Repeat

Al just turned 15 and is a freshman in high school. Looks like he'll be one again next year. One of his problems since he was 4 was a distinct dislike of school. He started preschool in a program at a local high school. He had his own 'teacher' (a senior in the early childhood program). At this point I didn't know he had autism, just that his language wasn't typical and his clinginess wasn't normal either. He spent much of that program curled up on the floor biting his shirt while his 'teacher' rubbed his back. His second preschool experience was a little better, but there was one day when they asked him to hang up his own jacket and he refused. They told him when he hung it up he could join the rest of the class. He spent 2 1/2 hours in the coat room, standing there. Was I upset? Of course. More testing and off he went to the special ed preschool. He didn't fare much better there, hated it in fact. I should mention that the vast majority of the time, at all his preschools, I needed to carry him in and plop him in the classroom. This continued into kindergarden and first grade. Then we moved from Illinois to Maryland. I continued to carry him in to school many, many days. The behaviorists and teachers all assured me that if I was consistent and sent the message to him that going to school was not an option he would eventually get it. Well, by winter break of 5th grade I finally gave up. At that time he was just too big for me to get him into the car (and by this point it would take 3 staff members to get him from my car into school). He would just go limp - dead weight. Once at school he would 'snap out of it' within a couple of hours. 6th grade went well until the end when he got hit with adrenal fatigue. He went on Home and Hospital (county provided home teacher), but by the middle of 7th grade I got fed up with the incompetence of the teacher. I decided to home school Al, and did so through 8th grade. His health improved, so we placed him in high school. He's always been in general ed with extra academic help. When Al is at school he does very well, except for his serious aversion to writing and his inability to read faster than a 2nd grade fluency. The biggest problem is his attendence - he's there only 50% of the time. It's hard to keep up and pass high school classes that way. The fatigue is still unfortunately an issue. The rest? I have no idea. But I can no longer get him where he needs to go and he needs to internalize the necessity of pushing himself through his fatigue to do the things he needs to do. I sincerely hope he learns this lesson in the next few years.