1. Growing up with Aspergers Syndrome By Joshua Muggleton

2. A Bit About Me Born in Guildford Playgroup Home schooled for 2 years Transferred to primary school – Some social difficulties /odd behaviour Wearing coat in middle of summer No diagnosis Transferred to secondary school – More social difficulties Bullying Not coping well

3. A Bit More About Me Diagnosis! – Age 15 Mental Breakdown – EOTAS – Signed off school after 8 months – GCSEs taken at Surrey County Council Offices Satellite virtual schools – Recovery year

4. Yet A Bit More About Me Farleigh Further Education College – Little bit of the right support  1 to 1 key worker  Learning in mainstream environment – A Levels (AAB) St Andrews University – BSc (Hons) Psychology – Little bit of the right support  Academic parents  Knowledgeable student support services  DSA

5. How has AS made growing up different? Sensory Hard to get to sleep as a baby – Dad would drive me around in the car at 2AM listening to his mix tape of music  Could the repetitive predictable beat helped?  Could the motion of the car helped with some vestibular hyposensitivity?

6. How has AS made growing up different? As a child – Always aware of the traffic outside Often caused problems going to sleep – Started listening to the radio when going to bed Again – could the music have helped? – Could never get used to short/long sleeved shirts – always wore polo shirts

7. How has AS made growing up different? Sensory Teenager – Never got used to the school bell A lot of added stress/panic Adult – Always sleep with a fan on – drowns out other sound – When stressed – sensory issues seem to magnify

8. How has AS made growing up different? Social Aspergers by definition means my social life was different Playgroup – Did not enjoy it – Windmill Home-Schooling group – Preferred to be by myself – Didn’t understand why all the other kids enjoyed meeting up and playing  Preferred to play by myself/with mum

9. How has AS made growing up different? Social Primary school – Would watch children play  Why was it so fun? Why did they want to talk? – Tried joining in  Was not fun, but I was a child scientist – I needed to experiment! Secondary School – The “experiment” started biting back  I found I could not comprehend why the social rules had changed  Teachers went from “mummy” figures to “harsh task masters”

10. How has AS made growing up different? Social Adult – Now know roughly how the “experiment” will react – Social situations are more constant (less big changes) – More aware of own and others behaviour  Makes it easier to fit into the NT world – People generally more accepting

11. How has AS made growing up different? Stress Different things stress different people – Things I find stressful  A new social situation  Meeting new people  Not knowing my timetable well in advance  Having too many tasks on my list of things to do  Having nothing to do for too long  Being unsure on a task  Change  Being late/people being late

12. How has AS made growing up Different? Stress Different things stress different people – Things I don’t find stressful  Having big projects  Giving talks or media interviews  Keeping to a schedule / having deadlines  Some types of problem solving o Ents In general, the same kinds of things stress me out now as they did when I was young

13. So how has my Aspergers changed over my life? I don’t think it has changed – I have grown up – My knowledge of myself and others has improved – The situations have changed – I have learned how to “use” Aspergers My Aspergers will always present me with the same sort of problems – And often, I will be able to use the same sort of solutions

14. Finally… What made the difference for me was getting a little bit of the right support Because I had the support during my A levels… – …I need less support at St Andrews – …I am independent – …I am achieving Sometimes all that’s needed, is a little bit of the right support

15. Any Questions? Work Experience www.mugsy.org/josh