Scared of school?

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Please don't laugh, but for some reason I'm terrified of going to school tomorrow and everyday. I'm scared of the social situations I'll have to encounter, I'm scared of the people, scared of the sounds and noise, scared of the work......I don't know what to do. Is this normal for an aspie? What do I do? I'm seconds away from my third panic attack. I need help.

The only relief I have ever found for panic attacks is to pray, Bri ...

"Father, my only desire is to delight in you."

At least psychologically, that gives me good reason to think of nothing else or other, and the anxiety is again thus driven away.

Jeez, I know what that is like. I'll tell you one thing, it isn't abnormal AT ALL what you're feeling. Maybe my own nightmare experiences of school can help you feel less alone in the situation:

I started noticing at about 13-14 that I was really, really not cut out for school. I had this incredible intellect, but couldn't do any of my assignments. Mainly the anxiety from the time middle-school began till I left high school two years early was to blame for my inability to focus on anything, but the sensory things, like those goddamn lights and the shiny textbooks loaded with all kinds of ret*d little side-notes, the sudden outbursts of my peers (teens are loud, frankly), and my confusion about why little sensations caused me physical pain unlike anything I could explain to the NT staff and students - it was a miracle I lasted that long at all.

Puberty + Asperger's + school + not being diagnosed = the worst time of my life. I dropped out of high school two years in, and I was about one or two classes shy of being the actual class I was supposed to graduate with. I fiddled around for about two years longer than my graduating class did in some local alternative program, but I just hadn't figured it out that school in any form just wasn't going to do it. I knew this stuff, I didn't need all that pain f*****g around doing monkey's work anyway. I also have this pain in my hands when I write, and that matched with rather horrible OCD, and I didn't have a chance.

From what I hear, none of this is at all unique. I always hear how bad school was/is for Aspies. I do feel for you, so I would highly recommend trying your best to speak with a counselor and some other staffers about getting yourself a personalized IEP (or whatever your school calls them) - this means you'll have special advantages made for the condition as to allow you the best chance of getting through the experience. I wasn't diagnosed in time, around 2002 (I was 15), and it was summer between school-years, and even though I was enrolled at that same school for that year I just didn't attend, then went my own way with that local alternative school. You have a great advantage in that, with some work, you can have the school work with you to help you set a personal routine allowing more comfort with your studies.

Good luck, though. I hope you don't feel alone on this, school is hard for anyone.

High school sucks. I'm sure it's no consolation to you, but at least you're already 17! You're probably further along than I am. Oh, and from what I hear "school phobia" is unfortunately very common, if not even the norm, among Aspergers children/adolescents. I don't know about its prevalence in "NT"s, but I've always imagined that it is more common than popularly thought.

I don't get full-blown panic attacks during school, but it helps me to always remember to breathe deeply. You probably already know to breathe deeply to manage anxiety, but since I always managed to forget to do this when it would have helped most, I feel like mentioning it anyway, hehe. This especially works because I normally breathe shallowly, like most people, so exaggerated slow breaths really slow me down. (Sometimes too abruptly beginning to slow my breathing can give me jarring palpitations, but those doesn't bother me too much.)

The worst thing about school is that one has no control over the environment, of course. You could try to mitigate the work, noise, etc. with an IEP as suggested. I have no experience with this (probably to my detriment). Alternatively, you could work out individual solutions to some of the problems... For example, finding a quiet room to eat lunch in if the lunchroom is too loud, or bringing earplugs or a music player, if that is allowed. If the staff are unsympathetic, it would be nearly impossible to mitigate the situation without an IEP, so if this is really too much to bear you will have to get your parents to help you with this to preserve your sanity.

Thanks for making me feel normal for once lol. My school said I couldn't get an IEP since my asperger's isn't affecting my schoolwork. So I'm stuck on my own . Just a couple more months......*sighs*

if you have panic attacks get your GP to give you some diazepam or other type of valium, that should help

if not

try taking some sick days off or try to go to school but when things get bad, just leave, cos your not in prison and the teachers are not allowed to stop you (well not in normal schools anyways), i never knew about diazepam till later but skipping school and stuff i done no problem, dont feel bad but if you really need to do work and wanna do well at school, maybe you need to give me a bit more info on the exact prob or probs and i might be ab;le to help

High school is scary. I'm not bullied but the social situations scare the hell out of me, the work is fine with me although I have trouble with practical and oral presentations.

I also need to take a "mental health day" (day off) every two weeks or I can't function, I get too stressed out...

Funnily enough I always get almost straight A's even though I have more days off than most. I got 6 A's and 2 B's last term and that's my usual score.

wow im sooo scared of going to school every day cuz i get picked on sooo bad.

yestaday i told every one i was sick so i didnt have 2 go 2 school