Bright kids who have social-learning difficulties often (or usually!) experience a "home/school paradox." This question from a parent describes this well:

I have an 8-year old Aspie son mainstreamed in a high-performing public school who is, according to IQ, Raven's and state tests, gifted, but he only performs above average in class, unlike his typical gifted peers who get selected for GATE programs because of their superior classroom performance. At home, he does amazing things, but not in class. Is it a lack of motivation -- his own or the teacher's? Is it simply a "Hidden Curriculum" issue?

Here's my take:

Classroom participation is very different from learning at home. When kids learn at home they choose what they want to devote their attention to, so they are motivated to pursue their own learning and therefore can be incredible learners and incredibly creative with what they are learning. They are self-directed and self-paced, not forced to focus on something that doesn't interest them or to move at anyone's speed but their own!

Consider the contrast: When sitting in a class they learn through a larger group, moving at that group's pace. They are asked to use their internal motivation to learn something that is not necessarily of interest to them. Often students who are creative writers at home can't put together a sentence when appointed the subject they are to write about. They must learn, however, to take the perspective of the larger group and the class, and to accept that their unique ideas and creative solutions are not topics that can always be explored or shared in the group dynamics of a classroom. For these students, this type of learning couldn't be more different from the self-motivated, self-directed, self-paced learning that so often happens at home. As a result, many students with social-learning problems who are bright struggle to find the same enthusiasm for learning in the group environment.

Many also have serious organizational skill problems that make managing the load of classroom information and materials an extra burden.

The large social dynamics of classrooms impede the "bright" child with Asperger syndrome, making them not as "bright" in the classroom setting. In fact, this is what they really need to learn in the classroom: how to work with other students and attend as part of a group.

The reality is that standardized intelligence tests only evaluate a subset of overall intelligence. They don't account for how a child learns in socially complex environments. The solution is not to pull the child out of these complex environments! Schooling prepares students for living with increasing independence of the adult years and the adult world will continually present them with even more complex and dynamic social environments.

Recognizing how much a child with AS needs to learn related to their weaknesses (that are not measured well by any of our tests) is a challenge of parents and professionals as they assess that child's social cognition, executive-functioning skills, mental-health coping strategies, personality, etc., and then develop reasonable treatment plans for that child to advance through the school years -- and beyond!

© Michelle Garcia Winner 2011
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