Well, here's my experiences:
Primary School [7 years after nursery]
Got along with people OK in primary school. Had made some friends but never socalised with them outside of school. Then one day we moved house to the other side of town and my parents had arranged for me (without me knowledge) to join a new school. I was disappointed as I would be leaving my friends from my other primary school behind and have to start over again. After a while I fitted in and made some new friends, but again I didn't see them outside of school. One day we had a car accident which left me with bad stomach pains. Then the problems began. My last two years in that primary school my attendance was poor. I got singled out for being the one that didn't attend. People asked me why and I said I has stomach pains. They laughed. At the time though, I didn't know the medical term was "
stomach migraine". Was put on tablets to combat this and eventually got better after Junior High IIRC.
Junior High School [3 years]
I then went to Junior High School. My attendance became worse and worse. I had problems sleeping at the right times, I wouldn't eat at the right times. I was fussy about what I ate. I felt down/depressed and still had the stomach pains from the crash. I had some friends but my poor attendance made it hard for me to keep those friendships. I was verbally bullied a lot for missing school. The more I stayed off, the harder it was to go back and the more I got left behind. I liked computers a lot and set up my first website with a guest book. Bad idea. My website became very popular and bullies started using the guest book to write insulting messages about people with my name on them. They exploited the fact that I had a crush on this girl and used the guest book to write bad messages about her too. Eventually I got sick of it, closed down my website and started telling teachers/principles every time I was insulted/annoyed by others. This lead to me being branded as a tell-tale/tout and my reputation declined. I still managed to go to the school disco once with a few friends and had a somewhat good time. However, when walking home I was assaulted twice for no reason by someone who didn't like me. This made my confidence decline.
During all of this, I had to see support teachers such as an Education Welfare Officer and a Social Worker. I was later sent to a specialist doctor who eventually diagnosed me with Aspergers Syndrome [this was in my last year of Junior High towards the end]. At first I rejected it but then later accepted it after doing intense internet research. The doctor suggested I try a specialist school which I did for a while but didn't like it. I returned to Junior High to finish off my last remaining time. There was also a court case about my severe lack of attendance. I missed my transfer exams for the next school [either a college or Senior High School] but was given the school average mark. There was also a situation were my 3 friends fell out with each other and I was stuck in the middle. Two went off together so I stayed with the other remaining one. This was a big downturn to me.
Senior High School [2 years]
I missed out on going to college due to my automatic average marks in the transfer exams from the previous school. I didn't really care about college any way and had some school friends who also joined the Senior High. My attendance was still poor. I also met one of my best friends from my first primary school as he was in my form class. Although still friendly with him, we didn't talk much or hang out in Senior High. I felt like he had already made a lot of friends since I last seen him and didn't feel I fitted in anymore. It was liked he'd moved on. However, I got to know others in my form class despite having still poor attendance. My form class was unique and everyone got on really well with each other. However, the way the school system worked, we were merged with other form classes for subject classes depending on what subjects you chose. This meant that in certain subject classes, bullies from Junior High were present. Despite this, I was mainly left alone.
One day I decided to tell my form class about my AS diagnoses in order for them to better understand my difficulties and poor attendance. I did this with the help from my science teacher who is popular with my form class and also happens to be a counselor. He understood my idea and decided it was best for him to explain a little about AS to some of the more "sensible" in the form class. I chose some people for him to tell and then they eventually passed the word around my form class. People in my form class were very understanding and became more friendly towards me as a result. I feel this only worked though because of the people in my class who were all good people. This wouldn't work for everyone.
Despite the feelings between me and my class getting better, my attendance was still poor, although had slightly improved since Junior High. I suppose I was still stuck in a rut and still not sleeping properly. I didn't get any good GCSE's due to my poor attendance and the fact that it was also coursework based (which obviously I wasn't their for). During all of the time since the car crash, I was on and off tablets for different things. I eventually cut off all support and Psychologist meetings as I couldn't cope with it anymore. I just wanted to get back to normality (if there's even such a thing).
College [if you don't do the first college, you do Senior High and then this college]
I went to college and studied a First Diploma in ICT for Practitioners as it required no entry grades. Most of my form class from the previous school went their separate ways and to study on different campuses. [The college has different campuses within towns across the county]. I went to the closest campus which was located beside my previous Senior High. Turns out, this is the worst campus of the lot. I got through it although found it hard due to not having my old friends/class mates with me anymore. I don't particularly like the college due to this and my attendance and sleeping pattern was still bad. I did successfully pass the course and gain Merits and Distinctions, being near the top of my class despite attendance.
I then went on to do a National Diploma for the same course. A lot of people dropped out and I still didn't like it as I had no real friends. I passed the first year, although failed some subjects, and was accepted for the second of the two year course. The second year started back in September 2009. I really started to hate it and my sleeping pattern didn't improve. I feel that I am more distant to the people I became friendly with in the first year of the course. I missed the summer of that same year as I made a lot of social advancements. Going back to college on my own was like a step backwards.
I didn't get on with my class anymore. I stopped attending completely and arranged an emergency meeting with the college to discuss the future of my education. They said it was too late to start back on the same year of the course and suggest I repeat a year starting from Monday of next week (January 25th 2010). This will allow me to improve the grades of the subjects I failed in the first year. So that's were i'm at. They also recommended seeing a doctor about my sleeping problems. The doctor wouldn't give me sleeping tablets as they were addictive, so not a lot of help. He basically said that I have to lie in bed regardless if I am tired or not and my body well eventually adjust to sleeping at the right times. It did work for a while but then I slipped back into my old routine.
So, it all depends on what happens on the 25th. If I don't attend these next 1 & 1/2 years my education is really screwed. If I do attend, I plan to go to Belfast with my brother to study Graphics Design at HND level. Hopefully it works out that way. Sorry for the looooong post.
. I can relate on the Primary school thing, I made basically no friends and the two friends I did have stopped talking to me in High School >_< meh xD. Academically though, I've had no were near as many problems, it really does suck that the education system is that ignorant when it comes to handling issues like bullying(imo, no one should be forced to leave school because THEY'RE being bullied) and special needs.
