Life with Aspergers

My eldest son now has a job and of course, I'm over the moon. No only does he have a job but it's also in his area of interest and there's a traineeship component. He's going to thrive there.  His employment is the culmination of years of planning and it all went so smoothly that I wanted to talk about it because I feel it's a model that others can follow. In part one of this two part post, I want to look at how you can use the last few years of school to get your teen prepared for a job. The Statistics Before I get into the "how to", I just wanted to take a look at the statistics for people with autism being unemployed, under-employed (in lower paying jobs than they should be) and not completing higher education. The Australian Bureau of statistics published some statistics from 2015 here and here   The results are grim and the story is similar worldwide. In fact, I'd venture to say that statistics and support in Australia are a little bett...

I've posted a few times over the years on the difficulty of finding appropriate jobs for kids with Asperger’s Syndrome and other special needs. There's the need to find a job that matches their special interests but also doesn't involve a lot of confrontational personal contact. You need to find a boss that is understanding of your child's differences and who knows when to push and when to relax the rules… and of course, you need to get your young adult past the interview stage. Sometimes it's just “all too much”, sometimes you need to create that employment environment yourself. Picking the right career  There are two major factors influencing the choice of career; Special interests  Long term availability  Special Interests Your young adult with Aspergers will thrive in an environment that is tied to their special interests but not all interests are career-worthy. If your young adult has an interest in cars, woodwork, animals or computers...