Asperger Diaries: Jamie's New School (14 page)

Jamie's
Diary

There’s tons of
information online about presentations. There are so many different
ways you can do one. A lot of the information I found was about
computer presentations using something like PowerPoint. I’ve never
used PowerPoint. I don’t even have it on my computer. The teacher
didn’t say we would be using a computer. I don’t know if we will or
not. I don’t know how I can find out now because everyone is on
holiday. I asked mum if she could find the teacher’s home telephone
number, and give him a call. Mum wouldn’t do it. She said the
teacher didn’t intend us to use a computer. I don’t know how she
can know because she wasn’t there when the teacher told us about
the presentation. Mum said I should write about trams, and then
practice reading the text out loud. She said she would be my
audience. I know so much about trams that it could take me all week
to write it down. Mum asked how long the presentation has to be.
The teacher didn’t say. Mum said ten minutes should be more than
enough. I don’t know how she can possibly know that. I asked mum
which tram she thought I should write about. She said she didn’t
think it mattered.

I spent an hour
on my homework like mum had said I should. I didn’t get very far
because most of the time was spent researching how to do a
presentation. At this rate, I don’t see how I will get all of my
homework done by the end of the week. If I don’t, it will be mum’s
fault.

*****

Angela's
Diary

It’s the little
things that drive me crazy. All Jamie has to do is to stand up, and
talk about trams for ten minutes. Something he does several times
every week. Nothing is ever as simple as that where Jamie is
concerned. He wanted me to telephone his teacher to find out how he
is meant to do this stupid presentation. That would go down well.
The school would definitely write me off as a crazy mother. I made
an executive decision, and told Jamie that he definitely wouldn’t
need to do the presentation on a computer. I’m not sure he believed
me though.

I was going to
talk to Andrew about A.S. today, but he told me Edith is coming
over tomorrow – AGAIN! I’m going to wait until she has been and
gone. If I raise the subject with Andrew today he will get his mum
involved. I don’t think I could stand her sticking her oar in.

23rd October
(Sunday)

Jamie's
Diary

I’m fed up of
this presentation. I can’t decide which tram I should write about.
I spent an hour on my history homework today. I only got about half
of it done. I don’t think mum’s one hour system is going to
work.

Nana Edith
asked me if I had enjoyed my first term at Armthorpe. I said I
hated it. She asked why. I told her about the stupid teachers who
don’t know their subjects. I told her about the marking systems
which are stupid and unfair. I told her some of the boys were mean
and nasty. I told her someone had written on my locker. I told her
it is stupid to have to change classrooms all of the time. I told
her I like to do breast stroke, but I have to do front crawl. I
told her the classrooms are too noisy because the teachers don’t
tell the children to be quiet. I told her we get unofficial
homework. She asked me if there was anything I did like about the
new school. I told her I liked talking to Mr Peters about trams.
She said I would get used to the new school, and that things were a
lot worse in her day.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I should have
known better than to expect understanding from Andrew. He said the
whole idea of Jamie having Autism was ludicrous. I tried to explain
about Asperger’s Syndrome. How it was quite common for someone with
A.S. to have a high I.Q., and do well academically. I told him I
thought we should take Jamie to the G.P. Andrew said that was
ridiculous. He said the G.P. would throw me out of the surgery for
wasting his time. Andrew can’t see what the problem is. He said he
had hated school too when he was a child. He just had to get on
with it, and Jamie should do the same. He said I was smothering
Jamie, and I had to realise he wasn’t five years old any longer. I
couldn’t argue any more. I walked out of the house. I didn’t want
him to see me crying.

24th October
(Monday)

Jamie's
Diary

Mum made me go
to the doctor’s today. She didn’t tell me anything about it until
it was time to go. She said it was because I have had a lot of
stomach aches. I haven’t had one for two days. I hate going to see
the doctor. The waiting room is horrible. The magazines in there
are all rubbish. It was a complete waste of time because all the
doctor did was ask me stupid questions. He didn’t even look at my
stomach.

I finished off
my history today, but I didn’t have time to start my other
homework.

I'm going to
Sheffield tomorrow to go on SuperTram!

