Asperger Diaries: Jamie's New School

Asperger Diaries: Jamie's New School

H.B. Lawson

copyright 2011 H.B.
Lawson

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Preface

The education
system can be a minefield for children with Asperger’s Syndrome,
and for their parents. Instead of support, parents often have to
battle criticism and scepticism from professionals, friends and
even family members.

I hope this
book may play some small part in highlighting the plight of both
parent and child.

I strongly
advise parents to read this book first, and then decide whether to
allow their child to read it. This book is NOT suitable for young
children. This book contains some swearing.

The characters
and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real
persons, dead or alive, is coincidental and not intended by the
author.

AUGUST

13th August
(Saturday)

Jamie's
Diary

I spotted this
diary in Bargain Parade today. It was only twenty pence, or two for
thirty pence. Mum said no one buys a diary in August because over
half of the year has gone, but I talked her into buying two, one
for me and one for her. Bargain Parade is in the town centre. It is
one of my favourite shops. They sell all kinds of stuff, and
everything is under a pound. Whenever we go to town we always go in
Bargain Parade first. Mum calls it Tatt Parade because she doesn’t
like it.

I tried to keep
a diary when I was eight years old. Nothing much happens when you
are eight, so I gave up after a couple of weeks. I think I still
have that diary somewhere unless mum has thrown it away. If I don’t
keep this diary up at least it didn’t cost me anything. I'm going
to write in it every day, last thing at night.

I recently left
Westlake Junior School. All of the teachers there were nice except
for Mr Gray and Miss Tennyson. They were mean sometimes. I always
got good marks at Westlake. The headmistress said I was one of her
brightest pupils.

I start at
Armthorpe School on the 5th of September. I’m a little worried
about going to senior school. Mum said everyone is scared when they
move to a new school. I expect the work will be more difficult at
Armthorpe. Mum said I don’t have anything to worry about because I
am clever. I will be doing a lot more subjects, including French. I
don’t think I will ever go to France. My sister, Lesley, already
goes to Armthorpe. She will be in the fourth year when I start
there. She isn’t as clever as me. She doesn’t even know how to work
a computer properly.

Mum bought me a
new pencil case today. I wanted one with a picture of a tram on it,
but we couldn’t find one. Mum said there isn’t much call for them.
I ended up with a plain red one. Red is my favourite colour. Mum
also bought new pencils, a ruler, a pencil sharpener and a
protractor for me. I’m not sure what else I need to buy for the new
school. Mum said Armthorpe will let us have a list. They had better
be quick or it will be too late to buy everything.

We are going on
holiday, to St Annes, next Saturday. I can’t wait. We will be
staying in a flat on the promenade. St Annes is only a few miles
from Blackpool. My main hobby is trams, especially Blackpool trams.
I’ve been interested in them ever since I rode on one from the
Pleasure Beach to the North Pier. That was three years ago. We’ve
been back to St Annes every year since – twice last year. I love
riding trams up and down the promenade in Blackpool. In the daytime
you can see the beach and the sea. After dark you can see the
illuminations. I like the open-top ones best, but mum won’t go on
them because they ruin her hair. I’ve been on trams in Nottingham
and Manchester. They were okay, but not as good as those in
Blackpool. I’ve got lots of books and DVDs on trams, and I like to
build models of them. I read a lot of the online forums about
trams, but I never post messages. I might be able to get a pencil
case, with a picture of a tram on it, from Blackpool.

This afternoon,
I watched one of the DVDs which I bought last year from Blackpool.
It was filmed from the top deck of the open top Streamliner 706
‘Princess Alice’ tram as it travelled from Starr Gate to Fleetwood.
I’ve watched it tons of times.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I’m not a big
fan of diaries. I didn’t even have one when I was a teenager. Even
so, I let Jamie talk me into buying two. He was very keen, and I
thought it might be nice for him to keep one. Most kids would
probably do it online these days. Jamie isn’t into all that social
network stuff unlike his sister, who has to be prised away from
Facebook. He said I should keep a diary too. I agreed to give it a
go.

Jamie starts at
his new school soon. Once he has settled in, I’m going to look for
a part time job. I haven’t worked since Lesley was born. Jamie came
home for lunch from Westlake, so it hasn’t been practical until
now. I like the idea of getting out of the house, and earning a
little extra cash. A bit of grown-up conversation wouldn’t go
amiss.

I spent almost
an hour this afternoon searching for Jamie’s watch. He insisted I
MUST have moved it. He said he had put it on the desk in his
bedroom, but it had gone missing this morning. I hadn’t been
anywhere near his desk. He has never been particularly good at
keeping hold of watches. He is always losing them. In fact he has
always had a problem with timekeeping. When we first tried to teach
him to tell the time, he couldn’t get the hang of it. He’s fine
with a digital watch, but even now he isn’t brilliant at reading
the hands on a clock. I eventually found the watch in the cutlery
drawer. He didn’t thank me. He just wanted to know why I had put it
in there.

He will have to
be better organised when he starts at his new school, or he is
going to get into trouble. He’s always forgetting where he has put
things. His bedroom is such an almighty tip. It’s a wonder he can
ever find anything. Every few months, when I can’t stand to look at
the mess any longer, I give it a good tidy. I don’t know why I
bother. He gets annoyed, and it’s untidy again within twenty-four
hours.

