People with Asperger's Syndrome

John Elder Robison is a very courageous man who like many others, grew up with Asperger's syndrome in a time when there was no diagnosis. Therefore, this made his childhood very difficult as his teachers, relatives, peers and even himself did not understand the challenges he faced. John Robison did not even really start to understand his differences and what they meant until he met with a friend who happened to be a therapist, explained the diagnosis and from there, John has ran with it.
The title of his book "Look me in the eye" really encapsulates the challenges he faced growing up, many people did not understand why it was uncomfortable or distracting for him to look people in the eye and therefore he was labeled as strange or even psychopath. I don't think it was really until he discovered his diagnosis that John understood why he had difficulties focusing, mainly because he had so many other stimuli distracting him.
Luckily for John, with Asperger's comes the gift of a very technical mind. People with Autism Spectrum Disorders are typically good at math, machines and electronics. John exploited this gift as he became an electronic specialist for Pink Floyd and KISS, although I doubt he really understood the social impact of these musicians and how lucky he was. John also worked his way up as an engineer for a major toy company until he decided to quit, again I suspect this is due to the politics involved within the large company as he moved up the ladder and thus increasingly became uncomfortable with all the social networking required. Now John Robison owns and operates his special automobile repair business along with the ironic special events that go along with his very successful book.
Now, suppose I was John's teacher when he was a youth, how would I have handled it differently? Well, first I have the advantage of knowing about a wide variety of disorders that have been diagnosed and therefore have many more resources available to try and understand the difficulties that people with Asperger's face. Therefore the best way a teacher could help students with learning disabilities is to research and try and understand what they are going through and decide what you as a teacher can do, not only help them cope but also to learn. That being said, not all students are easily diagnosed and some may have absolutely nothing wrong with them but are just struggling. As a teacher, the best approach is to first make the environment safe for that student and try to get them to open up as to what they are going through and what you as a teacher can do to help them.