At lunch you'll find me in the bathroom

My mom once told me about the day she received a call from the junior high school. They informed her that I was discovered eating my lunch in the bathroom. I must have been dissociating, because I do not remember doing this.

As it turns out, the reason I was doing this was that I was completely overwhelmed by the lunchroom. I had come from a Catholic school, where we stayed in the same room with the same teacher all day long.

Transitioning to junior high was like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, and I was having tremendous difficulty adjusting to this. There was no one there to help me make the transition, because nobody knew I had Autism and ADHD.

Fortunately, after that incident, I was able to connect with a school counselor who helped me make the transition into the lunchroom.

The Junior High experience was awful for both me and my sons. Although my sons had much better support from their teachers and social workers, the system only allowed them to do so much. There is still a long way to go.