Hi all,
I need deperate help with my 16 year old son who has selective mutism, Asperger's and acute anxiety. He stopped attending school at xmas in Year 9 and has had no formal education since, despite home tutors and myself trying. He had what they call a complete withdrawal from life and took to his bed where he remained for 2 and a half years. He has now made a lot of improvement and is up and about and a lot brighter but still does not leave the house except for medical appointments. The professionals involved have not been of much use and I have been told time and time again that they cannot work with him if he won't communicate with them. This includes psychiatrists, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and tutors. I don't know where to turn to now as he has missed so much of his education, including his GCSE years. I now feel that his improvement warrants some kind of educational setting accepting him but I don't know where he fits in. Sixth-form schools and colleges for Autism/Asperger's have told me that it will be very difficult to fit in if he refuses to speak but mainstream further education is out of the question. He doesn't speak to anyone at all, including me so I don't know what he wants to do with his life and all he does is shrug to any questions at all. We have a very good relationship with plenty of interaction between us ; laughing and teasing, film-watching, card and game-playing but it's his education that i am so deeply worried about and where he goes from here. Any advice would be hugely appreciated.