Transitioning to high school

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I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with high school services for kids on the spectrum in Canada. My daughter was diagnosed in Grade 6 and will be going into high school next year. She has trouble with executive functions, reading comprehension, other cognitive issues. I'm not too concerned about social issues at this point as she has a sibling and friends in upper grades who treat her much better than her peers at middle school. The biggest problem, however, is school avoidance. Our main discipline issues are all related: getting her to go to bed before midnight, getting her up in the morning, getting her to school. Who is generally responsible for arranging SEPs, modified programs, etc. at the high school level, a guidance teacher?

I'm not sure why no one replied. Even though I don't have any advice for Canada, I think there may be other advice/ comments on the other issues you presented.

Thanks, Eureka-C. I'm hoping someone has suggestions for me to help prepare my DD for high school. We just had a rather disastrous parent-teacher meeting and I'm worried that they won't be doing much for her in the next few months.

I do not have a high schooler, but I hope it is alright if I ask you some questions that might get you a more specific answer from someone who does have one?

You listed some behaviors that may be symptoms of school avoidance, but do you know specifically what about school she avoiding? If you can pinpoint the cause/s of her anxiety that might help people help you develop solutions.

Sleeping and waking issues can be unrelated to school avoidance also. Our son (not a high schooler) has had issues getting to sleep and waking up and such even before he was close to school age. It just didn't matter so much, then. Dawdling in the morning could be related to sleepiness, too or just a result of executive function issues.

If you know it is school avoidance have you managed any productive conversations with her about it?

I live in Canada and didn't respond because my son will be transitioning into high school in September '13. I'm not sure how I can help since I'm in the same boat. Why was your meeting disastrous?

My brother isn't on the spectrum, but he has a lot of issues with school avoidance due to depression.

Some of what my parents have done, which has worked partially:

* setting limits on how much he can stay home, and making deals ('if you stay home today, you have to go the rest of the week')
* the school lets him go to a quiet area to hang out if he's too stressed to be in class (he goes to the resource room)
* he gets CBT, and we do CBT-style stuff at home, getting him to tell us exactly what irrational depressing thoughts he's having and gently countering these with reality
* he takes medication for depression, which helps, but he keeps forgetting to take it so my parents have to be on him about it every morning
* sometimes we tell him to go half the day instead of skipping outright

So I finally got an answer besides "I don't know" about the school avoidance. It turns out that it isn't primarily due to social or academic problems (although she does say that when she doesn't understand it's hard or boring). So thank you for pointing me in that direction, ASDMomtoASDKid.

From what she described, it sounds more like a vicious cycle of tiredness. She gets to sleep late because she won't give up until all her homework is done and she's finished what she calls her chores (answering FB messages, writing her blog, rearranging her room...), then being unable to sleep. She really does seem to try, but she turns things over in her mind, over and over. As a result she gets up late and takes a long time to get ready and isn't ready for school. Fortunately she doesn't mind going to school late or for half-days, as Ettina mentioned; unfortunately the teacher she has for first period 3 days a week is the least understanding. ASDMom, the reason the meeting was disastrous is the teachers kept saying she would be fine if she came to school every day and came in for help. I tried to get specific info about how they are modifying her program but they didn't have answers. They stopped giving her math sheets at her level because they were too easy, etc.

Anyway, she made some progress this week by setting her alarm, telling me when to come into her room, etc. She was so proud when she arrived just as the bell was ringing one morning this week! I still would like some help on the sleeping.

The other thing that happened is my older daughter ran into the psychologist who diagnosed her and told him what was going on. He said he thought we should arrange a transition meeting with the M&R teacher at middle school and his contact at the high school, and him in attendance. We haven't had much contact with him because our insurance refused to cover the cost of dx or therapy and we just can't afford it, but I think we could manage a few hours of fees for this.
Best
J

Maybe her body is sensitive to the blue light off of the computer. It will affect her sleep. Also, if she's rearranging her room, she's probably wiring herself out. Maybe she should do her "chores" after school and practice some relaxation an hour + before bed. It may help with the insomnia.

Good suggestions! Meditation would help me, too.