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Greenlit: Girls With Autism, ITV

By ⋅ July 11, 2015 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ ⋅Post a comment

Girls with Autism (1 x 60′) –  Limpsfield Grange in Surrey is the only state run boarding school in Britain specialising in girls with autism. The girls are all aged from 11-16 and more than half of them are on the autistic spectrum.  Focusing on three very different pupils, Katie, Abigail and Beth, this documentary follows them over the course of six months both at school and at home, to offer a unique insight into what it means to be autistic and a teenage girl.

With increasing numbers of girls being diagnosed every year, the true extent to which girls suffer from the condition is perhaps only now being recognised. With extreme variations in how every girl presents, the school does it’s best to prepare each girl for an unforgiving outside world using a range of innovative methods, sometimes with tough love and always extraordinary patience.
Through these individual experiences we see how children with autism can struggle to make sense of the world around them, causing overwhelming anxiety. Repetitive behaviours, routine, and obsessions are all part of the condition.  And the pressure of trying to negotiate friendship can often be the greatest anxiety and obsession of all.
Teacher Mrs Chippington, also known as Mrs Chips, uses dogs Charlie and Bella in her lesson, acknowledging that some of the girls prefer spending time with animals because there is less pressure and they don’t say unkind things.
Abigail is the quietest member of the class and Mrs Chips is desperately trying to communicate with her.  She is unsure whether Abi is selectively mute because it’s giving her control, or whether she has such high anxiety that she feels unable to speak.
Another pupil, 16-year-old Katie, has an obsession with boys. Autism can lead to obsessive behaviour and when a teenage girl with autism has those feelings for boys, it can lead to complicated and potentially risky situations.
Most of the girls at Limpsfield Grange board on weekdays and are looked after by a dedicated care team, whose job is to teach the girls to become independent and to deal with their autism.
Fourteen-year-old Beth has reluctantly started weekly boarding at Limpsfield Grange, after serious problems with her behaviour, both at home and in four previous schools. Beth now commutes 250 miles every weekend to the school. Beth is determined to sabotage her place at school so she can return home. She admits to self-harming three times a day, every day.

This film tells three very different stories for a less familiar portrait of autism. Teenage girls who desperately want love and friendship, but just can’t quite understand how to go about it.

Channel: ITV

TX: 15th July 2015

Source: ITV press release

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