Asperger’s And College Can Be A Test Of Executive Functions
Written by SAPL on October 17th, 2018 in Education.
Remember your days as an Asperger in college?
Every morning you seemed to have gotten up later and later. Everything took way too long to complete. Too many trips to the drugstore. (Not because you needed prescriptions for the conditions all those Fraternity boys had to fill, but because the intense schedule left you always feeling “under the weather” every other month.)
College and Asperger’s is not a questionable combination, but one that is being looked at as one more area experts can develope techniques to assist these individuals in mastering.
The Child Mind Institute has expanded upon the issues that many Asperger collegians may face, which often have roots with executive functioning. Executive functions are those that deal with planning and foreseeing what may happen–skills those with Asperger’s have been shown to have difficulty with.
The accounts of individuals in a three-part series that explores life for individuals who make the transition from childhood to adulthood is rewarding to read, so you might want to look at at least one of them.
What’s always interesting is to note where the line between normal development and development for those with Asperger’s lies. Every year, thousands of 18-years leave the nest. They neglect laundry. They miss class. The forget assignments, can’t figure out how to complete all of them in a 48-hour period, get anxious…the list goes on. What separates these 18-year olds from those on the spectrum with the same problems?
Aspergers has largely been a self-reported cluster of traits and many on the spectrum enjoy the label more so than reject it.
It may simply be that Aspergers know their issues are rooted in their executive functions–and not in the fact that for every hour of time in class, they’re spending 2-3 hours of party time outside of class.