14th August
(Sunday)

Jamie's
Diary

Cliff Thompson
came over this morning. Everyone calls him ‘Rocky’. I don’t because
Rocky isn’t his real name, and I don’t see the point in nicknames.
Mum is always asking Cliff to come over. He isn’t interested in
trams. He says they are boring. We usually play Ultimate Mission II
on the computer. Cliff is rubbish at it because he doesn’t
understand the strategy. He is only interested in killing as many
people as he can before he gets killed. I beat him every time
because I have studied the strategy guide. I tried explaining it to
him, but he said he couldn’t be bothered with it. He doesn’t seem
to care when I beat him. I would hate to lose every time.

I was in the
same class as Cliff at Westlake. He isn’t as clever as me. He never
got very good marks. My other friend at Westlake was David Marley.
He has only been to my house once, and that was ages ago. Cliff is
moving to Armthorpe, but David will be going to a different
school.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I spent most of
today ironing clothes ready for the holiday. I hope the break will
take Jamie’s mind off his new school. He’s looking forward to the
holiday. All he wants to do is ride on trams, he is obsessed with
them. When he isn’t talking about them, he is reading about them,
or making models. He gets it from his dad. I knew, when I married
Andrew, he was a bit of a geek. I think that was half of the
appeal. He seemed shy and sensitive. I actually found his
fascination with steam engines to be quite charming. That soon wore
off when he left me with the kids every weekend while he was at
some steam engine rally.

Rocky came over
this morning. He’s been Jamie’s best friend since they started at
Westlake together. He is a giant of a kid. He looks two or three
years older than Jamie. I'm hoping he will look out for Jamie at
Armthorpe. Jamie is probably the only person who calls Rocky by his
real name. Jamie doesn’t do nicknames.

Over the years
I’ve tried to persuade Jamie to ask other kids to come to our
house. He never would. I was always the one who had to ask. I’m
sure the other parents thought I was a bit pushy, or even a little
weird. In the early years a few kids did come over, but very few of
them came more than once. Jamie doesn’t help matters. Unless they
want to play what he wants to play - he isn't interested. It didn’t
help that he would never go over to their houses.

Rocky’s been
the one constant. From what I understand, his parents are a bit
rough, and his home life isn’t all that great. But, he’s a good
kid, and has always been there for Jamie. I wanted Rocky to stay
for lunch because I am not convinced he gets a proper meal at home.
It’s all microwave junk. Jamie was adamant he didn’t want him to
stay. Jamie had planned to work on his model tram in the afternoon.
I tried to persuade him the model could wait until this evening,
but he had made up his mind.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

Who even writes
in a diary any more? Everyone writes an online journal these days.
I wouldn't keep a written diary - I wouldn't trust mum not to read
it. She's never going to read this - she hasn't got a clue about
computers.

Little tram boy
got mum to buy a diary for him. She says that she is going to keep
one as well. Good luck with that! I can't imagine what they will
find to write about - neither of them has a life. The little nerd
is shitting himself about Armthorpe. It would be funny if it wasn't
my school too. Everyone is going to know the boring little arse is
my brother. He was in town with mum today - he never goes anywhere
by himself. You would think he was six years old.

Bloody St
Annes. Courtney is going to Florida. I daren't tell her where I am
going. She will think I am a right loser. It's tram boy's fault. He
daren't get on a plane. He should stay here with Nana and let me,
mum and dad have a decent holiday. I'd better get some money to
spend to make up for another crap holiday.

15th August
(Monday)

Jamie's
Diary

The only time
I’ve seen Armthorpe is when we’ve driven past in the car. Lesley
hasn’t told me anything about it. I want to find out as much as
possible before I start there. I looked at my new school’s web site
today. There are 1340 pupils which is far more than at Westlake.
Armthorpe has its own swimming pool. Dad taught me to swim when I
was eight. They do all kinds of sporting activities. I’m not
interested in sport unless you count swimming. I hope I’m not
forced to do football. I’m hopeless at it. Mum said those who don’t
like football might be able to do a different sport. If so, I will
ask for an extra swimming lesson instead.

Armthorpe has
six houses, and each has its own colours. There are lots of
different competitions held between the houses. At the end of each
year the house with the most points wins the Morley Cup. Lesley is
in Herring house which is green and black. I want to be in Landmore
house because their colours are red and black. Mum thinks they will
put brothers and sisters in the same house. I hope she is wrong
because I don’t want to be in the same house as Lesley.

I looked at the
photographs of the teachers, on the web site. I’ll never remember
all of their names. It was much easier at Westlake because there
were only eight teachers there.

At Westlake I
had all my lessons in the same classroom. At my new school I have
to keep moving to different classrooms. That's going to waste a lot
of time. I don’t know how I am supposed to find my way around. I
thought there might be a floor plan on the web site, but I couldn’t
find one. I hope I don’t get lost. Mum said they will show us
around.

Last week I
searched on Google to find tips on preparing to move to senior
school. There were lots of good ideas. I made a to-do list, but
I’ve lost it. I think mum might have thrown it away. She’s always
throwing my stuff away when she tidies up. I hate it when she
tidies my bedroom because I can never find anything afterwards.

I went to St
Annes twice last year because it was the 125th anniversary of
Blackpool trams. Mum said I could go for a second time as an early
birthday present. I went for the weekend with dad. Mum and Lesley
stayed at home. On the Saturday there were lots of different
vintage trams running along the promenade. I went on the Marton Box
31, the Pantograph 167 and the Box 40. I wanted to go on more, but
dad said that was enough for one day. On the Sunday, we went on a
guided tour of the tram works.