Some people with autism are able to enter the working world after they are finished with school. Finding a job, however, can be more challenging for individuals with autism than for neurotypical individuals.
Let’s take a look at what to look for in a job and the resources people with autism can use to find a job.
Selecting a Career for People with ASD
Jobs can be difficult for people with ASD to maintain. More often than not jobs entail many activities that employees don’t find engaging or motivating. Making sure a person with ASD selects a job that keeps them engaged is one of the keys to starting a successful career.
A great way to do this is to find a job with clear duties, responsibilities, goals, or expectations. Knowing exactly what a job entails and what is expected can help a person with ASD know if a job will be right for them.
Talk to Management
People with ASD need to let anyone they work for know their limitations and needs. Talking to management as soon as possible will help smooth out any potential issues regarding routines or communication.
While you should always talk about your autism during interviews, starting a job can be different–the person who interviewed you may be nowhere to be found. Making sure to talk to any managers ASAP is extremely important when starting a new job.
Things to Remember While Preparing for an Interview
Accepting an applicant with autism for a job can be difficult for employers to properly handle. This is because individuals with autism may be more likely to behave differently than neurotypical individuals in work-related situations. Preparing for a job interview for anyone with autism should include preparing a list of accommodations employers may need to know about if certain situations come up at work.
Where are you required to work? Being comfortable with a static environment could help an autistic employee flourish. Constant moving, however, could create friction.
Will you have to deal with customers? Even working a stocking job on the floor during shopping hours may lead to an uncomfortable situation.
Will you only have one job? Many retail or service positions almost require ‘flexibility,’ meaning employees may have to complete tasks that are not in their job description.
How much communication is required? Constant communication can be hard for people with autism to deal with. Taking a position that requires lots of talking to coworkers or shift managers may be hard to deal with.
Resources: Jobs for People with ASD
Many state and federal agencies exist for people with ASD looking for employment. Here is a list of the top agencies to start with:
State Vocational Agencies. A state-by-state list of agencies and links for people with autism seeking employment.
Job Accommodations Network. A network of employers and jobs that are designed for people with special needs or disabilities.
These agencies are great places to start a search for employment for people with ASD. Calling your local city hall or school district can also be a great way to find places that may offer jobs or apprenticeships for people with ASD.
High School programs for children with special needs can last until the child turns 22 years old. Some High Schools have programs with local community colleges or job coaches to help people transition from school to work. Be sure to ask your child’s school about programs like this.
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans to use ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
I’ve written to you before and I am confident I will write to you again about society’s impact on our lives. My own lived experience, professional research, and the work of others have brought me to one conclusion; society has an agenda that has very little if anything to do with us as individuals. As a woman, I’ve expressed the oppression I have felt as a woman to be small, polite, obedient, submissive, quiet, and filled with servitude (Brave Not Perfect). It was almost two years ago I wrote “Too Strong for Who” and the words in that blog are still true today.
As the years have gone by, I’ve been able to stand back and look beyond my own gender, race, and socio-economic status. I know my privilege and restrictions as a white, middle-class, woman. I will say loudly and clearly that I do not understand the experience of others because I have not lived their lives. However, in stepping backward I am able to see if society has its preference we all have a submissive, suffocating role to fill. In the creation of capitalism and the nuclear family the roles society has for us were created far before our inception.
Bucking the Standards
Why am I writing this to you? You might be thinking I have a baseball bat (or ax like at my trash the dress party) against modern life. I don’t, but I have some real problems with how we are living. I also don’t have a single loved one who has not encountered serious problems in their life because of societal standards. We are living in a society where profit and image are held above our humanity yet our humanity is pleading to be heard.
