Asperger Diaries: Jamie's New School (13 page)

16th October
(Sunday)

Jamie's
Diary

Mum went out
today. She hardly ever goes out on a Sunday. I think she went to
Mrs Parkes’ house. I’ve finished all of the homework, but I think I
might have missed some because I wasn’t at school on Friday
afternoon.

I used my new
paint brushes and paints today. Mum wasn’t in, so I worked on the
dining room table. Dad didn’t say I couldn’t. The new paint brushes
are much better for painting the fiddly bits. I thought mum might
tell me off when she came home, but she didn’t say anything.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I didn’t like
to spend any more time researching Asperger’s after Jamie and
Andrew arrived home yesterday. I didn’t want to have to field
awkward questions from either of them. The more I read, the more
confused I became. There’s no denying the list of traits fits
Jamie. I rang Joe Peters, and asked if I could talk to him again.
He was surprised to hear from me so soon. He invited me over to his
house this afternoon.

Andrew was well
and truly cheesed off. He is not used to being left alone with
Jamie two days in a row. It will do him good. I told Andrew I was
going to Jackie's house. I knew he wouldn’t ask any questions. He
is not inquisitive by nature. I left him to do the washing up.

Joe Peters
lives in a small semi, close to Armthorpe. We had a cup of tea, and
he told me about his life. His wife left not long after Helen was
born. Joe brought Helen up by himself. She started having problems
at the age of nine, and was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of
ten. Joe had home-educated Helen for most of her senior school
years. He said he had grown tired of fighting the schools to get
help. In the end he realised it was never going to happen. We
talked for ages. Joe told me all about Helen. He could have been
describing Jamie. She is really smart, but disorganised and lacking
in common sense sometimes. She is untidy. She has never had many
friends. She is really good academically, but struggles with the
pressure of school. She could be off-handed, and even appear rude.
And she has always had obsessions. Her current obsession is horses.
I asked Joe about the chat he had with Jamie. Was he really
interested in trams? Joe smiled, and said he wasn’t, but he’d had
lots of practice at listening over the years. I knew exactly what
he meant.

I hadn’t
realised his daughter was in the house until she appeared half an
hour after I had arrived. Joe introduced Helen to me. She was very
pleasant, but shy. She didn’t hang around for long. She got a snack
and disappeared. Joe said she spent most of her time in her
bedroom.

I told Joe that
I didn’t know what to do for the best. Should I take Jamie to see
the G.P.? What would I say to Andrew? Joe suggested I go with him
to the local Asperger’s Parents Support Group which meets every
Tuesday. He thought talking to other parents might help me decide
what to do next.

When I arrived
home, Jamie was painting his model on my dining room table
again!

17th October
(Monday)

Jamie's
Diary

The English
teacher still hasn’t given back our homework. How do I know how I
am doing, if he won’t mark it? I think he should be sacked. I got
full marks in the French test today. My overall French mark still
won’t be very good though because of the mark I got in the test
three weeks ago. It isn’t fair. If I had known about that test, I
would have got full marks then as well. I think I should be allowed
to retake it.

Mr Peters
wasn’t in his office today, so I couldn’t eat my sandwiches at
lunch time.

I had a ton of
homework again today. As well as official homework, I had to catch
up on some of the work which I missed last Friday afternoon. I’ve
told mum she should complain to the headmaster about the unofficial
homework. I don’t think she cares.

*****

Angela's
Diary

All I could
think about today was Asperger’s Syndrome. I kept changing my mind.
One minute I was sure Jamie must have it. The next, I was convinced
he doesn’t. I didn’t get the chance to do any more research
yesterday. I went to the library today after I had dropped Jamie
off at school.

I skimmed
through a few books in the library. Most of them were written by
doctors or other professionals. I was more interested in books
written by parents of children with Asperger’s Syndrome. I wanted
to see how their experiences compared to mine. I did find one book
by the mother of a boy who had been diagnosed at eight years of
age. I could relate to so much of what she said. In particular, I
was struck by the fact that she had doubted herself, and wondered
if she was imagining it all. That is pretty much how I feel. A lot
of the books mention ‘stimming’. When Jamie was a lot younger, he
used to wave his hands around when he got excited. I never thought
anything of it.

Jamie had
another bad day at school. He was annoyed because he had unofficial
homework again. He said it should be illegal, and that I should do
something about it. The two hour rule went out the window. He was
doing his homework right up to bedtime. He was particularly
obnoxious over dinner, and of course Lesley rose to the bait. So we
had yet another shouting match at the dinner table.

18th October
(Tuesday)

Jamie's
Diary

Adam Devlin has
started calling me ‘Tram Head’. The boys who knock around with him
sometimes call me it too. I haven’t told the teachers because they
won’t do anything. At least I am interested in something that isn’t
boring. All he talks about is TV soaps. He shouldn’t be in the top
set because he is thick.

The English
teacher has finally managed to get the homework back to us. I got
full marks this time. 20 out of 20. There was still a lot of red
ink throughout the essay. He had changed quite a lot of the
punctuation. I don’t know why he needs to do that when I got full
marks.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I managed to
attend the parents’ support meeting with Joe. I told Andrew I was
going to Jackie’s again. There were seven or eight parents at the
meeting, but no kids. I talked to most of the parents, and I
listened to their stories. I told them about Jamie. They all said
they thought there was a strong possibility that he might have A.S.
That is what everyone calls it – A.S.

When I left
with Joe, he warned me that nothing was ever straight forward with
A.S. He said the first step was to seek a diagnosis. If Jamie does
have A.S. the school should make some accommodations to help him.
According to Joe, that doesn’t always happen, so I might have to
try to get a Statement which will force the school to provide the
things he needs. That’s the problem – I don’t know exactly what he
does need. Joe said it might take years. Jamie doesn’t have years.
What happens to his education in the meantime?

