First off...I'm 16 and I have a foster brother, nearly 16, Asian, with a traumatic childhood, which is why I hesitate in assuming anything (the school made the proposition for him to get tested). We have managed to fall in love, but that's beside the point here.
All the stereotyped lists of behavior I find, he habits almost all of them: little empathy, resistance to change (to the extreme), difficulty with eye contact (even though he is Asian- I know his brother who is fine), very intelligent, symmetrical and picky, is not 'realistic', the vacant face/monotone...When I first met him in October 2009 he would sit with angular body positions, head down and turned away; he would refuse to make eye contact or be touched. He would also find it difficult so interact with others and often didn't want to. Since he has been here for three months, though, now he's more comfortable with eye contact, although that might just be with me..he offers hugs now, and even initiates social things with his friends. He can miss some of their hints and sometimes he will just plow on in what he's saying (but they're rough-talking boys who can also be insensitive, only they know the effect they will have on another person).
Something I wonder about is his consistency. He is extremely sure of himself and who he is, yet what he says about himself one day may be very different the next. If I ever quote him on what he said about himself, he denies it and apparently doesn't know what I'm talking about. Also, he is quite hostile, especially with authority (although he has been through an awful lot with Social services) and does not care about offending or hurting others.
The most important thing is that he Hates school. (It's too easy/dumb, the noise bothers him, he doesn't care about being educated). For the past 5 years he has skipped school as much as possible and therefore been in court 3 times; he was sent to training school twice. He'll be going on a third round if he doesn't go to school for just One month and do some work; after that, his mother will be able to sign him out of school forever. Yet he refuses to go and complete one month and doesn't seem to understand/care that he'll get taken away and will have to repeat again. Mostly this is because he doesn't care and doesn't want to give the authority the satisfaction of bossing him around, but also I think it's control over others trying to control him..... He's more than my little brother, I am extremely protective of him and want the best for him, always, and I don't expect anything in return; and mostly I just love him for who he is and everything that he does and couldn't face having him taken away for months/years...
Does anyone have any idea of how I can coax him into trying at school just for a little while? I am quite desperate by now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time!!
