Published on 12, July, 2020
My daughter is a school refuser and is currently spending most days at home isolated and alone. This is really affecting her mental health.
Both myself and my husband work full time and her younger sister attends school.
I really need her to access something that will help her to gain confidence and realise her diagnosis doesn't mean she cant carry on a normal life.
Secondary school has been a very traumatic experience for her and i'm afraid this has broken her.
Thanks.
Hi, I am so sorry to hear you daughter is in such a poor state.
I have two daughters on the spectrum. Both developed mental health problems in mainstream schools.
I would think that one thing wouldn't be sufficient to break the cycle, wouldn't lift her out of this situation. This has been my experience, you need a mix of things.. I think you need a holistic programme of helping her to recover, to rebuild herself and get back on track.
Confidence building empowering autism positive resources:
Neurodiversity https://autcollab.org/2018/06/30/taking-ownership-of-the-label/
Social model of disability https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/social-model-of-disability
Limpsfield Grange girls talking about their autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZhZ0k1lyF8
Greta Thunberg https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/5/6/18531551/autism-greta-thunberg-speech?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/23/greta-thunberg-autism?CMP=share_btn_tw
Sarah Hendrickx about autistic women (long but good chunks by chunks) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diE7f6CKj6c
Double empathy problem https://network.autism.org.uk/knowledge/insight-opinion/double-empathy-problem
Focus on autistic problems like theory of mind distracts from seeking two sided understanding https://semioticspectrumite.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/the-belief-in-theory-of-mind-is-a-disability/
Brand new research confirming that ASC/ASC better communicate and collaborate with each other that AS/NT http://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/nd-iq/
On Twitter https://twitter.com/cjcrompton/status/1120321741128118273
Progressive autism info for schools https://annsautism.blogspot.com/2019/05/primary-school-age-child-might-they-be.html
Another good read https://aeon.co/essays/the-autistic-view-of-the-world-is-not-the-neurotypical-cliche