On the drive
home I wondered what I should do about Andrew. He has a right to
know, but what do I say to him? And would he listen anyway? Do I
say anything to Jamie? I didn’t say anything to either of them
tonight.

19th October
(Wednesday)

Jamie's
Diary

I hate
Wednesdays because we have P.E. I asked mum if I could have a note
because of my stomach ache. She wouldn’t write one for me. I lost
my trainers today, so the teacher made me do P.E. in my bare feet.
It hurt my feet standing on the hard wooden floor. I told mum she
will have to buy me a new pair of trainers.

The biology
teacher said we are going to cut up a dead rat after the half term
holiday. I hope it isn’t the rat which was in the cage. Biology is
a lot better now that I can concentrate properly.

Mum told me to
ask Cliff to come over in the holiday. I hardly ever see him.

*****

Angela's
Diary

Jamie had
another mini tantrum when we arrived at school this morning. I
thought for one horrible moment that he was going to refuse to get
out of the car. I reminded him that he only had three days to go
until the half term break. That, and a little gentle persuasion,
managed to win the day.

I have already
picked up some of the terminology on A.S. If Jamie does have A.S.,
then all of the hobbies and obsessions that he has had over the
years are known as ‘special interests’. And the tantrums he is
prone to are referred to as ‘meltdowns’.

I am going to
do more research between now and the weekend. If I still think A.S.
is a possibility, I will speak to Andrew on Saturday or Sunday.
Then, I have all next week to get the ball rolling.

20th October
(Thursday)

Jamie's
Diary

It isn’t fair.
We will have tons of homework to do over half term. The geography
teacher set us a project on erosion to do in the holiday. And the
French teacher has given us a list of words to learn. I bet we get
more homework tomorrow. At this rate, I won’t have a holiday at all
because I will be doing homework all the time.

The ICT teacher
confiscated my geography text book today because I was reading it
in his lesson. I told him I needed it for homework, so he gave it
back to me when the lesson ended. I was only reading it because he
was showing us how to write HTML. I taught myself HTML two years
ago.

Adrian Jackson
deliberately marked my answers as wrong in the physics test. He is
one of Adam Devlin’s friends. I bet Adam made him do it. I told
Adrian that my answers were correct, but he pretended he couldn’t
read my writing. He’s a liar.

*****

Angela's
Diary

As if the
headmaster didn't already think I was a rubbish mother. Now Lesley
has given him all the ammunition he needs. She got caught playing
truant in the mall. According to the headmaster it isn't the first
time she has been missing from lessons. Why hasn't anyone told me
before now? Christ! Haven't I got enough on my plate trying to sort
Jamie out without this? She doesn't even seem to care. All she did
was give me lip. I grounded her for a week, for all the good it
will do.

Jamie was in a
foul mood all night. He found out today that he will have homework
to do over the holiday. There was no reasoning with him. I doubt he
will be given much, but I can’t get that through to him. If it was
Lesley, she would leave it until the night before she went back to
school, and then knock it off in half an hour. It certainly
wouldn’t spoil her holiday. I don’t want Jamie to spend all of next
week doing homework. He needs a complete break.

Jamie wasn’t
much happier about the test which he did in physics today. The kids
had to mark each other’s answers. He said the boy sitting next to
him had marked some of his answers as incorrect when they were
actually correct. I’m not sure what to make of it. The boy said he
couldn’t read Jamie’s writing. I can understand that someone might
struggle to read Jamie’s writing. It can be appalling – again a
common trait of A.S. apparently. Jamie was adamant the boy had done
it on purpose. I said one test isn’t all that important, but Jamie
wouldn’t let it go. He wanted me to talk to the physics teacher.
Hopefully he will forget about this over the holiday – although I
wouldn’t put money on it.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

Shit! I got
caught in the mall by one of the EWOs. I was on the phone, and
didn't see her coming up behind me. She made me go back to school
with her. The headmaster rang mum. She has grounded me for a week.
Well she can stuff that. I'm not staying in this poxy dump all
through half term.

21st October
(Friday)

Jamie's
Diary

I’ve finished
school for a week!!!

I’ve got four
lots of homework. Two of them are unofficial. How is that fair? I’m
meant to be on holiday. Mum said I should only spend one hour per
day on homework. How does she know I will get it all done? The
English teacher said we have to prepare a presentation on ‘Our
hobbies or interests’. I don’t know what he means by a
presentation. He didn’t explain. I wish teachers would tell us what
we are meant to do. Half the time I have to guess. Mum said a
presentation is just like an essay which you read out loud. She
said I could take some photographs with me to show to the class.
Mum has never done a presentation, so how does she know how to do
one? I don’t want to look stupid, so I am going to look online to
find out how I am meant to do it. The teacher should have given us
a handout with instructions.

I’m glad I
don’t have to see Adam Devlin for a week. I’m fed up of him calling
me names all the time. He kicked my bag over today. He said he was
sorry, and made out that he had tripped. I know he did it on
purpose.

*****

Angela's
Diary

Thank goodness
for a week’s respite. I don’t think I have ever been more pleased
to see a school holiday arrive. I doubt it will be restful though.
Jamie is already fretting about his homework. He has to prepare a
presentation on his interests. I didn’t need two guesses what
subject he would choose. The problem is that the teacher called it
a presentation. If he had called it a ‘talk’, I think everything
would have been straightforward. Jamie has got it into his head
that there are strict guidelines as to what constitutes a
presentation. I imagine most of the kids will just stand up, and
talk about something for five minutes. That’s not good enough for
Jamie. He feels the need to find out exactly how to do a
presentation.

22nd October
(Saturday)