Prior to the pandemic, alongside almost everyone else, my friends and I were buzzing around “fine.” We were following all the latest trends for raising children, running those children everywhere they needed to be, keeping our weight down, complaining about when we couldn’t keep our weight down, doing 99.9% of all domestic work in our homes, some of us were working, some of us weren’t and didn’t have access to financial freedom, and the list goes on and on. Yet during this time after dozens of playdates, morning coffees, and afternoon margaritas not one of us said, “You know what, this shit is crazy, who the hell made the rules of this game, and how do we quit?” Instead, we took the badge of motherhood and being a wife with honor and buzzed right alongside the beehive.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, I have spent many nights with friends cozying up with a glass of wine listening to story after story of “not this.” As we sit and honor each other during these talks I sit with the dichotomy of deep regret and gratitude that it took an international pandemic to unearth our way of life.
Grow and Learn Together
I have always been a child who learns the hard way. I poured bacon grease over my hand once just to prove to my mother that I can stabilize the jar while pouring out the hot oil. You cannot in fact do this safely. The lessons that came from the pandemic to my friends and I felt very similar. Like a lesson we could have learned from each other painlessly. The difference was that we did not have a wise mother telling us what was safe, good, and right for us. Instead, we had a world telling us exactly the box we needed to fit into in order to find our happiness. No wonder we got burned.
The pandemic itself became unearthing for better or for worse. Keeping up our lives as they were before was not sustainable. In hindsight they would have probably crashed at some point we would have all just had to have reached our own trauma limit instead of collective trauma. In a way, the pandemic brought a gift, the gift of, “not this.” The “not this” looks different for each of my friends that I cozy up next to, but the words bring the same truth; I am not fully myself and I want above all else to be gloriously human.
In their stories, my friends share loneliness, burnout, desire, crumbling perfectionism, toxic relationships, mental health breaks, and the list goes on and on. Yet this time instead of pushing our strollers while we pushed our feelings down we’ve been able to say to each other, “I don’t want this anymore.” I am honored each and every time a friend shares their truth with me. While our experiences vary, our struggles are almost always the same. I’m suffocating in this life, I need to breathe and just like the Little Mermaid, I want more. Unlike the Little Mermaid, the more is not a prince charming.
In these conversations, my friends don’t know what is next. I sure as shit did not know what was next two years ago this time. I’m still not quite sure. That part is OK. The profound impact of “not this” is the first step towards integrity towards ourselves. There is too much to shed, too much to unpack, and to learn about ourselves, to truly know what it is we want. How could we, with all the noise of the world?
As I’ve watched my beautifully vulnerable friends come to the realization that they want more out of their lives I’ve seen each of them bravely stand up for themselves. The standing is always the same. “Not this.” Each friend is flush with joy they have come to these words and full of rage about what has brought them here. Perfect, they are absolutely perfect. Through their powerful words and willingness to be open to the unknown, they are walking themselves back to their humanity.
I’m grateful to be walking beside them loudly declaring, “not this,” well before I softly fold into myself and say, “ah, yes, this.”
Some teens with autism will opt to continue their education at college. Going to college is a huge decision (both financially and socially) for any kid, and doubly so for kids with autism.
What do kids with autism need to do to ensure a successful college education? Is it different from that of a neurotypical kid? Let’s take a look.
Social Planning
People with autism can have social difficulties, especially when it comes to making time for social events and picking up on cues given in social situations. Planning ahead for these situations can make them a bit easier.
Scheduling events well ahead of time is a great way for teens with autism to remember that a special event is happening on a given day. Having a peer buddy can also help with social situations–someone to help ease the burden of deciphering neurotypical social actions, expressions, and cues.
Organization
Keeping your schedule, materials, and living space organized are keys to success in general. Making sure a college student with autism is organized can help them thrive in a purely academic situation.
Make sure to have detailed calendars ready before each month starts. Have specific places for all books, materials, and other needs. Schedule a specific time to clean and reorganize anything that needs it. Taking steps like these can help college students with autism stay organized and ready for class.
Planning for the Transition to College
College is a huge change to the lifestyle of every kid who decides to go. Making sure your child knows what the transition entails is crucial to their college experience.
Even teens who attend local or community colleges and live at home will need to know what to expect academically. Most college programs entail long classes/lectures and looser work/homework schedules than K-12. Making sure your child knows that school is about to change is a very important step towards a successful transition to college.
