How well did you first settle into school?

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Bugsmom,

I was exactly like you, good in academics, bad in social skills.

I knew a few kids at school who would be the exact reverse and if they were labled with anything it would be ADHD. They had good social skills, good at schoolyard gossip but performed really terribly with their school work. They were also extremely phyically active and brilliant on skate boards and bike stunts.

I was bad with both...except the standardised tests and art projects.

School was fine during preschool and kindergarten. I was quite bored and faking sick to get out of going by first grade. By second grade things started going downhill fast when my parents moved me to the less tolerant, more crowded public school system. By third grade, I sat with my desk against the blackboard half the year. I missed most of fourth grade. I was an outcast by 6th. I was moved to a different school and did fairly well in 7th and 8th, when I was moved back to private school. In 9th grade they put me back in public school. That year I was expelled, reinstated, then Children's Services removed me from my parents' home for six months because they were "unfit and unable to get me to school". In 10th grade I went back to the public school that expelled me. On my 16th birthday, the caseworker dropped my case. After the horrific experince I went through, my first instinct was DROP OUT, which I immediately did. That summer I took the GED exam (never took a class for it) and passed with flying colors. Then I applied to a well-known college and was accepted (based on testing scores), carried a 3.9 GPA. Thank god college is different from grade school. I've always been great with academics, but horrid with socializing. The bulk of my school problems stemmed from me not being able to interact socially. I can deal with the public in work settings, but not social.

My husband was the reverse....good socially, not so good academically. He fits the profile for ADHD.

Our son is like me.

Quote: "This was because I had taken the teachers words literally when she said "I know this is difficult boys and girls, but pretty soon you will find that the correct answer will be the first to pop into your head."

Oh, that reminds me...long division. Math was pretty foggy for me...I would come and go mentally, and at one point noticed the teacher saying, "Cross out the number..." you know, when you multiply the divisor by the main number.

I decided that erasing would be much more efficient...though my eraser was not so efficient...I erased holes in the paper...what a mess!

I ran away from Kindergarten every day. I would get off the city bus...and instead of crossing the street to get to school, I would backtrack, and go home again.

One day I decided that if I laid down in a puddle in my dress I likely would not be able to go to school that day. I can't remember if it worked.

I can't remember when I was 5, but I think I settled in alright at 11, because I had 'friends.' I settled in very badly when I went to college at 16 though, it took me about 6 months just to start to get used to it all, and I didn't really settle in till second year. Now I'm at university I seemed to settle in really well. I think it helped that the tutors were aware of my AS, so the head of year met me and my mum before I enrolled, to show me round the area and stuff. University seems a much better environment for AS/socially anxious people, IMO, therefore easier to get used to and feel comfortable in.