"I'm going to write a horror story," said Matthew brightly. Eight months of home education and finally Matthew has found his own steam.ÌýHis own motivation and will power to choose his work for today and get into it heart and soul. At school, he was depressed.ÌýHe couldn't cope with all the noise, constant fidgeting and movement of the classroom.Ìý The child next to him - rubbing out work time and time again - would drive him to distraction as the table rocked and rocked with the action of removing yet another error. All Matthew wanted was the peace and quiet that his Aspergers wouldn't allow. As every solitary sound reached his ears sharply, every movement distracted his eyes, every touch of child sweeping past or movement of his chair being knocked by feet made it agonisingly difficult to remain seated and calm.ÌýHe just wanted to run, to hide to be somewhere, anywhere ALONE! Today, instead of a name and date followed by an empty page and a raging temper, instead of an eight line story that became an accepted level of 'making an effort', the peaceful setting of home allowed Matthew's imagination to begin it's battle of fighting back against all the horrendous sensory stimuli of 30 other kids. Today the fuel was raging full steam ahead as Matthew's pencil rail-roaded line upon line of expressions onto paper. By lunchtime, two whole sides of narrow lined A4, were covered in a pattern that only ever existed inside his head until now.ÌýHe was writing a story! I say writing as he still hadn't concluded. As he read to us the story of Terror Tower, we sat dumbfounded. Half by the plot that was expressed further by his amazingly expressive reading skills. Half by the realization of the talent that had just poured so freely from his mind and that he had surprised himself. Matthew's eyes were wild with excitement as his voice squeaked, groaned and tremored with the fears and horrors of the characters' adventures. The next library visit brought home spooky castles and ghost stories, self-chosen to help himself find inspiration for the rest of his masterpiece. Finally, four pages long, I typed it all up for him.ÌýI even entered another of his recent stories Paul's Adventures into a Norfolk competition.ÌýIt was all about a family of Blue-tits.ÌýI was even inspired into writing a story myself, a true story... this story. Me?ÌýI'm just glad that I made one of the most difficult decisions a parent could ever face.ÌýI stopped sending my child to school, so he could start learning again. Story laureate Sue Welfare writes: A really inspirational, informative and well written piece without being either patronising or mawkish. | 
