Hans is a student in my statistics class. I hadn't even finished walking my 110 eager statistics novitiates through the syllabus when I knew Hans was going to be a challenge.
Hans is well over six feet tall and weighs around 150 lbs (soaking wet). He looks a lot like this guy. And poor Hans has the worst case of Asperger's Syndrome I have ever encountered. My cousin has Asperger's; Hans makes my cousin look like Albert Schweitzer.
From the first day, Hans has been deliberately disruptive. As he clearly states on his university profile, one of his greatest joys is to challenge his professors. Ordinarily, this would be a great thing. However, when I use the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale as an example of an ordinal scale of measurement, I do not expect to be treated to a harangue about air temperature, wind speeds, and storm surge.
His disruptions stem from a need for attention above all else. Specifically, for my attention. He must sit in lecture devising ways to get it, because, judging from his midterm performance, he's not concentrating on statistics. I had to begin one lecture while he stood beside me obliviously talking on and on about his drunken roommate and his views on substance abuse. The explanation about which seat is best because it is closest to which electrical outlet for his laptop has become a painful pre-lecture ritual. I have had to become "blind" to his hand, when he puts it up to answer a question, because I know his response will be off-topic and will reduce the class to titters.
Several weeks ago Hans became obsessed with my overheads. I make my overheads, with key bits missing, available the day before class. This wasn't good enough for Hans, because they are not in a convenient format. (They are pdf files.) I endured long incomprehensible emails detailing how his printer can't handle pdf files, to each of which I responded "You will have to deal with pdf, just like everyone else." I endured a 20-minute post-lecture harangue on his awful roommate, the intricacies of his printer and the failings of the university tech support staff, all culminating in a demand for the LaTeX source for my overheads. I refused. He followed me out into the street, demanding a note for his next class explaining why he was late. I now take a circuitous route from the lecture hall through the hospital and the patient parking garage to get back to my office.
This week (with poorly-disguised triumph) he presented me with the letter from the Disability Office informing me that Hans had a right to my notes. I asked him if a paper printout would be sufficient, and he responded, enthusiastically, in the affirmative. Only as I was trying to print out his special packet in the precious few minutes before my next lecture did I realize I had been had. Hans didn't want to print out the lecture notes himself so he had arranged to make me do it for him.
I finally called the Disability Office, which is something I should have done long before Hans forced me to run through the hospital to avoid him. His counselor was very sympathetic: I am to mail him the pdfs of my overheads after class, and it is his job to print them out, not mine. His dislike of pdf is not my problem. I am permitted to restrict his comments to one or two per lecture. I am encouraged to be as rude as necessary to turn him off and get him to sit down and/or go away.
But I learned something else that stunned me. Hans is pre-med. He plans to specialize, not in one of those fields like pathology or radiology where actual contact with live, suffering human beings is minimized, but in psychiatry, the one where such contact is maximized.
Dear Sweet Jesus, please send Hans to me for a letter of recommendation to med school.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
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21 comments:
Hans might have cerebral palsy. I've known a couple of people with mild cp and Hans' behavior isn't too out of the ordinary for someone with cp.
Doesn't make it any better for you though.
Good luck!
Oh, my word.
I think I've had a Hans or two in my classes. At least now I know it might be Asperger's...or cerebral palsy. Pity the patient who gets Hans as his/her intern therapist.
My sympathies, AP.
Hans has freely shared his Asperger's diagnosis with me. It isn't CP.
He'll be fantastic as a shrink! They're all nuts. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
[For anyone who can't see the enormous bulge in my cheek, that is my tongue.]
Wow. Just, wow.
I thought having an Asperger's student in my class last year was a challenge, but compared to this, he was a saintly joy.
I wish you the best of luck.
Oh yes, definitely Asperger's. And the wanting to work with humans while being completely unaware of the very inappropriate nature of his own human interaction? That is classic Asperger's. I had a similar student who was in a music education major. We wouldn't let him through because of a lack of "teaching dispositions." I still remember sitting in the meeting with him and ALL the department faculty when one of my colleagues asked if he had ever taught private students. Yes, he said, he had taught seven. For how long? Well, none of them lasted more than a few weeks. Why? Obviously they were defective, he said. Oh.
Heartbreaking in many senses.
How utterly frustrating all the way around. :(
wow. I know you are frustrated with the kid, but you are looking at this the wrong way. He is not DELIBERATELY disruptive. He isn't doing it out of a need to get your attention. If he is anything like my child, who has asperger's, he is doing it because that is how he understands everything..with questions. And because he is very upset and nervous about not being able to print those pdf's.
