College Student with Asperger's Syndrome, need help

Hi,

I'm curently taking Broadcasting-TV, Lately however i've been experiencing some problems for example one my profesors was reading my report i handed into him and he said i can't make any sense what your saying in your report.

The next thing to happen to me is three of my professors, and the program cordinator called me in to meet with them sinse there conerned about

a)my group participation and what my group members said in there peer evaluations.

b)the fact that nobody wants to be in the studio when i'm around.

It was at that moment i reveled to them that i has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

The problem is they where saying this is just the begining and there will be more group work to come, as 80% of the program is group or teamwork related.

when it comes to productions my profesors are conerned that when its my turn to take the role of director nobody is going to work with me and everybody will leave.

An its up to me whether or not i should countinue in this program.

They where sugesting that karren, my special support teacher make the class more awer of this conditon, in the hope of the class

will better understand, but like i was saying "its up to me" and the class has already gained the reputaion of being the noiseist class among the three classes.

I like the program, but as for team work i'm not to sure if it will work or not.

and its sorta a hard program to get into as sugested by the cordinator, they only accept 72 applicants a year.

I believe it is possible for Aspergerians to learn how to interact well with groups. It's hard work, though. We need to do a lot of contemplation about past social interactions and a lot of reading about Asperger's Syndrome.

The messages you have received from your professors are the signal that you need to either work a lot harder at fitting in with "normals" or you should find a career path where social interaction with others is not as important.

Being in situations involving group work is probably something that can make anyone feel uncomfortable, and Aspies tend to have alot of bad experiences compared to most. That being said, I think you should continue broadcast-tv, but remember that Asperger's doesn't defind you. Sure it is a huge part of you, me and almost every Aspie, but I believe you should intergrate your personality, your asperger's and your self dicipline into your career.

Speaking of self disipline, having trouble with group work is a problem that not even a neurotypical can fix, UNLESS we know why you don't like group work. From my experience, I have read that even as children, Asperger's want a broad sense a control when it comes to group activities. I don't think Aspie's are megalomanics, but if we don't have a grasp on the situation at hand, than this creates disorder, (which for me is pandemonium). Alot of the things that Aspies do, don't make sense to everyone else, but it makes sense to us, and thats what's important.

Now I'm only filling in the blanks for you, but I'm also trying to prove a point. You have to help us out, what specific conponent of group work makes you feel uncomfortable. Taran makes an excellent point as well, do some research an Asperger's syndrome. You should also talk to the people who understand you the most, (I'm guessing you parents or maybe friend or friends) about how you behavior in a group setting. This will help you understand what you need to work on because if you can't pin-point why you dislike group work, the people who have observed you the most, might be able to.

Another thing, you've mentioned is that "nobody wants to work with you". Why is this, and don't say it's because of your Asperger's, because unless you've told everyone you've met that you have Asperger's, the're not going to know about. Case in point, talk to your co-workers (classmates) about how you are supposedly making them feel uncomfortable. Now be careful here, you have to have an open mind, and when you speak to them be to-the-point and very clear. For instance, "Is my behavior in class disrupting our group work, and is there anything I can do to help better the group". Your not selling your soul here, your owning up to your actions (if any) and showing that you are concerned about the group.

This is really where having an open mind can help. You need to listen out for constructive critism, for example your not listening well enough, you interupting others, you talk about things that aren't relevent, etc. This is what you need to listen out for and try to improve. This is the upside, but you must be ready to ignore (blow off) insults or critism that won't help you or the group. For instance (oh boy), your stupid (I am not calling you stupid, I don't know you, but I am helping you anticipate the worst). However, in my opinion that's bull. Why you ask, because you've posted an email about current events (indicating that your I.Q. is well above room temperature) and you trying to help this person and or group (assuming that you do attempt this). Clearly if this person just insults you after you've attempted to garner a truce, then he or she has already decided in their mind that they don't like you. Guess what, that won't kill you, and more importantly this shows that your not the only one that could be causing trouble in the group, and you shouldn't trust this person with personal information in the future. Now by some cruel blunder of fate, everyone thinks you're stupid, this show that this particilar Broadcasting class isn't what you're looking for. Now I'm not talking about the subject of level of the course but the class itself.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful, but please us out by telling us more about your group, so they we all can give you more advice.