• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Was public school difficult for you? How did you cope with it?

music.forlife7

music.forlife7

Well-Known Member
Way before I knew I had asperger's, elementary school was hard for me. First off this isn't a topic about me feeling sorry for myself, because I'm over that. This is simply just to discuss with other aspies how you got treated differently by other students and teachers. My main weakness in public achool was that I was socially awkward and quite uncoordinated in gym class and in the cafeteria. I remember talking to my parents about how I felt and and just faced every day dispite the challenges. My favorite classes in 4th grade were language arts and music. There was a dull and a bright spot every day in that school. Now, I'm attending a Special Populations school and an entire online college course about veterinarian assisting, so that's better :).

Thoughts?
 
I think elementary and high school are difficult for most people with AS. It partially depends on ones ability to adapt socially. For example, I was kinda odd until middle school. I prefered reading over socializing, and spent hours fishing in the local creek by myself. Classmates wanted to hang out with me but I made excuses to avoid them outside of school. Once high school rolled around I became a fairly popular guy. I was one of the main partiers (and partying means socializing) and a decent player on our football team. I'm from a small town, I only had 12 total students in my class, and 7 of us even started a weekend racing team at a nearby amatuer race track.

Of course, deep down I was still the quirky Aspie but I adapted to fit in and enjoy my time in high school. It paid off because I'm 20 and still keep regular contact with most of the hometown party crowd.

I think your experiences with peers at a younger age are dependent on how much you're willing to change to be part of the popular crowd. Some people stay true to themselves and others tweak themselves a little bit.

Take this with a grain of salt, it's just based off my experience.
 
I don't recall a lot of my high school days ... blocked most of it because it was so bad for me. It was torture.

I didn't really get along with other students but I got along with the teachers really well. Most teachers. My science teachers were always the best. The classes were unchallenging and I got into a lot of trouble because I was bored. All in all public schooling didn't do a lot for me.
 
2010Dolby said:
I think elementary and high school are difficult for most people with AS. It partially depends on ones ability to adapt socially. For example, I was kinda odd until middle school. I prefered reading over socializing, and spent hours fishing in the local creek by myself. Classmates wanted to hang out with me but I made excuses to avoid them outside of school. Once high school rolled around I became a fairly popular guy. I was one of the main partiers (and partying means socializing) and a decent player on our football team. I'm from a small town, I only had 12 total students in my class, and 7 of us even started a weekend racing team at a nearby amatuer race track.


Of course, deep down I was still the quirky Aspie but I adapted to fit in and enjoy my time in high school. It paid off because I'm 20 and still keep regular contact with most of the hometown party crowd.
Take this with a grain of salt, it's just based off my experience.
Click to expand...
.



I think you hit the nail on the head, weather you adapt or not is key, weather you aspie or not. I personaly stuck by things my parents said and refuse to smoke or rebel against teachers or copy others to fit in so all went bit crap at secondary school. Sheeping i call it now lol. Cant stand all the wona be chavs that are ment to be so tough yet they only fight you in there gangs. I was nerves lol yet at time was fit and strong as, competing in judo and using boxing as fittness. I so jealouse bout you racing cars, since i was kid reading all books on em and had hundreds of models. I been ta see few race meetings bttc truck racing, and tuner cars etc. At castle combe and thruxston. Parents and grand parents actually payed so i could have track day thing was awsome!
 
My elementary school years were the best years I've ever had. It's when I hit seventh grade all the way until my senior year in high school that things got rough. That's when I started getting bullied...in high school, my band director was one of the biggest bullies (long story there). :pacs_foe:
 
Public school was difficult for me because of the way I was treated. It escalated when I was in high school. And not to sidetrack the subject, why is it that Hollywood can get it so right, meaning the countless subtle ways mean girls and mean guys act towards those they consider inferior but parents, teachers and school administrators are utterly clueless about what goes on in their hallways and classrooms?

But if public school was bad, private school was even worse because there you had income snobbery. I was looked down upon not only because I was different but because my family did not have money. To this day I have mixed feelings about sending your child to a private school if you don't have the income required for that student to participate on an equal basis with the other students. Note, I did not say ability to pay tuition. I am talking about the things that are above and beyond tuition--things that are part of the student social culture. like athletics and band. I know all too well what it was like to not be able to participate in any of those things, whether it was in private or public school. Yet very few parents take this into consideration when selecting a school.
 
school was the worst time for me. Aged 11 to 14 i was the quiet weirdo reading harry potter in the library and feeling surprised when hagrid didnt come to get me on my 12th birthday because i thought i must be a wizard, would explain my weirdness! teachers were far easier to get along with for me as well, the other boys talked about big brother, i talked about the exhaust pipe baffling in my dads motorbike. They talked about page three girls, I told them the girls looked too pretty and they were all too ugly to ever get with them. At age 14 I realised I had to act differently otherwise I'd never stop being bullied, bike tyres punctured threatened with knives and bb guns on my paper round etc, so I kind of just observed how the ''hard'' kids acted, and copied them, bought a cheap ring from argos and refused to wear my uniform for two years. Teachers thought I was on drugs, ''hard'' or ''chavvy'' kids thought I was even weirder because when they asked me if I was ''hard'' I took it literally and said, no, I dont have an e''ction. They seemed to cotton on that it was an act. Oh, I also got asked by a guy '' have you seen my crew?'' meaning his little gang, and I didn't know what it meant, so I thought he was talking about a tv show. My response, '' No, I don't watch tv very much''. Age 16 I only came in for a few days a week, did some of my gcses and got the hell out of there. Got a job at mcdonalds, finally, earning money not wasting time sat in a classroom. Only one good thing came out my time at school, I found out that one of the ''hard'' kids, had been caught for burglary, dangerous driving and some other stuff, he got sent to prison for nine years. He had been one of the major bullies with the knife incidents so I suppose that counts as a little justice, if not directly. Oh yes, and not wishing this to sound too ''me'' focused, but I was undiagnosed all the way through
 
