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Note \u2013 this is not applicable to all individuals with autism, nor all schools!!!<\/p>\n
Regarding autism and whether it is possible for children to display different behaviours at home compared to school \u2013 this is something that over the years probably hundreds of parents have asked me about. So often the message is a similar (and familiar) one \u2013 that at school the child \u2018behaves\u2019 well, while at home things can get\u2026well, kinda out of hand! This results in huge frustration for parents who cannot seem to get school to accept that behaviour at home is so different to that at school, with school insisting that \u2018everything must be ok\u2019 [NB I am not suggesting that all schools respond in this way, many will be highly supportive of the family).<\/p>\n
It is very clearly documented (by parents and professionals, as well as organisations such as the NAS) that many children with autism (though not all) will display considerably different behaviours in different settings. This can be as a result of a wide range of reasons, from central coherence abilities, to environmental factors, to differing levels of stress in different situations. A reasonably common pattern in terms of school\/home behaviour is that the child may appear to present with no problems at school, but at home there can be major issues in terms of behaviour. Often, the result is that either school simply do not believe that the child they see at school can be displaying the reported behaviours at home, or that school erroneously believe that because the behaviours are only seen at home then the causing factors for the behaviour must also be situated there. This is not always the case, and it is of imperative importance that all parties involved recognise the serious nature of high levels of distress, and recognise that all<\/em> aspects of the individual\u2019s life may be a contributory factor towards high arousal \u2013 which, in turn, may manifest in behavioural issues. This can lead well into adulthood \u2013 for example I know several people whose behaviour at work appears to demonstrate no problem at all, whereas the reality is that they are in high states of anxiety and stress, to the point of self injury at home, and, in some cases, anxiety and depression. This demonstrates just how important it is that all concerned recognise this reasonably common autism related pattern\u00a0as early as possible, in order to support the child (or adult)\u00a0well. Just because a child has the ability to \u2018mask\u2019 their autism at school does not mean that they are not greatly impacted by their autism on a daily basis. In fact, it is often this \u2018masking\u2019 behaviour (acting, or copying other children) that lead school to believe that there is no problem at school; however, it may be that the child is behaving in this way precisely because they are stressed<\/em> and have discovered that by copying others they can \u2018hide\u2019 their very real problems. When at home, all of the emotional distress may then be released in what is seen as a safe environment. The irony is that in some cases, it is the stress and anxiety experienced at school that subsequently lead to the copying behaviour and subsequent meltdowns at home!<\/p>\n