With the double-whammy of adolescence and secondary school , these 'perilous years' is an apt phrase coined by Tony Attwood. With their high incidence of depression these years are at least as important as the early years. If we underestimate the challenge of navigating these years for young people with AS we can do permanent damage to their quality of life. It has been said that 'the good thing is they are bright' and 'the bad thing is they are bright'. We can't process them as if their neurology was typical just because they can absorb facts. To do so is to invite a trade-off with their mental health and general life-readiness.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that mainstream Secondary school is the most hostile and dangerous environment a person with AS will ever encounter.
Our vulnerable children often take on the role of the Wildebeest in the teenage social jungle where being different invites ostracisation and bullying. (There is evidence that our children's teenage peers, who are undergoing neurological upgrading themselves, become temporarily ' autistic ' and unable to empathise with others. Parents everywhere will confirm this transformation!)
Secondary schools are bigger, the people in them are bigger and louder, there is more movement, more stuff to remember , more teachers with different personalities and expectations, more stuff to carry, to take home, to bring in......
All of this tests our children's immature social emotional and executive skills to breaking point and sometimes beyond.
Far from being part of the solution to AS school-based education can become part of the problem. The internet has no shortage of anecdotal evidence of the damage people with AS think was done to them in mainstream secondary school.
We know there is a high incidence of depression amongst adolescents with AS. We know that some people with AS suffer chronic stress in mainstream secondary school. And we know that chronic stress can induce depression
So it seems illogical not to entertain a causal link between a bad school experience and the incidence of depression.
We readily instigate risk-assessments when children embark on the physical challenge of outdoor pursuits but there is a strong case for putting in place mental health risk-assessments before we recommend that children with AS attend mainstream secondary schools.
Not to say that this is not the most beneficial route for some. Our children are unique and so are the circumstances they find themselves in. A critical mass of empathetic adults combined with a resilient personality and flexibility by the school may indeed deliver the exam results and the mental health with which to deploy this academic passport to a well-paid vocation.
To employ a Titanic analogy - if we know the iceberg is out there we should think twice before we board the ship, and if we do board we should ask the captain to cut the speed and have the lifeboat ready to go.