elmhar

I've had 2 kids (one NT) w/special needs do HS gym & I recommend talking to the gym teacher first before pulling your child out. See if accommodations can be made. Both your son, as well as the NT kids, have a bit to lose if you pull him out.

You want to verify that the PE program is indeed oriented towards competitive sports. In our school district, the competitiveness occurs more w/out-of-PE team sports, intramurals, that sort of thing. PE itself is more oriented to personal fitness, teaching basic rules of sports (impt even for armchair athletes), team skills (working together, not competitive), and good sportsmanship. Of course, this may vary from school district to district, however, there has generally been a swing towards personal fitness ed across the country.

I think part of the decision may depend somewhat on how high-functioning your child is. Try not to view that as a snotty comment. ALL our kids need exercise & fitness ops. IMO kids who will go on to college, etc., will benefit from some experience with teamwork & insight into competitiveness. Teamsmanship is hard for my PDD-son, but we have felt the challenge is good for him, even though it's not what he's best at.

In our son's case, we were able to have certain accommodations made re: the locker room by having PE scheduled first thing (also great if your kid is an ADD a.m. sleepyhead). That way he arrived "dressed down" for the day -- our school fortunately has relaxed requirements, any old short pants will do & our DS just wore the more fashionable, slightly longer ones. That particular accommodation was very important to our son, who had great anxiety about locker room issues.

Talking w/the PE teacher about what accommodations can be made doesn't rule out eventually deciding to opt your child out. In fact, it's possible that such a talk will confirm that decision for you. You can always do the homeschool PE, but some schools will also offer "PE fitness contracts," where the student meets periodically w/a PE teacher 1:1 to discuss fitness plan & progress (must be logged & parent-signed) -- which allows the student to get credit towards grad requirements, as well as gives a little extra social experience, working with the PE teacher.

Best wishes.