Sara: ‘After ten years of distance education, we started again this year to follow lessons at school’.

Sara: ‘After ten years of distance education, we started again this year to follow lessons at school’.

Because of his autism and ADHD, Reinder (23) had distance education for ten years. But since this year, he has enrolled in a vocational education program. At first, he seemed to start well, but now he faces the same and new problems. His mother, Sara Stegen, sought help from among others Ouders & Onderwijs.

“After ten years of distance education, we started again this year to follow lessons at school. Reinder’s sensory perception is so good that the stimuli from the classroom cost him a lot of energy. The people, sounds, and smells. On top of that came the 3-hour trip to his secondary special education school. All together led to an autistic burnout.

Now Reinder works at school with a fixed lesson program again, but before at home we could set our own pace. We could also handle the material more creatively so it fit him. While in the beginning we seemed to write a success story, it is now getting difficult. After a month, we are stuck again in a system that is actually not made for him.

For example, Reinder worked ahead, but that was slowed down by the school. He had to join the lesson. And that demotivated him. But which employer is not happy when a worker wants to work hard for eight hours to finish the work?

Equal conversation partner

We had a lot of help from Patrick Woudstra, theme advisor vocational education. He explained how the education system works, which parts of the lesson program are really mandatory, and where there is room. Reinder has trouble especially with the Dutch subject. Many children with autism have problems with fictional assignments. So if asked to write a blog about a non-existent situation or a fake complaint letter, he gets stuck. Then Patrick had the smart idea to choose the school system as a topic. So Reinder could put all his anger on paper. And that worked.

You are not an equal conversation partner at school. That is why I like the help from Ouders & Onderwijs so much. That someone says: Your son is not the only one who runs into this. Or points us to more background information about Tailored Education, laws, and more. Besides, Patrick could give us experience knowledge because he worked in vocational education. Ouders & Onderwijs is really there for us. This is such a small island where you as a parent can stand for a moment, so you can navigate further.

End in sight

Reinder carries some trauma because of his dropout in education. As a parent, you don’t want that to happen again. We don’t want to be stranded near the haven. He may do his system administration education (vocational education level 4) now in two years. He still has to follow lessons until the summer holidays, take exams, and do an internship. The end is almost in sight.”