Preparing for Independent Living
Kids with autism heading off to college and not living at home need to be prepared for the rigors of daily living. No mom & day or other caregivers will be around to help during most days. This means that preparations need to be made and expectations need to be set.
Make sure that your child has a full list of what they will need to do in college. This includes things like:
Eating (times and what is being eaten)
Sleeping (scheduling is necessary)
Cleaning & Organizing
Laundry
Knowing what to do in outstanding situations (class cancellations etc)
Having emergency contacts and knowing when to use them
College and University Academic Support
Many colleges and universities offer academic support programs for students with disabilities and special needs. A great way to learn more about this before applying or even enrolling in college is to speak to a high school counselor. Many counselors for upperclassmen will be familiar with available programs and can help gather information about prospective schools.
College admissions counselors are also able to answer questions about the university they represent. Be sure to call and ask questions about academic support, programs, and modifications to learning curriculums for students with special needs.
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans to use ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
If your child is in need of ABA services for autism, you should have no shortage of service providers to look at. Not all ABA service providers are created equal. Asking specific questions in your interview with any potential ABA provider is the best way to determine if they can help with your child’s needs.
Here’s a list of questions you should ask in any interview with a potential ABA service provider.
Interview Questions ask ABA Service Providers
How Many Hours of Therapy Does My Child Need?
This question will have a different answer for every child, as each child has unique needs. A BCBA should be recommending hours for your child–not the company or corporate policy. If you are considering a care provider who has ‘set times’ for programs, your child may not receive the correct amount of time for their needs.
Does Your Program have Behavior Requirements?
Some behaviors and issues will need to change over time, but forcing the issue through strict programs or adherence to certain behaviors is not the way to go. Be sure to routinely check your child’s program and progress if you think any requirements of the program are too strict.
ABA therapy works to help people with ASD adapt to neurotypical social norms. Having strict requirements to not allow normal ASD behaviors may lead to unnecessary behavioral challenges with many people.
Can I Observe the Program or My Child in the Program?
One of the most important aspects of ABA therapy is continuing a program at home. Information should always be available on how your child is progressing. If an ABA service provider refuses to share information or allow observation you may want to take a closer look at the program.
Daily records should be available to parents if they want to know what is going on in treatment. If an ABA service provider is unable to share information, it may be time to take a closer look. Quick note: information and records may take a few days to be logged, each clinic is different.
Do You Develop Plans Separately for Each Child?
In order to get the most out of ABA therapy, each child needs a custom-built program. ABA programs built on general needs will not help each child enough to address specific behaviors and needs
If you are presented with a brochure of programs or therapy ‘packages’ mentioned in a consultation, you need to really look at what is being offered. More often than not your child’s needs will not be met with a universal ABA therapy plan. Package deals for ABA therapy are not actually ABA therapy. Proper ABA therapy programs need to be individually created for each person.
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans to use ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
Sometime in September, I was introduced to the best-selling author Dr. Becky who recently authored the book “Good Inside.” I am trying to remember if it was on a podcast from one of my soul teachers or if it was from a friend as I complained for the millionth time about a tantrum. I honestly don’t know. It wasn’t the tantrum itself (OK sometimes it’s the tantrum itself), but it was the fact I didn’t feel I was in alignment with my own peace at the time. Last week I wrote to you about honoring your peace yet I was struggling with my own peace when my sons became dysregulated as all children do.
Of course, there are moments when I yell, when I mess up, and wish that I could have done something differently. All parents do. However, it wasn’t that I felt out of control around my children or that I was harming them in any way that made me feel out of my peace. I simply felt that there was a better way to navigate their big feelings without constantly leaning on discipline. I couldn’t find my peace in the thought, “I should be in control of my children” or “my children need to be good.” Each and every timer I set for a time-out didn’t feel like growth for them or parenting. It felt miserable. Enter Dr. Becky and her brilliant work.
Everyone Is Good Inside
In her work, Dr. Becky has one core belief she shares with her readers, “everyone is good inside.” This concept on paper felt validating of my own belief and it also triggered a lot of fears. You see holding the belief that everyone is good inside left me in relationships, extended family, and social groups well past their expiration date. Up until my early thirties (I’m 35 now…a newbie) I gave pretty much everyone a free pass while holding this belief. In creating the boundaries that have led to regaining my peace I created a new boundary to stay away from people behaving in harmful ways. Reopening this boundary felt like a hard no for me. Nope. Not doing it. But, when I look at my darling son’s faces, I know in my soul that Dr. Becky is right. We are all good inside.
Lucky for me, Dr. Becky doesn’t stop at the belief that we’re all good inside. She builds on it and teaches us how to create boundaries for our children. This felt like a relief because while it doesn’t address the boundaries I’ve built in my own life, it validated the need to uphold safety at all times. As I dove into her work and began practicing it at home a wave of peace came over me.
Dr. Becky teaches that when young children are throwing fits, having tantrums, or saying unkind words, it boils down to the fact that they are dysregulated. Not that they are disobedient, disrespectful, or bad little kids; they are good humans having a hard time. She then goes on to talk about the importance of being a sturdy leader for your children as they are dysregulated which means keeping their bodies safe. Contain the fire! Tell your children that they are allowed to feel their feelings, to disagree with you, to rage… but it is your responsibility to keep them safe.
Narrating Your Child’s Big Emotions
When the waves of dysregulation slow and my sons are able to calm down I have always talked about emotions to give language to their experience. Dr. Becky also validates this practice and writes about the importance of narrating to children their experiences after their big emotions have settled. This tiny step is the foundation of teaching children to keep their peace and that their big emotions do not define them. Instead, their big emotions are simply part of being human and they need help learning how to express them. I believe that this tiny step builds shame resilience, which in our home is a core family value as we follow the teachings of Dr. Brene Brown.
It has been about two months since I picked up “Good Inside,” and began shifting my own practices as a parent moment by dysregulated moment. I replaced time out with a “do it differently spot,” where we sit and breathe through the waves of big emotions. I began narrating what happened before the boys fell into a fit. Narrating, “you really wanted a waffle, and mommy gave you a cinnamon roll, that was tricky.” I also narrate when I am having a hard time so they do not assume any responsibility for my own stress and develop codependency. “The Pumpkin Show was loud, you wanted toys from the games we couldn’t win, and got stuck in the funhouse. Mommy was having a hard time too.” After the waves of emotions settle for all of us we settle down and I repeat, “wow, that was hard, how can we do it differently next time?”
I am not going to lie to you. You might think as you read this as you enter my house you will inhale lavender, soft music will be playing in the background, and we will all be calmly navigating our emotions while honoring our peace. Some days it is quiet here, but we are after all human, and big emotions are well known in the walls of our farm. This past Sunday by 9 am my children had broken each other’s block house, changed into two different costumes, had a do-it-different moment for hitting, requested face paint, played Candy Land, the dog got out in the back pasture, and tears flowed readily. I was short on patience and could feel myself getting snappy. At that moment I asked myself, “what are you choosing above your peace?” It was the age-old narrative that parents should be able to control their children. No thank you, not interested. I want to raise good humans who can make choices that are right for themselves and their world.
At 9:05 I called a family time out, asked Henry to pick 10 good books, and we piled into my bed to read. “Wow, that was a lot, we’ll feel better if we can sit down and do it differently.” Book after book, kiss after kiss, we settled back into our peace. I am sure later in the day someone cried. Tree climbing and being stuck is a common theme around here. But, we held our peace after having a hard time.
Dr. Becky was the reminder I needed that when children are having big emotions it’s not a problem. The problem is missing skills and the need for boundaries. It’s Applied Behavior Analysis paired with emotional regulation. The combination at least in our home is the foundation for raising good humans in a way that brings me back to my peace, moment after parenting moment.
