I grew up in the 60s and 70s when Autism was unknown. And there were non of these plans for special needs pupils. And multiple agencies caring for children like there is now.
From the start, schools for me were a nightmare, I couldn't read, write, socialise, I was partially deaf, totally mute. I couldn't understand spoken English. Had no friends, didn't play and was physically punished every day by the teachers for not speaking, not paying attention and often I had no idea why?
So I started missing school, first for a week and eventually over 6 months. So I was sent to a 'Special' school at the age of nine.
This special school was in the grounds of a major hospital. I was trusted to walk the 15minutes. Other children arrived by hospital transport.
Eventually I discovered that this school only catered for five to fifteen year olds.
The numbers of pupils/children/inmates varied from 20 to forty. There was a constant turnover of staff and pupils. The staff pupil ratio was around 1 to 3
In the mornings we "socialised" in the common room. Some were more mute than even me. I remember one skinny girl around ten, who never spoke once in the year I was there. She often hid behind an old tall wooden bookcase. Or sat under the table tennis tables. While others played table tennis.
I was given the responsibility of looking after tomato plants after the previous pupil left.
I found it easier to talk and socialise with the adult staff rather than the other pupils of my age. (Autistic trait!).
The head of the school was a psychiatrist, his qualifications were were displayed in his office on the wall. The over staff, one was an ex policewoman, most were nurses, some in nurses uniforms.
No academic teaching took place in this school!
All the pupils in this school were emotionally damaged like me.
One day a couple of kids from the main hospital joined us. They were unpleasant, they started complaining right from the start, calling us freaks and nutters. They never came back.
In the afternoons we were split into groups of 1,2,3 or 4 and allocated to a member of staff to look after. And we left the school for a day out.
These are my happiest memories of the school. We visited parks, historical trails, woodlands, a day out at robin hood's bay. A day out in Knaresborough. A visit to Bolton's abbey, visits to locations of filming of TV series. (Anyone remember the children's series Follifoot in 1972?). Even visits to staff homes to help with the gardening. Every couple of weeks a visit to a proper swimming pool. (Regular schools never did this with me). Even a week long holiday in the lake district with walking and canoeing on lake Coniston. They even sorted out my deafness problem. Instead of being beaten for not answering, I was taken to have my ears examined. Where they were syringed and then they discovered that one of my ears was totally blocked by earwax around a small piece of newspaper.
Now the negatives. They never diagnosed autism because it was unknown. After a year I was sent back to a normal school. And I missed a whole year of formal teaching. Some of the staff were less than tolerant and couldn't understand that we were different or why. Some dodgy things went on but I was too young to realise what things meant. One of the nurses was very unpopular with some pupils but they wouldn't say why. I asked the school head, he said "she has an attitude problem". I had no problems with her attitude which was mainly directed at other members of staff. Which of the form that they are are bunch of pratts.
A few months after she left, I was interviewed by the police, who wanted to know if I'd been to her house and could I describe in my own words all that occurred there.
Overall it was an eventual year in my life.
