Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all
My child is now 12, just been diagnosed with autism which was such a relief as been fighting for years
My story is when my child was at school they would come home and have meltdowns, we were unaware of these were at the time,
Over the years they were getting worse to a point of every night until they passed out with tiredness,
During lockdown all the barriers came down and my child had what it looked like a mental breakdown,
Like a volcano in our house every night, low mood, matted hair not wanting to do anything or talk, we rang the GP lots of times but got nowhere they were turned down twice by camhs,
Then when it was time to go back to school they could not go inn , with all the trying it made them worse to a point they completely broke down outside on the floor I took them out of school completely,
It took us months to get them to smile again, then the reality of what our child had been through started to come.out ,
They had been masking in school for so long when they were 7 they realised they were the only ones acting,
They felt different to everyone else, after 4; years they still not in a school and never will be
We can't mention school words or have pictures around the house as this triggers meltdown
Even being in roll at a school is still damaging them as I still have to be in contact with them
They have now got a appointment with camhs soon so will be mentioning all this
But we feel our child has PTSD
As still gets tramitised by scissors or even the word maths
The GP has not helped either and says all children should be in school so will not support us
Can anyone give me advice please
I'm not knowledgeable enough to advise you whether your child has PTSD, but they are certainly showing a high level of anxiety, which is debilitating.
It's good that they have now been diagnosed as autistic - hopefully this will provide access to some help and support to help them and you.
It's my opinion that school is not that important, as I have learned more since leaving school than I did when I was there. Although I don't have specific learning difficulties and could learn to read, write and do basic arithmetic, from about age 7 or 8 my capacity to learn dwindled as I became overwhelmed at school. I didn't meltdown, I partially shut down. Taking distance learning or online courses as an adult enabled me to gain diplomas in social sciences and accounting.
Schools were set up to enable children to be taught by professional educators as it would be too difficult for all parents to educate their children, but the environment and teaching methods are not suitable for all. Have any alternative types of lessons (online, personal tutoring, etc) been set up by the school or local authority?
Perhaps your child is still suffering anxiety because they are scared they will be forced to go back to school. If you can get the education authority to work with you in providing some sort of alternative learning at home, maybe you will then be able to reassure your child they will not have to go back.
Hey this may be if use or.not..but thr lobes in the brain are too big the ones that deal with stress..but in someone not autistic those lobes are size of a peanut so basically for someone with autism walking thru a supermarket is like walking thru a war zone hence they get burn out and hence they have ptsd type from everyday life
Hi thanks for replying, I'm not sure they will talk about it as still very distressing but they have wrote a letter about how different they felt from a early age so that's a good start
I'm glad your child's dignosis has been a relief for you. Diagnosis can begin a gradual process of understanding.
I'm so sorry it sounds like your child has had some terrible experiences. PTSD-like symptoms as a result of school experiences is not understood nearly enough.
A good first step might be trying to have them express what happened to them somehow. Be careful with this, it might be too distressing and a therapist may be able to help.
I hop you and your child feel better soon