I was diagnosed with Asperger's in third grade. After that I immediately switched schools to go to one with a good special-ed program (I've been in gifted classes since kindergarten, I've never been in any other special ed classes.) I never noticed anything, really. I just had poor social skills and narrow interests. In this special-ed program, I was in a small class of only 3 (later 5) kids in which we just did normal lessons, and some social adaptations. I was in that class all day, however we went to regular ed classes in a pull-out type program. I only went to reading, math, and science regular ed classes. This was in 5th grade (I don't remember 4th grade at all, except for the fact that it was a similar program).
Summertime between 5th-6th grade was fun, vacations and all.
Then came 6th grade. It would seem like a hard transition, but not really. I was still in a special ed program. This program was different from the previous. In this program, we had a ten-person social adaptation class for 1st period. We did typical social practices, we played board games, watched movies, and also prepared for the day. This was the only special-ed class I had in 6th grade, besides gifted social studies and lang/lit. For second period, I had a regular ed science class. We sat in groups and I mostly got along with my peers. For third period, I had a gifted language arts class. This class was small, 10 people, and did typical language arts activities. Most of my friends were in this class and 5th period. After third we had lunch, then came 4th period (PE class). I am moderately athletic, so 4th was one of my favorite classes. After 4th I had gifted literature, Similar to 3rd period, it was a small class. My only "true" friend was in this class. 6th was just math. I enjoyed mathematics, so it was a good class (amazing teacher, too). 7th was gifted social studies. Again, like all of my other gifted classes, small class. 6th grade was a tough year for me because I only had one true friend, let's just call her Jess. You see, I never talked to Jess during lunch or 5th. I only talked to her outside of school. During lunch, because I really had no friends, I sneaked/snook into the gym locker room to play some video games I kept in either my backpack or my pockets. Never was caught. It's now only the summer after 6th grade. No one except my family or friends in my special ed classes knows that I have Asperger's. I really never cared for my disability, because I never noticed anything. I don't have it as bad as some others, but it is hard to deal with sometimes. Perhaps the reason I never noticed anything is because I thought what I had was just "normal". I can, however, happily say that my disability has cleared up a bit, and that now I can live without being held back by this as much as I was in 4th and 5th grade.
