Unfortunately I only caught the last ½ hour of A Boy Inside and cried all through the program. I am a single mother of a 12 year old son in grade 7 with Aspergers. What I found so upsetting is I know my son is going through the same issues at school as Adam.
I started having my son tested at age 3, as he was not talking very much. He has an older sibling with an identified language disorder. I was advised to put him in nursery school where he could be monitored by Grandview, an agency for identified children.
By grade 2 the school suggested I have my son tested for ADHD. With that diagnosis my son was sent to another school for grade 3 and placed in a smaller class setting of 15 children with multiple exceptions.
In grade 4, at yet another new school with many suspensions for behavior behind him, I had him retested again at the urging of the school. This time he was diagnosed with Asperger Spectrum.
It was not until grade 5 that he was placed with a wonderful teacher who took the time with my son to teach him. It was his first successful year at school with no suspensions. Unfortunately he had to move on to another school for his senior years of grades 6 through 8, even through his teacher and I both wanted him to be held back to stay another year with her. She offered to come to my house to tutor him once a week and that has been in place since grade 6.
With the new school came the same problems of meltdowns resulting in suspensions. He was in a class of 13 children, 4 of which were autistic. His tutor advised me near the end of grade 6 that he had lost much of what he had learned in grade 5. I questioned the principal if his teacher and EA had training teaching autistic children and was told they attend workshops for special needs children in general.
The school and school board have now taken the approach to “invite” my son to do school work but they are not pushing him to do any. I have supplied them with a small white board to answer questions on as he likes the smoothness but my son tells me the teacher has not let him use it yet. I also discovered recently that he does not have a full-time EA to help him, which I thought was in place.
I have looked into private schools that have training with autistic children but at a cost of $13,000.00 per year I can’t afford this.
I don’t know where to turn. Like most Asperger children my son is very bright and with the right support could do well academically.
I am located in the Durham, Ontario region and would appreciate any suggestions on what to do next.
Kathy McClure
Parents/Adults Forum
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