WHY I TOOK MY SON OUT OF SCHOOL | Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Home Education & Motherhood

**Sarah** (0:00)
Well, even my friends who kids haven't got autism or whatever, they're all struggling in high school too. When you start looking back on you as a kid, you're like, oh, all the signs were always there. Got diagnosed as dyslexic in my mid to late 20s.

**Lucy** (0:14)
How did that diagnosis then change the way how you viewed your experiences and your challenges?

**Sarah** (0:22)
They know they're dyslexic or autistic, but there's only so much they can do for them, really.

**Hana** (0:27)
Kids can be cruel, and if they don't grow up with someone who's got disability.

**Sarah** (0:31)
And then he went up to high school, and it just all fell apart. He just couldn't cope with it. He couldn't meet his needs. It just wasn't working. And I was so worried about his mental health. I was just left with no option but to just pull him out. I've had to home educate him now for like two years, which I never, ever wanted to do. However, do I think he's massively missed out? Yes.

**Lucy** (0:54)
We get drilled into ourselves at that. You have to do your GCSEs or you're never going to get a job. The structure in school is still the same stuff that they were doing in the Victorian days. It's not the teachers. It is literally the system. And it's hard, isn't it? I feel terrible for the system of teachers.

**Sarah** (1:09)
When you research home education, it's not actually what you think it is. And we're such better parents to him now. Oh, God, you're so clever. And I'm like, well, actually, I left school with nothing. Just get them in the system to be diagnosed, like ASAP.

**Lucy** (1:25)
Recognise your son. It's kind of like you're recognising the beauty in yourself.

**Hana** (1:41)
Hello, and welcome to Becoming Lucy with me, Hana.

**Lucy** (1:45)
And me, Lucy. So, everybody talks about binding yourself, but what happens when you think you already know who you are, and then something happens that makes you question everything?

**Hana** (1:58)
Today's conversation starts with a little boy, a diagnosis, and a mother trying to do everything she could to support her son. But somewhere along the way, that journey led Sarah back to herself.

**Lucy** (2:11)
Because sometimes the answers we're searching for in our children shine a light on parts of ourselves we truly never fully understood.

**Hana** (2:20)
Today, we're talking about autism, ADHD, education, motherhood, home education, building a business, and what happens when you realize you may have spent years trying to fit into systems that were never designed for how you naturally think and learn.

**Lucy** (2:38)
Before we begin, it's important to say that Sarah isn't joining us as a clinician, a researcher, or an expert. She isn't formally diagnosed with autism or ADHD, but this conversation is simply one a woman's basically lived, an experience as a mother, a business owner, and someone who, through a son's diagnosis journey, found herself looking back on her own life through a very different lens. So this conversation isn't about labels, it's a conversation about understanding yourself differently.

**Hana** (3:11)
So welcome to Becoming Lucy, Sarah.

**Sarah** (3:14)
Oh, thank you. You're going to make me cry already.

**Hana** (3:21)
Thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast. We're super grateful.
Obviously, we always like to let our listeners know how we know our guests, but actually, we're going to throw this to you today. So we're going to just drop you in there. So do you want to tell us and our listeners a little bit about how you are on this podcast today?

**Sarah** (3:41)
So I first reached out to Lucy and started following your podcast. I was following Lucy's journey and everything that happened to you. Then I think we just messaged a few times, didn't we, saying, I've been listening to your podcast. Then I saw that you were looking for guests for season free.
I mean, I had a glass of wine, so I was feeling quite brave. And I was like, I might have a story to share that I don't usually talk about. And then now I'm here.

**Lucy** (4:15)
Here we are.

**Hana** (4:16)
The rest is history. And we loved that because we, Lucy obviously messaged me then about you and we chatted and we were like, absolutely, we're going to have Sarah on. Her story is really interesting. And I love that you had that glass of wine. You built up some courage because your story is so interesting. It's going to help people. And we're really excited to dig deeper. So thank you for having that courage. And that goes out to anyone that might be listening, that thinks, oh, is my story good enough? Will they be interested? Absolutely. Just message us, message Becoming Lucy pod, and we will absolutely have a chat with you.