Aspies For Freedom

My son has a diagnosis of AS from a community paediatricain . The problem was that the school were very reluctant to give him any additional support and had a punitive solution to most problems . Despite copies of his diagnosis and letters from me about what he found difficult and what could cause melt-downs etc he received no suppport
I asked for them to get an Ed Psychologist to assess his needs which they did howvever she did not chose to observe him in class but ran intelligence tests with him .
He is a very able boy and scored well . She concluded that he needed no support and the root of his problems was that he had changed school a lot
The reason that he had had 3 previous schools was that he had been bullied  or very unhappy and  had found it difficult to cope ,
Since her visit the school situation rapidly deteriorated as any little tolerance that there had been was withdrawn . I went to see the Head master who told me that my son had not got AS and that why did I want him to grow up thinking he was a nutter ?
I cannot believe his attitude but there was just me and him in the room.
We are now Home Schooling our son(this is going well -he works hard and is settled) but surely he has a right to have his needs met at school.
I feel that he is being failed but am  unsure of where to go from here.

It'd be helpful if you'd put the age of your son.

Sorry .. he`s 13

American?

This seem to be a quite common issue brought to this forum indeed, you might search through the forum (there's a search engine at the bottom right). I think the common solution was to send complaints to authorities,

CORRECTION

This seem to be a quite common issue brought to this forum indeed, you might search through the forum (there's a search engine at the bottom right, when you click one of the subforums). I think the common solution was to send complaints to authorities.

In my many, many, many, many, many years as a teacher, I can't say much good of school psychologists. Most of them do nothing but administer an incredibly narrow rage of tests and do little in terms of recommending anything useful for the kid -- and even if they do make a recomendation, the school is not much interested in implimenting anthying beyond sticking the kid in a "special class.".

What it comes down to is "Can we leave this kid in the regular classroom and do nothing?" or "Is this kid such a problem FOR US (the school) that we should dump him in a special ed class?" It has almost nothing to do with a deep understanding of the kids needs and a sincere wish to meet those needs.

If you can continue homeschooling and do a good job of it, it's likely the best thing.

No we are in the uk.

I would definately agree with you . I hadn`t realised that this is such a common problem for AS children .Basically it would seem that unless there is a learning problem the school is not interested in helping high-acheiving autistic children cope with the environment or inmodifing the environment in order that they can survive in school.
In the Uk there is a big drive called Every Child Matters ....clearly they do as long as they are not on Autistic Spectrum .

You know, your son's being home-schooled at age 13 may just be the best for him. It is at this age and into high school that children are the cruelest; and in any rate, public schools are not going to help your son maximize his gifts. It is these gifts that make Aspies successful; and it would be a shame to ignore them--but that is what many public schools, including, its seems, yours, do.

I think you should look into home-schooling permanently, and getting your son some low-key social interaction based on whatever special interests he has. (Social skills training is important for Aspies; and home-schooling can isolate a child; so if you home-school for more than a year be very careful to make sure your son does not fall even further behind, socially. You might even look into a formal social-skills curriculum.)

What level of education do you have, and in what areas? If you have not studied some subjects for a while, you may have forgotten enough from high school that your son may need tutors or arrangements to go to class for some specific classes... math and science are common weak points for people who have been out of school for a while, and teaching pre-calculus to a high schooler isn't a job for the faint of heart!

There are home-school associations which can help with social interaction, clubs, and difficult high school classes. I recommend you seek them out... Some of the parents will be rather eccentric, but a lot of them are just trying to educate kids with special talents or needs, like your son.

I agree. Its good to be reminded of the positive side of being Aspie .
Schools are constantly telling you where your child is failing and  don`t  notice or aren`t interested in the strengths that they have .

I will need suppport as my Maths and Science were not great at school and are worse now .
I have found the Oxford Home Schooling website and The Wits End web-site which  both offer Home Tutoring packages and look useful
I have also joined Education Otherwise which is a really helpful organisation in the UK.

Actually, they're not interested in helping anyone with any problems at all, unless the solution is 1) punitive, 2) putting them in a SPED class, 3) drugging them, or 4) expelling them.
If you haven't got a diagnosis, the second option is out, and usually the third too, which only leaves punishing the kid or kicking them out as options.  Schools aren't used to and don't like to accept the existence of problems which can't be solved by the above method.