My young person (aged 16) was home educated from Christmas of year 9 after we withdrew them from mainstream school. (Burnout, sensory overload etc) They attended a local college for their Year 11 as part of a learner engagement programme where they found others with similar stories and felt able to be more authentically themselves. (no masking) They were officially diagnosed with autism, sensory processing difficulties and anxiety in April of this year. Now they are back in mainstream for year 12 and overall determined to do well but one series of lessons in particular is a struggle due to sensory processing struggles. I am seeing them (again) be affected physically and mentally trying to manage this, with exhaustion, stomach problems, feelings of panic and simply being unable to focus on their work.
In the final 2 weeks of the term they approached the learning support co-ordinator and the head of the relevant faculty to ask if they could work in the library for just those lessons (3 hours per week) but have been told no. Responses have included being told that other autistic students are coping just fine, the exam for this subject is in 4 weeks so you "only" have 12 hours to go and the sense that they are being asked "can't you just deal with it." They reported to me that they felt near to tears after the meeting and that college is beginning to feel like school.
With the young persons agreement, I am now going to contact the head of faculty. I am going to try to be positive and collaborative, explaining to them just how debilitating sensory processing is for my young person and stating that it would really enable them to work more effectively to have a quiet space as they want to do as well as possible.
If this does not work, what might the next steps be? I am not looking for a fight at all but a path to follow would be helpful and I would really appreciate any input.