What time is your class? Does he have interactions with his roommate right before class? Can he not print the pdf's because of conflict with the roommate? And does he even realize there is conflict with the roommate (he probably cannot read social cues at all)?
If he has that much trouble with pdfs, maybe it would be faster to tell him how to deal with the IT dept, as he probably has no clue how to ask for what he needs (thus his feeling they are totally inadaquate). Perhaps advise him *exactly* what to say, and what not to say. He doesn't know how to do this.
What's sick is he got help from the one place that is supposed to help him, and you think he did it to one-up you. He didn't trick you into printing out his notes. He knows he needs them. He is having social trouble with his roommate, and can't print them. He cannot figure out how to get the help he needs from the IT dept. And you think he is doing this all on purpose. He's not.
Thank God my child is very shy, and doesn't act out this way when she is overwhelmed. She calls me at work, crying her eyes out. She puts all the extra angst on me, not on her professors. It usually takes a while, but once I figure out what she is really scared about, I can help her figure out what to do.
This boy is most likely very literal. He has no idea how to read social cues. He won't be able to tell you are ready to end the conversation...you will have to tell him (no more 20 min conversations where he follows you). Any time he gets off-topic, you may need to tell him "we need to keep talking about x, we can't talk about y right now".
I hope none of my kid's professors are as impatient with her disability as you are with this boy. Thankfully the major she has chosen requires her to think out of the box and ask lots and lots of questions.
Anonymous - I appreciate your comment. I have done everything that you suggest. There are dozens of public computing facilities here on campus, some right in the same building that our class is held. I have told him to consult with IT. I have told him that he needs to use a public facility (easily accessible; our lecture is at 11:30 am), and the reason for his reluctance to do this is because he doesn't want to have to pay for the printouts. He used the Disability Office in an attempt to not have to pay. This is not an "equal access" issue.
Furthermore, he is deliberately disruptive, as he has freely admitted on his university profile. Had he not admitted this, I would have assumed differently. Like I said, my cousin has Asperger's, so I know what to expect. Hans' behavior is completely out of line. I pride myself on running a classroom that, even though it has 110 students in it, almost all of them feel free to ask lots and lots of questions on the topic at hand. Hans is very smart, and he knows what the topic is. If his questions and comments had anything at all to do with the material I would welcome them, no matter how frequently they came. They don't.
Your daughter is not Hans. My cousin is not Hans. I have had other students with Asperger's who are not Hans. Hans has other issues besides his Asperger's. It is terribly unfortunately that his Asperger's will make it all the more difficult for him to resolve these other issues.
AP
Speaking as someone who has done medical school admissions, Hans would not pass the admissions committee. Yes, he's smart, but his other issues preclude him from sucessfully completing medical school. Medical school slots are so precious and competition is so fierce, it's not really ethical to let someone assume the debt if you don't think they will be able to repay it.
Also, Hans' behavioural difficulties put him at risk either from his patients (psychiatry patients can be dangerous) or his peers and teachers (surgeons are much worse than patients and much less forgiving of a guy like Hans)
Have you tried smacking the shit out of him? Just asking.
Wow--it sounds like Hans belongs in my son's fifth grade class! (BTW, my son is an Aspie, and you are right--they are all different.)
Actually, medical interviews don't weed these people out. I have a guy very like Hans in my med school class. I know he is not normal. My classmates know he is not normal. The doctors who teach him know he is not normal (now). The patients he has seen all certainly know he is not normal.
The only person who thinks his behaviour is normal is, well, you guessed it.
Does he have an 'official' diagnosis? How the heck should I know, I'm just his classmate.
Here's the rub: Just because someone has a diagnosis explaining their behaviour doesn't mean this behaviour is acceptable. Particularly in a position of trust. Hans being pre-med scares me.
Well, if med school is out of the picture, I'm sure he'll find a home in a graduate school. Seven or eight years from now we're going to be running across his application for faculty positions...
That story sounds quite frustrating. Also as a former pre med, now pediatrician who treats aspergers (along with all the other pediatric diseases) and by some small coincidene also has cerebral palsy -- I simply could not help commenting on your post.
1. I agree that an attitude you describe will never make it past a med school admissions comittee. (Granted I've turned several like him away, but the pool is deep enough that the people make it through generally are able to behave, whether they choose to or not.)