*****

Angela's
Diary

I took Jamie to
the G.P. this morning. I didn’t bother telling Andrew. I left Jamie
in the waiting room while I spoke to the G.P. Then the G.P. talked
to Jamie for about two minutes. Two minutes! That was it! After
Jamie had gone back to the waiting room, the G.P. said it wasn’t
A.S. I told him about all of the problems Jamie has been having. He
said it was ‘new school blues’. What the hell does that mean? He
said it couldn’t be A.S. because Jamie was too clever, and too
articulate. He pointed out that Jamie had made eye contact with
him. Jamie has never had a problem with eye contact. I tried to
tell him what I had found out when researching on the Internet. He
said I shouldn’t rely on the Internet for a diagnosis. Then he
asked how I was, and whether I felt the stress was getting to me.
It definitely is, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. I thanked
him. I’m not sure what for, and then I left. I told Jamie not to
mention the G.P. appointment to his dad.

I telephoned
Joe Peters. I wanted to talk to someone who didn’t think I was
crazy. He was great. He said this situation wasn’t all that
uncommon. I’m going with him to the support meeting again tomorrow
night.

I didn't want
to see Jamie stuck in the house all through the holiday, so I asked
him he fancied a trip out to Sheffield tomorrow. He doesn't usually
like last minute surprises, but the thought of riding trams meant
he made an exception. Lesley overheard me, and demanded she come
along. She is supposed to be grounded, but I have told her she can
come.

25th October
(Tuesday)

Jamie's
Diary

Mum took me to
Sheffield today. It’s the first time I have been on the trams
there. Sheffield’s tram system is called SuperTram. It opened in
1995. The trams were built by Siemens-Duewag in Germany. There are
three different lines: the blue line which runs from Malin Bridge
to Halfway, the yellow line which runs from Middlewood to
Meadowhall, and the purple line which runs from Meadowhall to
Herdings Park. Mum bought DayRider tickets, so we could travel on
the trams all day.

The only bad
thing about the day, was that Lesley and Orange came along. They
went to Meadowhall shopping centre, and stayed there all day. We
met them at four o’ clock, to get something to eat, before we came
home. I had pizza, but it wasn’t as nice as Marco’s. I didn’t like
Meadowhall shopping centre because it was too busy and noisy.

I wanted to buy
a model of the SuperTram, but I couldn’t find one anywhere. Mum did
find a small framed picture of one of the trams, so I bought that
instead. I didn’t get any homework done today. Mum said I could do
two hours tomorrow. I still don’t know how to do the
presentation.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I’m absolutely
shattered. Lesley brought Orange along with her. They didn't really
give me a choice - Orange was on our doorstep first thing this
morning. I didn’t see much of the girls once we arrived at
Sheffield because they spent all day in Meadowhall shopping centre.
I spent all day riding around Sheffield on trams. By the end of the
day, I was on first name terms with several of the drivers.

We arrived home
in time for me to sneak out to the support meeting. Andrew didn’t
ask where I was going. He was on the phone with one of his steam
engine buddies. I asked Joe what he thought I should do about
Jamie. He suggested asking some of the parents at the support group
if I could meet their kids. He said it might help if I saw some
other kids who had already been diagnosed. I talked to Mary who has
a son one year older than Jamie. She had to battle with her G.P. to
get a formal diagnosis. I have arranged to go around to her house
tomorrow afternoon. She said I could take Jamie. I’m not sure that
would be a good idea. Besides I doubt Jamie would be very keen.

*****

Lesley's
Journal

Mum has ended
the grounding. I knew she would. She was going to take tram boy to
Sheffield and leave me at home. I wasn't having that, so I
persuaded her to let me go too. I haven't been to Meadowhall
shopping centre before. I texted Courtney, to see if she wanted to
come along, but she wasn't in. I managed to get Orange to come
though. I didn't tell mum because I didn't want to give her the
chance to say 'No'.

Meadowhall was
great. It would have been even better if I had had more money to
spend. Mum and dad are so tight. Orange spent a fortune as usual.
We had to put up with Jamie waffling on about trams all the way
there and back. At least he sat in the front with mum. I actually
felt sorry for mum today. She had to spend all day riding up and
down on trams. ROFL.

