State of Autism at Our House 2021

 In honor of Autism Month, I thought I would share the state of Autism at our house. Well I didn't quite make it for the month of April so the first day of  May will have to do. I live with a 22 year old High Functioning Autistic person. 

He works 10 hours a week at a local brewery doing janitorial work. He has a job coach who he really likes and basically just checks in on him a couple times a week. I can't say enough nice things about his coach and where he works. This is a good fit for him. 

He takes 1 class a quarter at the local technical college. He took fall off  from school. Doing all the work online was actually stressing him out along with Covid.  When he did make it back for winter quarter, he did okay- excellent in the grade department. He always does excellent in the grade department. All the school work including the group work was online. It was a big stretch for him.  He has a lot of school related trauma. He hadn't done group work since middle school so we had a lot of chats why it would be different in college.  I really liked this article about transitioning to adulthood and why college might not be a good choice for those on the spectrum and the qualities they need to be able to succeed. Preparing for the transition to adulthood part 1 There is a lot food for thought in there. 

There are still some behavior challenges. He gets easily frustrated especially with video games and online college work. He often misreads social cues and relies on others to clue him in. I spend a lot of time discussing other peoples behavior. It took me a number of years to realize how much anxiety my son has.  His anxiety looks a lot like anger too.  It is nothing like it was years ago. Thank goodness for medication and behavior management. 

He lives at home which is good for him. He pays rent. He purchases all his food. He still can't manage the stove and knives are a bit scary for him. He is however excellent at the air fryer. I prepare his breakfast and dinner. 

He doesn't drive and uses public transport. That is great but the public transport adds about 4 hours to his 2 hour work day. By car, he works about 20 minutes from home. This is a challenge that social service people like to gloss over.  As his Mom, I take him to the bus hub so his commute to and from work is not as bad. Social Services always say, "well he has access to public transportation." That is all well in good if it doesn't eat up your whole day.

One thing I can say about my son in the words of a preschool friend "He is the one with the big heart". I don't know what the future holds exactly for my son.  One of his best qualities is that he persists even when others feel he is not capable. I hope that serves him well.