2. I'm a little surprised more than one person thought this was typical of cerebral palsy, which has no specific behavioral or cognitive impairment. I just hope no one got that funny idea by watching me!
3. To reiterate Anonymous, I often cringe as I send my disabled patients out into the world. I also know that tolerating his inappropriate behaviors will not help him become employable. So kudos to you for working with disability services and helping him pass your class.
Wow, thanks for posting your experiences with Hans. My husband has Asperger's as well, and he is as nice as they come, but I still get so angry with him. I doubt if any of his professors ever even noticed his Asperger qualities, and he excelled in academics, ending up with a Ph.D. in math. I especially like your later post about how you have learned to be rude to Hans so you can be less angry and get him to do what is needed. That is sadly how I have to relate to my own husband.
People like Hans do get into medical school, manage to graduate, and go to work. Unfortunately without an understanding of what is on others minds and limited insight about themselves, they can wreak havoc in their attempts to interact with patients.
. . . or they make great researchers.
Some Advice on Hans
-For Hans, your Statistics class is probably one of the few times in the week when he is able to socialize with other people. Besides faculty members and family, he probably has no one else he can talk with, as most of his peers probably find his behavior annoying.
-I believe Asperger’s Syndrome only partly explains the classroom behavior of Hans. Another important variable to consider would be depression, because a large percentage of individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome have either suffered from, or are currently suffering from depression. The obvious triggers are feelings of loneliness and an acute awareness of one’s differences, which based on your description of Han’s behavior, seem likely.
-Han’s probably also uses your class to lift his self-esteem. By interrupting you, he wants to prove that he is exceptional, because for most of the week, he probably hates himself. If you want him to stop, explain to him that you know that he is intelligent, and well intentioned, but that his behavior is making your job of lecturing extremely difficult.
-Hans is in obvious need of anti-depressants, or Adderall, which helps suppress some Asperger’s behavior. Additionally he needs social skills training, which can be found through support groups or regional specialists. I understand that you are probably very busy, but from personal experience, I can sense Hans is at risk of suffering a nervous breakdown, or possibly something worse. In consideration of his well-being, another call to DSS might not hurt.
-When you disapprove of his behavior, always tell him. It will probably take several times before it sinks in, but eventually he will accept what you are saying and change his behavior. More than anything, Hans wants to be accepted, and he will make necessary changes.
-Try to be a friend. I understand that you have several students, but Hans seems to be in a very fragile state. Most people ignore him, and several people probably make fun of him. Though it might be excruciating to listen to him, a few minutes of smiling and nodding will probably have a huge impact. You should of course set boundaries, and he will accept them, because like I said before, he just wants to be accepted.
-Every time you become annoyed with him, think about what it would be like to be in his shoes. Depression, ADD, loneliness, a lousy family, and to top that off, Asperger’s Syndrome. Every day must be excruciating for him. Most people like that just completely shut down and give up on everything. The fact that he is able to continue, day by day, is admirable.
-There are mild, moderate, and severe forms of Asperger’s Syndrome. Your uncle probably has a more moderate form of Asperger’s Syndrome. Hans on the other hand is likely suffering from a severe form of Asperger’s Syndrome.
I don’t believe he has JUST Asperger Syndrome, seeing as I (have the same condition, I can honestly say, it’s rude and offensive. He probably has ADHD as well, (Attention Deficit Hyper-
active Disorder. Those with just AS are not disruptive like that. Also, there are varying levels from mild to extreme. AS usually comes coupled with another disability, so before you who wrote of Hans, goes about bad mouthing the AS community, I should suggest you check your facts. This has made me extremely angry and offended, I expect you to take what I have said and put it to good use.
T_T *Glare*
Scott's comments are incredibly helpful and sensitive to the situation.
I know this Hans is annoying. Heck, he probably knows he's annoying, too -- he just doesn't have the skills to stop his behavior. When my young Asperger's son is annoying like this, I come right out and tell him -- sorry, son, but you're annoying me. Then I tell him exactly WHY it's annoying, and what he should be doing instead. Then when he does something RIGHT, I go crazy in complimenting him, essentially reinforcing good behavior.
You probably don't have time to do this at all, and least of all in class. Hans really isn't your problem. You are not required to help him in any way. BUT, you could be an incredibly positive influence on a very sad, needy young man. You could help him by talking to him after class, and yes, you will have to set strong limits or he will mistakenly view you as a friend or parent-like person. But if you did so, and saw improvements in his behavior, you both would have a much more positive outlook on this situation.
Kris
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