The winter of the social skills course was a harsh one,  and so the last two of ten sessions were cancelled,  due to bad weather. I felt a little relieved as it meant not having to break my working day,  to collect my son from his school,  so he could attend. It was about two months later that I received a phone call,  from the woman who ran the course asking me,  if I would like my son to attend the last two sessions he missed. Because he had come to learn of his autism,  and because I think the process of leaving his class in the middle,  of the day was causing him some distress I said no. I did appreciate the benefit he gained from this course,  to this day what he learned is still serving him well. He is now a complete gentleman on meeting new people, even if he may seem a little protracted to the people he is offering his hand to,  whilst saying " So good to meet you " I know he loves the response he gets for this,  and it is probably one of the reasons he savours the opportunity to meet new people. Although he still can be selective about who he greets in this way.

It was from that point though,  that I decided that if it was at all possible, any further learning support he received,  should be conducted at the school.  If he was offered something like the social skills course again,  I would decline on his behalf, if it involved  interrupting his school day.  I have been contacted by several students,  who are studying child physiology,  and they have asked if they could use my son for part of their degree courses. To study his behaviour and give him certain tasks,  which they can then observe and in turn document the results.To each of these students,  after first ascertaining the content and the process of there research, I have said that the only way they can do this,  is if they contact my sons school,  and then visit the school to collect the data. Whilst I appreciate the importance of gathering data and continuing  with research, I think the child's feelings should always be put first. As the information,  is always gathered through play with the child, it is a harmless exercise, that is until the child feels like they are being singled out for some unknown reason.

I wonder some times what  true focus  the professionals have. There main concern should be the children's well being but I can not help noticing a fascination on their part for statistics and collecting data. There is no indication that autism is on the decline, in fact it is the opposite.  Learning about the children with autism, what makes them feel, and think, and respond, happy, or sad, through play and interaction is not easily documented it is something that is felt. To often the observations of the professionals are clinical.