New friend

I was bored and not happy here

Parents
  • Hi Rachael, I would love to be your online friend.

    Could you please tell us a bit more about yourself, your hobbies, interests, a bit about your childhood likes, dislikes, how you found out about this site, are you Autistic? ( Diagnosed or self diagnosed?).  Interesting stories about your experiences.

    Is English your first language? ( I started learning English when I was five)  If not how did you learn it? ( I slowly picked it up from other kids at school).

    Hope to hear from you soon.

  • I didn't realise English wasn't your first language. That must have made starting school even more confusing! Do you enjoy being bilingual?

  • My parents are Polish,  my father arrived in 1942 as a wartime refugee.  My mother came over in 1957.   I regard myself as a born and bred Yorkshireman.   I started school without speaking or understanding a single word of English.  Combined with autism and selective mutism.  My school life was absolute hell.

    Being bilingual does help at times, especially when I'm with others like me.  But knowing the social norms of which language to speak in a given situation is complicated.  And we get accused of being rude and ignorant.

  • Hello Calfifornia, how are you ? 

  • Gosh, with that choice of words it was probably for the better that you didn't understand English that well...

  • Wow that is very harsh on a young child! How were you supposed to manage the lessons whilst learning a language at the same time?! They really had ridiculous expectations. A little empathy would have gone a long way!

  • You did very well to learn anything under those circumstances! My time at school was awful but at least there wasn't a language barrier.

  • I do not have any of mine,,,well maybe two?  but years since I have seen them, they are no different than yours in context, mine repeat that I was a daydreamer, written work unreadable, good at sports and good with his hands in practical was the only ever good thing said, everything else was negative, one teacher wrote “ his theme tune seems to be ( I’m busy doing nothing whiling the day away,tryiiiing to find lots of things not to do) .

    I now try to think more positive, I say to myself, despite things being so hard back then I at least kept going, taught myself enough to get by, never gave up, despite living a life of negative feedback, ,,,,and here I am, still breathing, still trying to help where I can, having pleasant conversations with reall people, not shallow opinionated types.

    take care, x()x

  • Thank you for sharing the report.

    I also loved Mathematics at school. Algebra.

    I think with the right support we both would have been brilliant and far ahead of others.

    I found it really difficult to learn languages at school. Most likely, because they involved interaction with others. I hated it. I found interaction with others really difficult and still find. I always wanted to be alone or at least in a smaller group. I would have preferred one to one teaching really. I was depressed really at school. Mostly, because I could almost never be alone.

  • I'm reposting my oldest school report to show how badly I was coping with school when I was eight years old.

  • My school life was absolute hell.

    My school was absolute hell for me as well.

    I grew up not knowing that I was autistic, what autism is.

    I never heard anyone mentioning autism.

    I was struggling a lot.

    Of course, there were no reasonable adjustments.

Reply Children
  • Hello Calfifornia, how are you ? 

  • Gosh, with that choice of words it was probably for the better that you didn't understand English that well...

  • Wow that is very harsh on a young child! How were you supposed to manage the lessons whilst learning a language at the same time?! They really had ridiculous expectations. A little empathy would have gone a long way!

  • I do not have any of mine,,,well maybe two?  but years since I have seen them, they are no different than yours in context, mine repeat that I was a daydreamer, written work unreadable, good at sports and good with his hands in practical was the only ever good thing said, everything else was negative, one teacher wrote “ his theme tune seems to be ( I’m busy doing nothing whiling the day away,tryiiiing to find lots of things not to do) .

    I now try to think more positive, I say to myself, despite things being so hard back then I at least kept going, taught myself enough to get by, never gave up, despite living a life of negative feedback, ,,,,and here I am, still breathing, still trying to help where I can, having pleasant conversations with reall people, not shallow opinionated types.

    take care, x()x

  • Thank you for sharing the report.

    I also loved Mathematics at school. Algebra.

    I think with the right support we both would have been brilliant and far ahead of others.

    I found it really difficult to learn languages at school. Most likely, because they involved interaction with others. I hated it. I found interaction with others really difficult and still find. I always wanted to be alone or at least in a smaller group. I would have preferred one to one teaching really. I was depressed really at school. Mostly, because I could almost never be alone.

  • I'm reposting my oldest school report to show how badly I was coping with school when I was eight years old.