how did teachers react to your aspie child?

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were they supportive, did the school do everything in there power to make things better?

My AS child was in preschool for a year before diagnosis. I was planning on just leaving her where she which was in two different preschools on alternate days and have the aide. I was told by the aid's agency about one school that was good. So we went to tour it and I thought it was OK. Well this has never happened before but then this school practically begged me to put my child in their school. I reluctantly put my child in.

I didn't realise but this school had done everything right for autism learning. They had a very set schedule that is very clear and the teacher will often sang instructions that is very clear. I find the other schools just lower their expectations with my daughter and they managed her. They did things like holding her hand so she didn't run away when walking through the building instead of singing a song with actions which focused her so she didn't run away. I mentioned this before but I was shocked at how well my daughter performed at the Christmas Concert she did almost everything she was supposed to. Other times they held her hand while she performed.

The only unfortunate part of this story is I will eventually have to put my daughter into the public school system. The preschool is private and once my daughter is done kindergarten we will have to pick a different school. I have a feeling the public school will manage my daughter like the preschools before. And I now understand why parents with children with learning disabilities see the faults in an education system and complain the loudest.

Since it was teachers who spotted it, I'd say the overall answer is "good." In elementary school the principal always placed my son with teachers who had some AS experience, or were very open to it, and I would give the school an excellent grade for how they handled my son.

Middle school got more difficult, because they have less luxury in scheduling, and a larger variety of teachers, so every year we had one that initially didn't get it. But, I gathered up emails, we had our IEP early in the year, and I put the learning lab teacher to work as an intermediary, and we got through it OK. Nothing was ever perfect, but it was fine; we got for our son what he needed most, even if we didn't get everything he might have thrived best with.

High School is similar to middle school, but we have the luxury of not really needing the support and understanding, as my son is doing so well now that he is trying to wean off every non-essential part of his IEP (he will never be able to leave the writing accommodation, or we might be trying to live completely outside of it, but that really isn't an option), mostly just to see if he can do it, and to start getting ready for college.

He's only a freshman so that is as far as we've gotten.

I do think we've been very lucky.

Based on my reading here, it is a mixed bag.

Last year our son was in an inclusion program in a different school with more experience with spectrum children (K). This year (grade 1)he was mainstreamed in a new school with little to no experience with spectrum kids and it was too much of a transition for him. Too much noise, too much transitioning, and too many rules he can't comply with even though he desperately wants to follow rules. (and too much frustrating coloring that they grade him on --- but that is another issue)

His resulting behavioral issues were too much for the teacher, so now he has an aide and things are much better. The principal seems to care at least; and the teacher is calmer now that she has help with his more disruptive tendencies. The situation is not ideal, because they really aren't experienced with this, but they are giving him more help with things and his demerits have decreased substantially. I am not 100% sure if this is due to improved behavior, or if it is because they finally figured out that the demerits are not motivating and can make it worse when he gets punished for sensory things he can't help. I will find out at the next parent teacher conference in a few weeks, I am sure.

The main thing to know is if things are not working, you will probably have to push for things. They may be resistant to spend money on evaluation and services that your child needs until they find things are hard for them.

To be honest, I'm not sure how well they are dealing with my daughter, but the situation is definitely not ideal. I was so concerned that I was prepared to start home schooling. But in the last few weeks of school before Christmas, my daughter seemed to be making proper friendships. I don't want to put an end to that, so the home schooling idea has been put on hold.

She has 2 teachers and another mum, with a daughter very like mine, says her daughter didn't get on well when she was in the female teacher's class. Things have improved dramatically since she got another teacher. My worries have not been quite so much, but the teacher does have a completely different view of my daughter's reading skills. In my opinion, her reading is great and I'm not at all worried about it. But, the teacher doesn't move her on to the next level even though she's obviously starting to get bored. I think they are testing her with too many distractions around, so they can't see that she's one of the smarter kids.

I meet with the depute head now and again and I thought we had quite a good relationship. But, I have noticed that when I mention issues about other kids (violence or nasty words), she turns it around to issues with my daughter (even if there's no connection and my daughter is anything but violent). At no point does she ask for names of the other kids or tell me that she will deal with the matter. My friend has a son with an ASD and he's in the same class. She says she's had the same response when she has raised very serious concerns. This worries me a lot. I know my daughter is a likely target for bullies and I have no confidence in the school dealing with such matters appropriately.

Whenever we meet, the DH will say the same things like 'Are you prepared to come in a work on social stories with the ed psych?' I say 'Yes'. She takes yet another note to contact the ed psych. But, the ed psych has never even met my daughter yet and no sessions have been set up. The teachers seem to be trying, without any outside guidance, so they're making it up as they go along. That's frustrating for me.