I hated school, would do anything to get out of school, and finally did drop out. I *hated* it. I didn't understand what I was supposed to say when people spoke to me, I cossdressed, I was bullied, and then, when I was 11 or 12, I became a very mean person (not that I wasn't already) and became excessively violent at school. That's how I dealt with bullies I suppose.
 
I went to a private school and it was one of my best years. Then when I went to public school again, it got rough but challenging. I had some good memories. but being isolated and ignored was frustrating and I struggled to fit in, but nothing and I just gave up. Luckily I have one best friend from high school that I keep in touch with. I liked and hated high school. I felt like some people didn't want me around and some days I just wanted to be by myself. I didn't want my teachers to think that I didn't have anybody to hang out with and have no friends. High school sucked.
 
I struggled in school. From elementary to mid high school. Bullying by teachers and students. But my favorite teachers were the science and library teachers. In high school I was not learning and my grades were low so I got kicked out. I went to a charter high school where the classes were only 8 studentd per instructor. Got my high school diploma and am taking college courses online.
 
Public school was an absolute nightmare for me. The bullying and feeling I was "other" started in kindergarten and continued through eighth grade. By the time I made it to highschool I was so introverted I was almost invisible. The good thing about being invisible was that no-one picked on me. I had two friends who were also outsiders. I'm so thankful that there is much more awareness and disapproval of bullying today. When I was in grade school the teachers were as bad as the students. I hope that schools continue to improve conditions for the outsider children. This gives me hope that my grandchildren will never have to face abuse at the hands of their classmates.,
 
I have to join the original poster and others here in saying that school was pretty tough, elementary school in particular was filled with bullying etc. I've never really known what their problem with me was, it's not something you think about deeply as a kid. All through elementary school I was around the same kids in my class and the vast majority of them considered me to have "cooties" lol. Come middle school I had a new start and kind of found my place among other social outcasts, between 6th and 8th grade I turned into the class clown and my grades started to slip as I found my acceptance in being a weirdo. Grades continued slipping through high school though I wasn't getting bullied anymore, most of my time was spent goofing off in part because I was bored with what we were learning but mostly because it felt better being able to make other people in class laugh.

I think the worst part of it was the fact that I diverged from who I was inside in order to incite reaction once I stopped caring about fitting in. I'd gone through all these phases being into piercings and shock value etc, wore my dark clothes with the long hair to make my statements and protest the norms. Lots of people ended up labeling me as someone I'm really not, it's hard for people to consider you a nice guy at first impression when you're wearing all black and listening to death metal lol. The last couple of years I've found myself trying to be more true to myself, now that I don't care so much about being labeled as the sensitive expressionist that I really am. All of my experiences and choices have contributed to the end result, don't think I'm ever going to cut my hair and I still have the same yet expanded taste in music. Though I'm much happier reaching out to people with a kind heart than I ever was shutting myself out from those who didn't do the same.
 
I was homeschooled. Interestingly, I felt the whole time that if I had to go to public school it would be a truly horrible experience.
 
Going from 5th to 6th grade aka start of middle school was very hard for me. Having different teachers for each class instead of a few in elementary school made very hard to get a good feel from them. When homework got too hard I didn't know to speak up & wouldn't do it. I'd also get lazy or just refuse altogether if I thought it was a waste of time. I was ignored by others by this time. I think going to a new school played apart in it. I would disrupt class sometimes by telling jokes.

I was suppose to be homeschooled after 6th grade, but my parents never taught me anything.
 
Elementary school I was completely confused. "Why are they laughing at me? What's so funny?"
Middle school: "Death? That sounds awesome. People are HORRIBLE."
High school: "Much better!"

I was a bullying victim until 8th grade. I hated life and band class is what kept me alive. Not even kidding. Kids were SUPER mean to me. I did not understand the concept of sarcasm until about halfway through college. It's why the name of my book is going to be "I'm Not Kidding".
 
I found primary school (elementary school) quite hard in the early years. I was very shy and found learning subjects like maths difficult. In the later years of primary school and high school I probably came across quite normal and got along with everyone and was exceptionally good sports wise and did well with subjects however like 2010Dolby I would always find excuses not to hang out with friends after school. Like most people I was bullied ironically at the start of primary school and high school which stopped eventually and I just blended in with the flow and didn't stand out, which is not what I like and I'm sure many of you are like that also.
 
School was a nightmare for me. I used to stay up late as long as I could to avoid going to sleep as I knew that when i woke up I would have to go back to that horrible place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom