Autistic daughter only wearing cosplay

[ILovePeggySue]

11 year old daughter. Massively hyper focus now on anime. Watches various anime cartoons and really loves the costumes. She is slowly been coming out of burnout from masking at school. Missed whole of year 6 and has not managed to attend new mainstream secondary school. Could barely leave her room at one point and was completely mute and withdrawn.

She will only leave the house if in some sort of costume. I didn't even realise at first as the costumes were improvised and clothes she had altered. Now she has some 'real' costumes of anime characters and they are all she will wear. This must be something to do with the autism and masking, I think the costumes must give her confidence or something? She is literally unable to leave the house without this.

But this is the most she has been out of the house in over a year, the most I have spoken to her in over a year and she is no longer sitting in a dark room spinning on a computer chair.

Has anyone else come across something similar? It is a bit odd walking into a shop with her dressed in a blue wig with arm warmers and flared leg pieces, but at least she is out of the house. Is there anyone I should talk to about this? It does seem like some strange camouflage behaviour.

Just quite flummoxed really. Any advice?

Does it matter what clothes she wears if it's giving her confidence and enabling her to express herself?

Have you any local charity for asd that maybe has a chat group? We have one in my area and people get lots of advise. Not sure how I would have found it if not been told by the senco though. Although I think its listed on the local authorities local offer page for SEN help

Good luck

I will contact the asd team who we are working with through the school. I don’t care what she wears puppymaddness, the only problem I am having is with the school. They keep coming up with reintegration packages to try and get her into school. The latest is a horse type therapy - in return for going in 2 mornings a week for 45 minutes she gets to go and groom, ride horses, chat about animals etc. To access this she has to go into school. So she went into school and they said she couldn't come in because of the cosplay.

This was massive for her as well - the first time she had actually gone onto the school premises. Apparently the senco was somewhat taken aback. He's not the only fucking one, my daughter is now talking to me, sitting on the sofa next to me and describing all these characters. I can see her coming back from the dark place she was in.

I understand they have uniform rules and policy's and all that bullshit, but I am out of ideas here. I have said she can't cope in mainstream, we are waiting for a tribunal for refusal to access for an ehcp and I have professional reports that say she needs specialist provision.

Not sure what else I can do. She does look fabulous mind.

Ughh that's seems so unecessary that the barrier to re-entry to school should be clothing. I do understand the school's reaction, at the same time given her very significant needs could they not make some accommodations on that?