26th October
(Wednesday)

Jamie's
Diary

I’ve started
work on my presentation. I’m not sure if I am doing it right. I
have lots of notes about the 125th anniversary of Blackpool trams.
I decided it would be better to talk about that rather than about
one particular tram. I think the other kids will find it
interesting because it is about Blackpool. Everyone likes
Blackpool. I wrote down details of all the vintage trams that were
on show last year, and I have photographs of most of them. I
practiced my talk in front of mum this afternoon. She said it was
very interesting, but it was too long. It lasted about twenty five
minutes. I’m going to rewrite it tomorrow, and try to cut it down
to about fifteen minutes.

Why do holidays
always go much quicker than school days? I think it would be better
if I could stay at home instead of going to school. I could learn
everything I need to know from books. A lot of the stuff we do at
school is a waste of time. French for example.

Mum asked me if
I wanted to go to her friend’s house this afternoon. She said her
friend had a son who is one year older than me. I didn’t go. I
don’t know the boy, and he might not be interested in the same
things as me. Mum didn’t get home until nearly six o’ clock, so I
didn’t get my dinner on time. It was selfish of mum to be late. She
knows what time we should have dinner. That’s twice we have had a
late dinner recently.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I’m in the dog
house with Jamie because dinner was late. All through dinner, he
kept having a dig at me. He complained that I hadn’t warned him I
would be back late. He said I should have gone out earlier, so that
I would be back on time.

My visit to
Mary’s house was very interesting. I met her son, Stephen. I didn’t
get to speak with him for very long because he spends most of his
time hidden away in his bedroom. I was able to ask Mary lots of
questions. Stephen and Jamie are alike in so many ways. I hadn’t
realised how many of Jamie’s little quirks I have come to accept as
normal. It’s as though I have become acclimatised to ‘Jamie’s
World’ over the years. It’s only when I step back, and look at
other kids – even Lesley – that I see how different he is. When you
compare him to Stephen, there are far fewer differences. All
afternoon, I found myself saying ‘Jamie does that’. Mary’s story is
similar to mine except that she realised there was something amiss
when Stephen was only eight years of age. I think the problems
emerged at a younger age because Stephen went to a much larger
junior school. Mary told me about the miserable time he'd had
there. She could have been describing Jamie today. Stephen was
home-educated for a period, but is now at a school that specialises
in A.S.

Having spoken
to Mary, and seen Stephen, there is no longer any doubt in my mind
that Jamie does have Asperger’s Syndrome.

27th October
(Thursday)

Jamie's
Diary

Mum made me go
to the doctor’s again today. I saw a lady doctor who I haven’t seen
before. She still didn’t look at my stomach. She just spent ages
talking to me about school and stuff. What a waste of time. I could
have been working on my homework. I have cut my presentation down
to about fifteen minutes. Mum said it is still too long, but I
think it will be okay. Mum asked Lesley if she had ever done a
presentation at Armthorpe. Lesley said she had done one on makeup.
Lesley said no one would be interested in a presentation about
trams. My presentation will be a lot more interesting than one on
makeup.

*****

Angela's
Diary

I got lucky
today. I managed to get a cancellation at the GPs. I saw a locum
who I haven’t seen before. She was a lot more understanding than
our regular G.P. She actually knew something about A.S. I told her
all about Jamie, and then she spoke to him for over ten minutes.
Afterwards, she said that she wasn’t qualified to say for sure, but
that she thought it worthwhile to refer him to a specialist. I
could have kissed her. I had been so scared that she was going to
tell me that I was imagining things. Jamie was none too pleased at
being dragged to the GPs twice in a week. I don’t want to tell him
about my suspicions yet because I don’t know how he will take it. I
haven’t told Andrew that I have been to see the G.P. again, or
about the referral. The G.P. didn’t know how long it would be
before Jamie can see a specialist. She thought there might be a
long waiting list. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but at least
something is happening. I rang Joe and Mary to tell them my news.
They were both pleased, but said I should expect a long wait.