Any Difficulties With School?

[Galaxy Freeze]

If you are on the Autism Spectrum and are in some kind of school (Elementary school, Junior High, High school, etc.), what are some things that make it hard for you?

Is it hard to be at school each day, either because of sensory issues, routines, obsessions, etc?

I know it's hard for me because of my poor social skills and sensitivity to sound and light. I can't handle being in a classroom with a bunch of immature, screaming teenagers (Sophomore in High School) and it feels like not even my friends understand me when I'm trying to explain something, there's more... But those are the main things for me. I manage to maintain A's and B's at least, though. Although sometimes it's hard for me to get my homework done because of my obsessions/hobbies.

So what makes it school hard for YOU for whatever reasons? Which part of Autism/Asperger's/HFA makes school frustrating or annoying? Are you struggling with grades, being bullied, etc.?

I'm curious because we might be able to figure out some solutions and ways to cope for each other.

I know I usually pull out my iPod when my classes won't shut up, my teachers let me because they know about my Asperger's. And I keep a monthly schedule of work so I know when to get off my computer to get my work done.

 

[2010Dolby]

Yep, class can give some problems. I never pay attention in class because Im always thinking about something else. I sometimes dont get my assignment done because Im doing something else. Around my friends Im talk and talk and talk, but in my classes full of strangers my shyness stops me from participating and gives me some slight anxiety and panic. And my constant day-dreaming causes some problems too haha

 

[HelloDizzy]

I have quite severe issues with school. I'm getting a second chance right now; I stopped going in my first two semesters at my community college in Louisiana.
I hate the sensory stimuli, I hate people around the people, I hate not knowing where I'm going (no sense of direction) and I hate when my professors don't know the subject.

I usually get a fever from being there.

It's a huge anxiety thing for me, and I am looking into taking classes online due to it; too bad I have to go for post-grad school since I'm a psychology major.

 

[King_Oni]

Well, I'm not in school anymore, last time I was in school was 2 years ago. That failed... and in the past I've tried 5 different courses on college/university and they all failed. And high school wasn't really a walk in the park either. Pretty much each school I attended I ended up with a counselor for whatever reason, so I think I do know a lot of problems I might have stumbled upon... and those were really way before I got my diagnosis.

- An overload of sensory stimuli made me feel really uncomfy in any school. I got distracted and distressed... in the end I tried to block it all out and think about fun things, which resulted in me not caring nor being involved with classes that much.
- In general I cannot work routines and just "my own way". However, if I'm put in a spot where I have to work in a group and adhere to schedules... I cannot deal with chaos and it should be structured in a way that I can work with (and that might not be the way school wants me to work it)
- I'm not a morningperson, as in... classes before 4 pm in the afternoon, my brain is on stand-by. My mind works best @ midnight.
- I always felt that a teacher (and I'm not even talking a so called professor) should know everything about a subject. If I can know more than him on subject X in his class, I really cannot accept this guy as my teacher anymore. The same goes for spelling... a teacher be some kind of smart "entity".. a good example. There is no room for mistakes... yes, mistakes are human, but I never considered being human a inherent trait for someone teaching me something, I want correct data nothing else.

On a positive note some things I had going on that were good;

- Due to my physique I just got bullied a bit. And those were guys who were way older than me and knew me from before school even. Thus me being weird or whatever... people in general left me alone a lot.
- When I was in my early 20's and I went to some high school-ish thing, that was really loose in being at school even. I just came in for tests, and I had pretty much A's and B's, whereas the times where I had to be in school each day, all day, I just barely managed to make it.

There's a lot of things of which I know they're there... but I can't see this being fixed as it poses new problems. A while ago I asked a question on another ASD forum (a dutch one) where they were going on about doing e-courses. That in general is fine, it's a good way to get your diploma, but in this day and age where companies want people who had good internships and know how to function "normally" around people, those do not work out that well, and that's pretty much what I asked. "has anyone who did an e-course ever succesfully land a fulltime job?" (because afterall you're in school to get employed sometime later in life)

 

[kg4fxg]

I finished my Senior year of High School at home. Was always in trouble but got good grades. College was great but I attend a small College. Actually many, OK six colleges but four were after I got my Bachelors degree. I did not like the Community College but the small University was fine. I had a private room albeit very small but it was mine.

 

[Galaxy Freeze]

Yeah, I can relate to almost everything you guys mentioned. Those things happen to me also, especially the "day dreaming" thing! Sensory issues are definitely the worst for me at school.
I do also like working by myself as opposed to a group. One of two things always seem to happen to me when I have to work in a group... I pretty much never try to get involved in class activities, just results in headaches and over-stimulation it seems like.

Guess the best thing I can do is to make sure some environmental factors are tweaked either by adjusting ourselves to suit our needs (such as going outside if it's too loud or using earplugs, etc.) or by talking to the teacher. Most of my teachers seem like they aren't able to control their classes and get them to be a little quieter, and I have told them that (in a nicer way of course), but they never seem to fix anything. I suppose it's just up to me to protect myself from the noise then...

1. They're either total morons who do nothing but ask you for all the answers and they never cooperate even when you ask them to do the simplest tasks.

2. They're total smarties who exclude me and never listen to anything I have to say! I can't win...

I'm not a morning person either, I have zero tolerance for any type of noise in the morning, I think my sound sensitivity is even worse in the wee hours of the morning. I don't particularly relish the idea of listening to loud classmates at 5:00 in the morning!
Night is my favorite time, I can actually think clearly and it's quiet. I seem to be more creative too, that's when I do most of my drawing! ...And homework, sometimes I procrastinate, haha.

And I've had a lot of teachers who don't seem to know what they're doing, it's very frustrating, I agree.

Can't wait to see what college has in store for me, I'm going to an art school in San Fransisco or Sacramento, California. So it might not be too crowded and it'll be a comfortable environment for me.

When I get older I'm going to be a freelance animator, but that'll be after a few starting jobs of course. That'll be after I know I'll be well off. I'd probably work for an animation company under a boss first so I can get some experience.

Big, cruel, loud, scary, and exciting world out there...

 

[HelloDizzy]

Did I mention insomnia?

My brain runs about a million miles a minute and I also experience traumatic event after traumatic event so I have chronic insomnia.
I don't sleep, I walk 4-6 miles to school and collapse.
I stay home, I fail.
I take something to sleep, I'm drowsy all day.
I drink coffee to rebound, I get jittery OR more tired.

>.<

 

[Galaxy Freeze]

Ooh, that sucks. My sleep time varies greatly. Some nights I only get an hour, some nights I get eight hours!

I used to think I had insomnia, but I don't think I do because I just prefer to do other things than sleep, like drawing or going on the computer.
I noticed I don't actually have trouble falling asleep, I just don't want to do it, haha.

I want to stay home as much as possible though because I just can't seem to handle going to school. I bet some people think I'm just lazy when I say that, but I think they just don't understand that my brain can't handle it!
I wish the weekend was three days...

 

[HelloDizzy]

I don't know if my insomnia is stress induced or not.

I always hated school; my mom had to drag my into school up until 2nd grade, push me in the class, and the teacher would shut the door and lock it. I would cry all day and puke.
I dropped out of my senior year of highschool due to bullying+fights+anxiety.

I'm actually at school right now, plotting my escape.

 

[King_Oni]

What I'm actually wondering and I touched on it a bit in my post in this thread earlier. How viable would e-courses be instead of being actually @ college. For a lot of us apparently there is a lot of stress going on because you have to be around people for practical reasons. Anyone consider that, or tried it. If so, did that work out better?

 

[Flinty]

What I'm actually wondering and I touched on it a bit in my post in this thread earlier. How viable would e-courses be instead of being actually @ college. For a lot of us apparently there is a lot of stress going on because you have to be around people for practical reasons. Anyone consider that, or tried it. If so, did that work out better?

Yes. It was no better or worse than going to physical school, mostly because I have difficulty concentrating on walls of text, which was heavily required in my courses.

 

[kg4fxg]

Did I mention insomnia?

My brain runs about a million miles a minute and I also experience traumatic event after traumatic event so I have chronic insomnia.
I don't sleep, I walk 4-6 miles to school and collapse.
I stay home, I fail.
I take something to sleep, I'm drowsy all day.
I drink coffee to rebound, I get jittery OR more tired.

>.<

You should try Melatonin. I take it, in the Vitamin section and in 15 minutes I am asleep. If I wake 4 hours later there is no groggy effects. I did not believe in it at first, but I can't take sleep meds. I don't understand it but it works. I get it at Publix.

 

[Droopy]

What I'm actually wondering and I touched on it a bit in my post in this thread earlier. How viable would e-courses be instead of being actually @ college. For a lot of us apparently there is a lot of stress going on because you have to be around people for practical reasons. Anyone consider that, or tried it. If so, did that work out better?

E-courses work for me so far but the only problem is that you can easily be distracted when working at home and it's harder to focus/motivate because you are not in a learning environment. On the other hand, there are no loud classrooms full of immature people, no anxiety of being around 100s of people, you obviously won't get bullied and so-on. It has its pros and its cons.

 

[HelloDizzy]

I started taking Melatonin when I was 16 and it doesn't make me fall asleep unless I take way too much, and I'm also very tired the next day.

 

[danielsm]

King_Oni said "I always felt that a teacher (and I'm not even talking a so called professor) should know everything about a subject. If I can know more than him on subject X in his class, I really cannot accept this guy as my teacher anymore. The same goes for spelling... a teacher be some kind of smart "entity".. a good example. There is no room for mistakes... yes, mistakes are human, but I never considered being human a inherent trait for someone teaching me something, I want correct data nothing else."

My thoughts exactly.

