Diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, He Managed to Find Himself in His Art

Tapped into the areas of his interest, it’d helped him learn better and connect with the outside world more, from the Newspapers, translated…

“The only thing that calms me down is daring,” the last year high school student from Yilan High School, Su was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in the second semester of his second year in high school.  After he’d received that “special needs” status, it’d not changed how much he loved art, instead, he’d accepted his own shortcomings, and managed to find the truest forms of himself through painting.

In his elementary years, Su was a child who disliked going to school.  One afternoon, as he was wandering around the school, a teacher walked toward him and asked, “Why aren’t you going into the class?”, he’d replied, “it’s not like it matters.”, and still, the teacher didn’t get angry at him, instead, asked him, “Would you like to see me paint?”, ever since, Su started taking art lessons with the instructor, and managed to find his one and only interest: art.

the young man and his mother at the awards ceremony for outstanding special needs students, photo courtesy of UDN.com

And in middle school, because he’d always fallen behind in the academics, Su became defeated, plus he’d gotten angry a lot due to hormones, he’d often lost control of his own emotions.  Only art can help him get rid of the negative feelings he was experiencing.  After he graduated from middle school, he’d taken the entrance exams for the art department in his high school years, he’d chosen Yilan High School, and had won multiple accolades in the various national competitions too, and won many times in the art competitions of his local area too.

All the way, Su’s family were all confused, how come his academic performances had, paled by comparison with students his age, and so, they’d all suspected that he had some sort of a learning disorder, but, after two evaluations, he’d not met the criteria.  It wasn’t until the second semester of his second year in high school, did he get the status of “special needs”, for having Asperger’s Syndrome.

Starting in his last year of school, the school devised an IEP (individualized education plan) for Su, and set up the skills courses, the socialization trainings, as well as extra help in English and mathematics for him.  At which time, the homeroom teacher would have conferences with Su, and told him of ways he could further his own education after high school.  After he was placed into a smaller class setting, Su started facing the challenges that came his way bravely and optimistically.

Su said, he was most grateful toward his own parents, in never giving up on him, and every single teacher who’d shown great amount of tolerance toward him in school, to allow him to use what he loved the most, art, to find himself back again.  He is willing to do everything he can, to help everybody he meets.

So, we have here, a student, who almost got lost in the system, and, because nobody ever paid heed to the signs, that, was why the intervention came this late, but, after he received the help he’d needed, he started doing well in school, and this just still shows, that there are no students who doesn’t want to do well in school, it’s just that s/he hadn’t found a way that worked for her/him is all…