'All the advice about having rhythms and routines — none made any difference' for child avoiding school

After two years of engaging with welfare services and being threatened with prosecution over her son’s school avoidance, a mother was told there were no autism class places available when he got his diagnosis, says Jess Casey

Fiona*, a mother to an autistic child, told the ‘Irish Examiner’: ‘I am not an outlier. I don’t know what it would have been like if I had known he was autistic when this started, but somebody should have picked up on the signs.’ Picture: iStock

At the age of nine, Conor* was often described by his teachers as well behaved and polite. He was in third class in early 2023 when he first started to tell his mother Fiona* he couldn’t go to school. He is the youngest in his family, and Fiona never had any concerns about his siblings at the same school.

Fiona holds two masters of arts degrees. However, like everyone else, she struggled through homeschooling during lockdown.