Did you have to attend regular school?

Post Reply New Topic

When I was around 7 years old in 1969, I was sent to all these places to get tested. I remember aptitude tests, drawing pictures, talking to counselors/shrinks and even skull x-rays and electroencephalogram (EEG) tests where wires were glued to my scalp to read my brainwaves. Not exactly normal fare for the average kid. And then from that point forward I was placed in segregated classrooms and private schools. And all this was initiated and funded by the State of California.

It seems reading the childhood experiences of ASD people here and elsewhere, that I seem to be an exception to the rule and they had to suffer the horrors of being in the regular public school system.

I went to a mainstream school and coped ok. I left without any friends but I did ok academically. So no one picked up anything being 'wrong' with me all through the school system, which seems to indicate to me that Aspergers is more of a societal bias against people with a particular personality/thinking style than there being anything fundamentally 'wrong' with the person.

In other words society was tolerating me fine up to a point and then it changed it's mind and made the way I am a 'condition'

I went to normal school but was in a special education classroom till high school

I went to a normal school, but based on test results in the early grades was placed in a part-time "gifted" program for a few years. In spite of that, I didn't do terribly well academically (except for math) and constantly frustrated my teachers by supposedly not living up to my potential (mainly incomplete assignments and lack of participation in group activities). Socially, I had one or two friends at various times, but mostly kept to myself and got harrassed a lot. After moving to a new city near the end of highschool, I did even worse academically and didn't graduate. Went back a few years later, got booted out within weeks and still didn't graduate. Later I got my GED, scoring in the 99th percentile. Then finished regular highschool in an adult education setting to get some prerequisites for a post-secondary program I planned to take, and did quite well... the classes were the same as in the high schools, but the social environment was quite different (less harassment, and less pressure to socialize), I was more motivated, and I was well into adulthood by then.
As for post-secondary, I did very well at first but everything sort of fell apart in the last few months.

I'm currently in highschool-- will be a Juniour next year.

And I don't go to a normal school. First off, I was purely homeschooled up until 8th grade. 8th grade I was homeschooled except for 1 pre algebra class I took at the current school I attend, which I joined in 9th grade after a bad experience with a new online program. And this school is definitely not a regular one. I jokingly call it a "special" school, though it's really for kids with high intelligence I suppose! You have to test to get in, and the test isn't very easy, there are only certain spaces available, and it takes a lot to keep up with work. It's a very small school, there are only about 50 sophomores total, maybe 60 actually, and they are split into two classes. I get really easily overloaded sensory wise considering things can get pretty loud, but at least the vast majority of the people there accept others for who they are. Openly, that is. Don't know what they think about each other when not at school. xD

Long story short--- no, I don't go to a regular highschool. To those who know about the school, they know it as "a school for smart kids". It's one of the best schools in my state. 4 days a week, good teachers, and good students. Just piles on a lot more work and stress.

I went to a normal school from age six and up. Then I was in the mainstream classroom when I was eight and up. I did go to special education except for 5th grade. I did go in 6th grade and then didn't at the end of the year. I just wanted to be normal.

Public school, then business school at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. I wasn't aware of my own AS until just after I turned 30 about 6 months ago. If I knew earlier, school would have likely been different/better, but I don't think I'd have wanted to go to a special segregated school if it were an option.

Yes, all my schools were "regular", which was probably a good thing. Well, one was "selective entry" (had to pass an exam to get in), but still a regular school in every other way.

Yes, I have always attended comprehensive school.

Whilst I might have enjoyed going to special education school more, I wouldn't have got the same quality of education if I had.

I've always attended regular school, although I really should have been in a "special ed." classroom for math.

I went to regular schools throughout my school years. Apart from being very awkward/uncomfortable with other kids and being very poor at sports, there was nothing obviously wrong with me. So there didn't seem to be any reason for me to be put in a special class. As a result I suffered a lot.

There's no way I would have been sent to a special school as I had a normal IQ and was keeping up with the schoolwork to the required level

In fact I won a certificate for coming top of my form in the exams three years running

If I'd been sent to a special school I'd probably have none of the qualifications I got that enabled me to be in work for most of my adult life

I just can't see me being put in for A-levels in a special school

I think I would have done worse in one, not better

If a person with Aspergers isn't forced to socialise and expected to be good at socialising, there's nothing effectively wrong with them in my opinion

I did go to preschool and kindergarten at a school for students with severe disabilities, but went to regular schools from elementary school onward because it was obvious that I didn't belong in such a segregated environment. I was in regular classes, but got pulled out for speech therapy, and that made me a target for bullying because I was considered "different." Even then, I still think I belonged in regular schools because that school would have hindered my education to the point where I wouldn't have been able to function in society. It's more for those whose disabilities are too severe for even special ed classes in regular schools.

I'm about 5 years older than you, and I grew up in Michigan. There, you had to be obviously "slow-minded" to get into any kind of special education class - there were no facilities for "gifted" students who would have benefited from advanced tutoring.

I was reading at 12th grade level in the 3rd grade, and the only thing they knew to do about it was to constantly remind me not to get too far ahead of the rest of the class. I always aced my exams, but homework bored me to tears.

I'll be graduating from regular school in a couple months. I've managed to do pretty ok, mostly since I actually test well. Although socially I was never really successful. I was put in a program for the smart kids, and most of my classes in high school have been honors classes, with math being an exception. I never really liked math.

I attended regular schools.

When I was enrolled in elementary school, my mother had to go all out on the paediatrician who tested my "readiness" for school. He talked her into giving her okay. I passed all the tests but the paediatrician was concerned about the way I responded to her and about my pronunciation or about the way I spoke. She wanted to hold me back and get me checked out for talking "strangely" or "oddly".

A Gymnasium (a type of secondary school) tried to blackmail my parents to take me off by saying they'd have me get tested for special needs but knowing that might do them no good if I'd be found to be highly intelligent like another disabled students in my grade and able to continue to attend their school together with an aide they didn't do it, opting to make sure to do nothing so that I'd fail two grades. (Had to go to a lower type of school for the next 4 years after that.)

If I'd have been identified as being autistic/having special needs, I'd have been placed into one of my city's special schools for students with IQs in the "borderline intellectual functioning" range or into the school for students with a diagnosis of MR or severe multiple disabilities regardless of my IQ.

I mean it would be fine if education plans were individualised and graduating normally would be easily possible at those special schools but students leaving those schools usually do so without a proper certificate because they were taught less in school than graduates of even the lowest type of regular school.

Anyway, I struggled for 14 years but took my Abitur and then several years later, I went on to university. Lucky me to able to graduate and therefore be able to enter university!

Last edited by Sora on 27 Mar 2013, 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.