escalate each other. I do have Kyle out of the room for large portions of the day working 1:1 with a support aide. Kyle uses, Joe for his own kicks, as it were.
Some of Joe's IEP goals are around developing new relationships with others. I got a new student a few weeks ago who would be a more appropriate peer for Joe. I have encouraged Joe to do activities with the new boy in the hopes that they will start building a relationship. Our social worker will be taking them out to lunch tomorrow to continue to establish a rapport.
Today Joe got angry with me when I told him that he could not participate with Kyle in a leisure activity. According to Joe, I can't tell him who he can and cannot be friends with. I told him this is true. However, in school I can certainly dictate whom is with whom. Joe is overly resistant to change and Kyle is what is familiar to him and this has a lot to do with it. I hear every day from the technolgy teacher about Joe and Kyle's behavior together. I am just at a loss because I don't know what do for Joe to better understand how negative Kyle is for him? And, that Kyle is not a friend. I should say that the two do not communicate outside of school. Joe is very much anti-social. Joe and I have talked about this on several occassions. Joe is the one who told me that Kyle is the most familiar to him. Everyone else in the group is annoying to him.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.