Should I Tell My Instructor I Have AS?

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I'm having problems with my statistics course. Not the material, I understand it just fine. My first problem was lack of specific intructions on how to complete the first assignment. I knew the material but I didn't know how he wanted the questions answered. I failed it, got a 62%. Once I e-mailed him and understood what he wanted based on notations he made to my assignments, I've been getting straight As since, 94% and higher.

The next problem came up on exam day. Since I am a Distance Learner, I go to a branch Penn State campus to take my exams. In the past it has been quiet there, but they have a whole new staff since I was there last in 2001. The room was private where I took the exam, but the noisy women chattering, the squeaky metal drawers opening and closing, doors slamming and my sensory problems were not a good mix. I rocked the whole time. Most questions were simple, but the wording on one confused me (like that first lesson!) and the second one I worry about I realized (once my head was free of overstimulation) I had answered incorrectly. The lessons are worth 30-ish points but the three exams are worth 100 points each!! ! So I am freaking out about how missing two questions on a 25 question exam will impact my grade. I would have been fine if I could have clarified the meaning of the one question and/or been able to work in QUIET.

How should I handle this? Do I e-mail the instructor and explain? I don't want to sound like a whiner, and I've managed to get through all but this one class for my degree (I graduate after this one) with minimal problems. Except the stupid ass athletic class we were required to take, which I never went to. I've never revealed to anyone that I had any sensory problems.

Suggestions?

I think you should tell him. Maybe you can say that you don't expect him to make any special allowances for you, but want to make him aware of the situation.

It seems to me like that room would be a difficult environment for anyone to take an exam in. Could you just ask the staff at the branch campus if they could find you a more appropriate location to take exams in?

You should be able to go through the disability office at the university. If you register with them as having a disability, then they can help you with getting the accommodations that you need.

I'm registered with my disability office, and I get a form at the beginning of each semester that lists what accommodations I am eligible for. I give that form to my teachers and if they have any questions they can call the disability office. But nowhere on the form does it say what my disability is, and the teacher is not allowed to ask me or my disability coordinator. That is confidential. But because I have that form, the teacher is required to give me those accommodations.

My accommodations include: separate site testing (which you already get, by default), a distraction-free testing environment, extended time on tests, I am allowed to record lectures, preferential seating (so if somebody is sitting in my seat, I can have them move), and it says that the teacher needs to provide "clear, concrete, written instructions." That last part really helps, because it means that the teacher has to do that, and also, if I am confused by the instructions that were given, it lets the teacher know that it's probably not all my fault.

Of course, it can take some time to process things through the disability office, so for this particular class you might need to just talk to the teacher. Perhaps, though, just start by asking if there is another place that you could take your exam, because there were a lot of distractions in the other room. That would be a reasonable request coming from anybody, regardless of a disability. Everybody has the right to take their exams in a quiet environment. Now, since you are taking the exam at a separate site, are you missing an opportunity to ask for clarification on questions that the other students would have? If this is the case, maybe you could work something out with the instructor, where if you aren't sure what the question is asking, you write down how it is that you interpreted the question, then answer it. Or figure out some way for you to call him during the exam for clarification.

Even if it's too late to get registered with the disability office for this semester, I would highly recommend that you do it, if you plan on taking more classes. They can really help out a lot when you are dealing with situations like this.

Definitely if you have access to the disabled student services as Penn, you should seek them out.

I tell all my instructors something, if not the whole issue, just so they know I'm not like one of those kids who are just flaking out on school.

As far as testing...
Again, the DSS, or whatever your school calls it, should help you out with testing issues.
You might try wearing a set of earplugs or earmuffs (like construction workers wear).
I know the muffs might looks strange, but if you can get into a private room, it might not be so bad.

If I take too long on tests I start doing worse.
My technique is to go as fast as I can
I don't care if I rock, bounce my leg, hum or mumble.
I take my tests in the classroom, but if I felt it was becoming an issue, I'd ask for the testing booths at the library.

Since I'm usually one of the first ones done with the test, most of the students and noises don't bother me.
I have thought about asking if I could wear my iPod to help block out extraneous sounds, as well as my hoodie for visual stimuli.
Not sure how that would be received though

I contacted the Distance Learning people. They suggested I contact the instructor and explain the situation and ask for a re-test. I did. His response was that he doesn't have re-testing available, doesn't offer it. He suggested I contact the exam proctor directly and explain the situation, asking for a quieter time. So I did that, explaining what went on and asking if there was perhaps a quieter time of day or something. Her response was uppity, explaining that I should expect noise in a "working office", and if I couldn't deal with it (in so many words) I could use an alternative location. I wrote back and explained that most of the noise was social, not working, but whatever.

I'm really quite pissed at how everyone is handling this. So I am going to try noise-canceling headphones and see if that works.

I hate standing out like a sore thumb. Mostly I just don't even bother trying to get help, because it just makes me stand out. It makes me feel like s**t, and I end up realizing the only thing I have accomplished is looking like a whining, incompetent ASS.

On the bright side, halfway through and my overall average is 91%.

Perhaps to a few people who are so small-minded.
Be easier on yourself... somehow.
I believe we always tend to over-exaggerate what other people think of us.

Sounds like this distance learning program isn't staffed by folks who take it as seriously as classes on the campus itself.

I hate to think you are left with just those resources and responses you mentioned. That is a poor way to treat students IMHO.

Congratulations on your grade though!

If you have any problems in class that relate to your AS, then that's the time that you tell your instructor about your AS. Similar problems like yours have happened to me many times, even here at the university. Plus, it's also best that the disability center knows about you and your AS. Notifying the disability center has helped me make sure that I have a single dorm.

The class I am taking now is just brutal for me, its a weak point. I'm earning good grades, though not without my weekly meltdown habit when it comes time for lesson submissions. The good news? Only 3 lessons left and I graduate! This has taken forever.

Sadly, the distance learning thing has gone downhill. This semester they changed to a semester-based program. Good for my graduating in December with everyone else, but bad because (a) now tuition is the same as if I were attending on campus, and I have a scrap of the resources they do...distance learning is NOT an easy feat and (b) I am rushed, having two fewer months to complete said courses on the semester-based scheduling. I'm so glad this is the last class for my degree, because what they have done to distance learning (which was once a very good program with attentive people and isntructors) has gone painfully downhill and the price for a class has almost doubled. I paid $1,300 for this class when it would have cost $789 before the semester-based programming was implemented. Major suck.

I wonder if the university gets more 'points' for having students on campus as opposed to off campus study.

Seems like schools here in California are going through some enrollment crunches which can bring about a host of problems.

Right now I am at a junior college, so my cost per credit is still pretty low.

Glad to hear you don't have much longer to go Siuan.

It sounds like you are going to make it, by the words you are putting here.

I'm rooting for you!

I find it best to inform instructures of having Asperger's Syndrome and some of the ways it affects me personally to be very helpful. It reduces a lot of stress and guess work and gives the instructure an idea of what to expect so he's not got off guard. Whoever your exam proctor was had no buisness getting uppity with you after you explained your sensory issues and asked for a better location. This sounds like its borderline harrasment and possibly discrimination. As for "office space" most work environments don't have the background noise as you described it and I doubt they issue exams. If I were you I'd report what happened to your director of students with disabilities.

Yes. I feel that it's strongly importaint that you do so. You might get some services that you never thought would ever help you out.