 

[buckyboy14]

^ YES!!! I am going to be a junior in high school, and this gets on my nerves SO MUCH. I am a huge grammar freak, and many of my English teachers became angry because I corrected their spelling and/or grammar (Many teachers of other subjects have as well, but English teachers shouldn't be making these errors). I would always be saying to myself, "Why are you even teaching this class if I have a better grasp of the English language than you?" Last year, I had an English teacher who actually loved it when I corrected him, and we would have good-natured grammatical debates all the time, and he is now the man whom I consider my hero. However, other teachers really need to work on their skills if they're going to be teaching a class about the subject in question.

 

[banana bone]

E-courses work for me so far but the only problem is that you can easily be distracted when working at home and it's harder to focus/motivate because you are not in a learning environment. On the other hand, there are no loud classrooms full of immature people, no anxiety of being around 100s of people, you obviously won't get bullied and so-on. It has its pros and its cons.

I'd agree. When you get stumped while studying or you are more busy than usual, it's easy to give up. No motivation there. You need a really strong sense of internal motivation to get through it.

I used to be a chronic daydreamer at school.

 

[Soup]

I was the kind of kid that teachers & little old ladies thought of as cute (ringlets, bows & frilly dresses). These did not at all reflect the person I was on the inside. I learned from small to use this 'cute little girl' look as a survival strategy. Watching other cute little girls, I learned to ape their behaviours, look shy (as opposed to an expressionless back-from-the-dead kid in a horror film) & say a few appropriate phrases. By the time I hit high school, I was exhausted from keeping up the fake persona.

By high school, like many teens, I lost all patience for any guff. I began acting like my weird self. Since this was a big school, I didn't stand out much: the British band The Sex Pistols had rendered the punk rocker look trendy so compared to those kids, I looked downright invisible! there were heavy metal kids & sports jock kids... too many 'genres' to enumerate. I hated every second of my 5 yrs at high school. I despised the rickety, loud yellow school bus. I deplored the cafeteria & every single aspect of high school life. I began forging absentee notes from my mother & became a chronic truant. I had the 3rd highest absentee record in the entire school board region & needed special dispensation from some big wig to write my provincials. How I passed with good grades is beyond my ken.

I wasn't one of the kids others targeted for bullying. I was attractive & girls wanted to 'hang out' with me or have me in their 'clique' for that reason. Knowing that this was essential for blending in, I chose a 'clique' carefully. Since I skipped so much school, I seldom saw them. Skipping school became a skill for me: I knew that the hated yellow bus let me off in front of X door at X time: I knew that the city bus passed by on the opposite side of the school 10 mins later. I'd either cut through the bldg or go around (depending upon who & where the monitors were) Then, I'd watch for the bus, slip out, blend into the line-up & vanish. I'd be sure to get back in time to ride the yellow bus home & arrive without arousing suspicion. The school was asleep at the wheel & never called my parents to see if all those notes were legitimate! NOBODY that age goes to the dentist that many times, has that many Aunts whose weddings must be attended or gets that many bouts of Gastroenteritis (unless they get Dysentery!)

Either way, I did every thing I could think of to NOT be there. Why did I hate it so much? Too many people, too much noise, sensory overload, a weird smell, bad food, uninteresting classes, couldn't relate to anyone... The day after the last day of High School remains the happiest day of my life. Knowing I'd never ever have to ride that dreaded bus again or enter into that hated building again was like getting a stay of execution & a full pardon at the 11h hour. Looking back, I still get a sense of that feeling 30 yrs later!

University was much better since I got to select my classes, could do some of them online, didn't need to ride a school bus & people were quieter & not cliquish. You could BE a real live Aspie there: sciences, computers & engineering were brimming with them.At that time, I didn't know I was one, but I'd always known that I was fundamentally different.

 

[wyverary]

I have been trying to go to college since I was 18--I'm 25 now--and I had an impossible time dealing with other students, professors, noisy classrooms, etc. It didn't help that most of those schools were huge (between 10,000 and 40,000 students) and in horrible locations. I'm giving the online thing a try this time, provided the application and financial aid process doesn't induce another debilitating nervous breakdown.

I started taking Melatonin when I was 16 and it doesn't make me fall asleep unless I take way too much, and I'm also very tired the next day.

I feel your pain. I have had severe insomnia all my life. Melatonin didn't do jack, and Ambien resulted in no sleep but lots of scary experiences. The only thing that has worked for me is a large dose of Seroquel and beta blockers.

 

[Megan]

School was very difficult for most of my life until I went to an alternative high school my sophomore year. I've always been terrible at socializing and the atmosphere of school is very draining. There's way too many people and too much noise. Group work has always been hard. I sit there quietly while the group talks and eventually assigns me a task. I'm starting college and this has pretty much been my experience there thus far. There's so much talk of how networking is crucial, which is bad news for me. I think I'd be better off doing online classes to earn my degree, but I'm not sure how that would work considering you need a certain number of lab hours and such for chemistry and biology credit. I feel like school is designed for extroverts and NT's, which I suppose makes sense since that's the majority of the population. It would be nice to see public schools better accommodate Aspies and introverts.