Playground year 1

You might not need to worry too much, although I can fully understand why you are concerned, it is just that things might turn out better than you think.

When I started school (was undiagnosed at the time) there was a mixture of different emotions. I was excited about starting school and being a 'big girl', but I recall that school was initially daunting and confusing - as it is for all kids, but for me this was magnified. I spent long periods alone in the playground, not knowing what to do. I have one clear memory of myself just standing still in the playground while all the kids ran around me ,and I was crying to myself, feeling sad because I was confused. However, the class teacher got some girls in year 5 to look after me, and they became my playmates and school friends. My favourite game was 'dungeons', which involved lots of running and imaginary stale bread and carrots - I played this game every day for the first school year with these two girls.

In year 1, I had no one to play with, although I eventually befriended a girl in my class and she came over to my house for tea. However, the friendship was off and on and I had no other school friends. I did sometimes play with a younger girl (who also was later diagnosed with AS), but we both often got into trouble for disrupting the play of other children.

I grew to love primary school, despite the confusing start, and the last few years of primary were my best, although I annoyed other children, had some academic problems, and my parents were very concerned with my developmental profile (I did not get diagnosed until age 21).

I loved running really fast, arms outstreched, emulating an aeroplane. Like your son, I loved the sense of freedom and the breeze.

I was teased, but not truly bullied, despite my oddities. In fact I tended to annoy others more than they ever annoyed me, but I went to two mainstream schools that both had a zero bullying policy and a good intake of kids. There was no bullying at all  to my knowledge, so I must have been lucky. Bullying often depends on the type of school, and not all mainstream schools are bad in this respect.

You might not need to worry too much, although I can fully understand why you are concerned, it is just that things might turn out better than you think.

When I started school (was undiagnosed at the time) there was a mixture of different emotions. I was excited about starting school and being a 'big girl', but I recall that school was initially daunting and confusing - as it is for all kids, but for me this was magnified. I spent long periods alone in the playground, not knowing what to do. I have one clear memory of myself just standing still in the playground while all the kids ran around me ,and I was crying to myself, feeling sad because I was confused. However, the class teacher got some girls in year 5 to look after me, and they became my playmates and school friends. My favourite game was 'dungeons', which involved lots of running and imaginary stale bread and carrots - I played this game every day for the first school year with these two girls.

In year 1, I had no one to play with, although I eventually befriended a girl in my class and she came over to my house for tea. However, the friendship was off and on and I had no other school friends. I did sometimes play with a younger girl (who also was later diagnosed with AS), but we both often got into trouble for disrupting the play of other children.

I grew to love primary school, despite the confusing start, and the last few years of primary were my best, although I annoyed other children, had some academic problems, and my parents were very concerned with my developmental profile (I did not get diagnosed until age 21).

I loved running really fast, arms outstreched, emulating an aeroplane. Like your son, I loved the sense of freedom and the breeze.

I was teased, but not truly bullied, despite my oddities. In fact I tended to annoy others more than they ever annoyed me, but I went to two mainstream schools that both had a zero bullying policy and a good intake of kids. There was no bullying at all  to my knowledge, so I must have been lucky. Bullying often depends on the type of school, and not all mainstream schools are bad in this respect.