Need some tips for coping with past school trauma

At Primary School I always felt different.  I didn't understand why I couldn't play with others.  I knew the others found me odd. I also didn't have a diagnosis until I got to high school so me nor my parents knew.  I think I buried the pain for a long long time but recently it's started to really affect me.   I felt so alone.  I remember sitting on a bench in the playground watching everyone laughing and having fun and I couldn't join it.  I still feel alone.

Parents
  • The issue of trauma that many autistic children have had to go through in the school system is a poorly recognised one outside of the autistic community. 

    Memories can fade with the passage of time but then something can trigger a suppressed memory and it all comes flooding back. Just walking past a school playground, when the children are outside shouting and screaming, can be enough to trigger a panic attack or meltdown in me.

    It might help to write or talk about your experiences. I posted about mine at length in this discussion and I found that quite therapeutic at the time.

    https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/29271/school-trauma

    Online articles such as this can help you realise you're not alone.

    https://theautisticadvocate.com/2018/01/an-autistic-education/

  • I agree I remember being a 5 year old in english class, on Tuesday, at about 11 o’clock, when I was humiliated in class by a rancorous teacher. 

    I must’ve be receding from the lesson, when the teacher asked me how to spell ‘What’, I thought about it and I just couldn’t piece the word together, I said ‘I dont know..’.

    She said “What do you mean you dont know, how can you have been in school all this time and not know, spell ‘what?!”

    ”I dont know”

    ”LOOK at me when im talking to ..”

    That’s all I remember..Confused

    She was actually the teacher liked to the most.

Reply
  • I agree I remember being a 5 year old in english class, on Tuesday, at about 11 o’clock, when I was humiliated in class by a rancorous teacher. 

    I must’ve be receding from the lesson, when the teacher asked me how to spell ‘What’, I thought about it and I just couldn’t piece the word together, I said ‘I dont know..’.

    She said “What do you mean you dont know, how can you have been in school all this time and not know, spell ‘what?!”

    ”I dont know”

    ”LOOK at me when im talking to ..”

    That’s all I remember..Confused

    She was actually the teacher liked to the most.

Children
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