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Welcome to my world Frith. My son was diagnosed at 11. Like for you, it was not a big surprise really and I also felt a bit lost.

Unfortunately not much has changed and my son is now 18 and at college. There is no support in my area either and we have muddled through. I didn't even know about this website until last year.

Mainstream school meant years of bullying (because he was a bit odd), by both children and even some teachers. He had very few friends until year 11 or so, when his peers matured and were more accepting.You have to be aware of this and stay on top of what happens at school. Some very good teachers made a difference to his progress but so many others could not be bothered to understand his 'ways'. It was too easy for him to become depressed, so hard on him. The SEN department thought they were helping him but in reality it was haphazard and their efforts often annoyed my son.

His main difficulty was not being able to express himself in writing, and physically tired of doing the business of writing things down although he is bright, curious and a nice guy. He also tends to switch off school from home, like 2 different worlds which meant very little homework was done and he told me nothing of school, there were often missed letters and school trips etc (we didn't get the letter that invited him to a gifted and talented summer school at a university for instance). He did very well in his GCSEs in maths and sciences, but he was asked to leave 6th form as he wasn't keeping up. I have since found out that this was illegal (bbc news today!). He was very badly treated by the system during this time and I was shocked at the lack of support. He has now enrolled at another college 30miles away from home, and enjoying learning, despite his writing problems still being there. The college have at least leant him a laptop to do his assignments on. And he has a little extra time allowed in exams because of his slow writing.

Sorry if it sounds a bit doomy, and I don't know if your son is likely to have similar troubles, everyone is different, but please be aware of bullying behaviour and lack of help from authorities. Get whatever help you are entitled too. I was a little afraid of this because I was reluctant to 'label' him. He didn't ever want to be seen as 'different' either.

A good thing - Awareness has so improved in recent years! The geek is king, have you noticed? It is considered to be cool to be a bit different, there's even sitcoms, books and films about such people. I believe that they are a positive force, but only if they can find their niche in society. Now you are aware of his aspergers, check out the real world and the media world and see that your son can thrive. He will need your guidance though, especially through secondary schooling. My son doesn't fit the school system but he is not stupid. I so hope he can find his niche in the end.

Welcome to my world Frith. My son was diagnosed at 11. Like for you, it was not a big surprise really and I also felt a bit lost.

Unfortunately not much has changed and my son is now 18 and at college. There is no support in my area either and we have muddled through. I didn't even know about this website until last year.

Mainstream school meant years of bullying (because he was a bit odd), by both children and even some teachers. He had very few friends until year 11 or so, when his peers matured and were more accepting.You have to be aware of this and stay on top of what happens at school. Some very good teachers made a difference to his progress but so many others could not be bothered to understand his 'ways'. It was too easy for him to become depressed, so hard on him. The SEN department thought they were helping him but in reality it was haphazard and their efforts often annoyed my son.

His main difficulty was not being able to express himself in writing, and physically tired of doing the business of writing things down although he is bright, curious and a nice guy. He also tends to switch off school from home, like 2 different worlds which meant very little homework was done and he told me nothing of school, there were often missed letters and school trips etc (we didn't get the letter that invited him to a gifted and talented summer school at a university for instance). He did very well in his GCSEs in maths and sciences, but he was asked to leave 6th form as he wasn't keeping up. I have since found out that this was illegal (bbc news today!). He was very badly treated by the system during this time and I was shocked at the lack of support. He has now enrolled at another college 30miles away from home, and enjoying learning, despite his writing problems still being there. The college have at least leant him a laptop to do his assignments on. And he has a little extra time allowed in exams because of his slow writing.

Sorry if it sounds a bit doomy, and I don't know if your son is likely to have similar troubles, everyone is different, but please be aware of bullying behaviour and lack of help from authorities. Get whatever help you are entitled too. I was a little afraid of this because I was reluctant to 'label' him. He didn't ever want to be seen as 'different' either.

A good thing - Awareness has so improved in recent years! The geek is king, have you noticed? It is considered to be cool to be a bit different, there's even sitcoms, books and films about such people. I believe that they are a positive force, but only if they can find their niche in society. Now you are aware of his aspergers, check out the real world and the media world and see that your son can thrive. He will need your guidance though, especially through secondary schooling. My son doesn't fit the school system but he is not stupid. I so hope he can find his niche in the end.