Novemeber 23, 2003

My student struggles with games that involve competition. He is not a very good sport. He has a tough time playing by the rules. The reason he struggles is because he is over competitive. When playing competitive sports he wants to be the best so he breaks the rules or acts out when he can not succeed. I personally believe he would be more successful with a health and fitness curriculum in physical education. I still think it is important for him to be involved in competitive activities but he needs to know what is right and wrong when participating. For example, my student acted out during a game of sharks and minnows. He was tagged by a class mate and did not agree with being tagged. The other student then told the teacher on him because he was not playing by the rules. My student decided to retaliate by pushing the other kid during the game. His overall competitiveness and poor sport attitude resulted in acting out when being tagged during the game.
There is nothing wrong with being competitive but a student has to know when they are in the wrong for acting out. In the case of a child with Aspergers, they don’t know when they are doing something there not supposed to be doing. The graduate assistant I work with has a strict policy of stopping the behavior as soon as it starts with the student I mentor. This needs to happen to let him know what he did wrong and how he can change his behavior. After he understands what he did wrong we then make him apologize to the person he acted out on. These are going to be behavior measures that I will bring with me into my own teaching.