Sounds very like me at that age, I had a lot of trouble with bullying at school sadly and it did leave me with very little confidence. My AS symptoms did get a lot worse because of it. We like structure, routine, sameness, it's in us to the core, it's who we are. Bullying is a horrendous experience for any child, but when you lack the ability to understand social situations at the best of times, it can be even worse.

I'm not trying to say that it would be easier for non AS children to be bullied, what I mean is that because we already know in ourselves that we're different to others around us, bullying can make us feel that everybody else in the world knows we're different and doesn't like us because of it. That is hard when our neurology is the only difference and there's nothing we can do about that.

I would suggest seeking another therapist, perhaps one who has experience with ASDs as that could help a lot. Other than that, just keep doing what you're doing. Be there for her, without being over bearing. She will already feel an enormous amount of pressure to 'conform' and be 'normal' from her peers, and I know from experience that if she feels the same from her family then she's likely to shut off to the world completely.

I used to hate school, I skipped more than I attended. Sadly I didn't get diagnosed until recently so I got no help at school. Classes of thirty odd people when you have sensory hyper sensitivity can be a nightmare. I never used to be able to concentrate, I was so aware of every little noise, every movement of my classmates, my eyes constantly shifted around the room and I could see everything that was happening all the time. That is something that non AS people probably will never understand.

The teenage years for AS people are usually the hardest, since that's when our peers start to develop more advanced social skills, whilst our brains are still at a different stage of development. Sometimes we're ahead of the curve and sometimes behind it, but rarely on par. It does get a little easier, but only if we get the right support when it's important.

Like I said, sadly I didn't, and now I've developed OCD and DID as defensive 'coping' mechanisms. It's not uncommon for people on the spectrum to be more prone to these sorts of things.

I really hope you manage to get some more help for your daughter, and for yourself.