It’s hard enough to learn that your son is autistic, but when the education system doesn’t want him, it becomes a feeling of hopelessness. My son, at a young age, was asked to leave school, told he was uneducable and untestable, even though we had success every year before at another school. We were forced to home schooling.

We went to another school and they agreed to accept him. Passing through each elementary grade, our son learned to read, write, tell time, add, subtract, and most important, to write his name, parents’ names, address, and phone number. He also made great friends.

After elementary, we had to find him a middle school. We found a private school for autistic children.

At 15, he had his best year, learning life skills such as grocery shopping and other activities for a public life. The next year, something changed at school and our son went from very happy to unhappy and aggressive, these negative attitudes exhibited mostly at school.

That year and every year since we’ve been asked if school just isn’t right for him and that perhaps we should turn to home schooling. It is a struggle just to convince his school to allow his stay.

I just want an education for my son. He still has two years left, but being asked to leave year after year is hard for a father to take.

Donald Frost

Toddville