Question for parents of older aspergers/autistic teens/young adults

[farawayplanet]

Please could you tell me what your young autistic teens and adults are doing after leaving school. We have a 16 year old who attends an online school because he was bullied at his secondary and had to leave in Year 7. We're hoping he might be able to go to college next September, but we have no idea if he'll be able to cope. He's able to study and will be doing exams next year, but he gets very frustrated and angry about things. He's on an SSRI to help with his anxiety, but wants to come off it. He doesn't seem very resilient, although he does attend cadets (when there's no lockdown).

Please could you tell me if your youngsters are doing college courses or apprenticeships etc. We receive no help from the Local Authority and are at a loss as to what direction to guide him in as he has no particular leanings in regards to a career or education.

Please don't flame me, I have autism myself so have difficulty accessing help or advice. I apologise if I've used the wrong terminology anywhere.

Not a parent but my brother did go to college. In our system a level 5 would be the final school Leaving Cert exam and an honours Bachelor would be level 8. After school he did a level 6 for a year - can't actually remember what it was as that didn't matter, the purpose of it was really for him to get used to studying in a relatively small, safe environment - and then went on to get an ordinary degree, so level 7. Doing the level 6 was a big help so maybe that's something to look into.

Tbqh the issue was always what he'd do after college and not college itself.

My DD has autism but went to mainstream school and then a 6th form college. She is a Police Officer but before that she was offered a Degree course at University and turned it down as she wanted to earn money and find a career path that way. She is now thinking about a degree within the Police as she has discovered she has quite an ambitious streak and she's very focussed when she needs to be.

However, she has also struggled with long term anxiety, has come across some peers anddcolleagues who aren't very understanding. The years between leaving college and where she is now were spent going from temp job to temp job until she landed her first 'proper' job in the NHS and it all went from there really. A bit turbulent but she found her way.

FE colleges generally have very good post-16 SEN provision. Is there a local college near you?

My eldest does not have autism, but aspects of her dyspraxia overlap on the communication / inference side.

There are various BTEC type courses which can be entered at level 3 ( A level equiv), Level 2 ( GCSE equivalent) or Level 1 (below GCSE). They can do 3 years at college.

I would have a look at the offers of your local colleges and see if anything looks suitable that might meet his strengths and weaknesses. e.g. Would a skill-based course be better than a 'people oriented one'? For example computing or something like plumbing? or an agricultural course of some kind? Think about his strengths and weaknesses.

Then email the college and ask what support they put in place for students with autism & for those that have been homeschooled.

Although he isn't at school, you could also try contacting the SENCO of your local secondary asking for recommendations / experiences. The school will know about where previous pupils with autism have gone and how it has worked out for them.

My daughter ploughed gce's in mainstream state school, regroupeputyd and passed a couple via homestudy and then did HND attending an agriculture college and passed. She is now a horse riding instructor /deputy yard manager at a small riding stable and livery yard. Have you contacted NAS for some help and guidance on how to transition from school to adulthood?

(3 years at college is if they haven't got A level equivalents yet. So they can do a 2 years Level 3 course, or a 1 year Level 2 followed by a 2 year level 3).

My DS with ASD is 23 now, he went to a MS school with a specialist autism resource base and stayed there until 6th form, he did a degree in his favourite A level and now works in local government.

Does your DS have any particular interests?

My son (ADHD/ASC) self excluded from mainstream secondary, was home tutored then went to a small local PRU for a couple of hours of tuition a week. Scraped two Es in A levels then went to local FE for an access to higher education course. It brought him on immensely, everyone there wanted to be there, there was a strong academic focus and he is currently, slowly going through a degree course at localish university.

FE college had really strong SEN provision, which was helped by a private speech and language assessment (LA refused to refer to NHS)

Thank you for these responses.

There are two colleges in our town and a sixth form centre. These all do A levels and Btechs. He could also travel to the nearest city and go to college there as they have lots of courses in mainly practical subjects. We've looked at agricultural, plumbing, wildlife/countryside management, computing, operating department practitioner. He likes medical stuff, but I was concerned about hospital work being too pressurised. He has the intellect to do it, but we don't know how good his social functioning is.

I work with young people with ASD, ADHD etc. When mine get to 16 they either go to specialist provision or mainstream college with extra support.

Do you have a EHC plan?

His interests are online gaming with cadet friends, camping, history, painting warhammer figures and those history based computer games.

Ds is 16 and doing a Btec in music performance. He’s a changed child. His motivation has gone through the roof now he can do music all day and he has even made friends.

Dd went to a specialist institution to do a diploma in Musical Theatre. She is also very academic and motivated but she always has been. Her issues were always poor social skills and organisation.

It was easier I guess that both had special interests that they could study at college.

Do you have a EHC plan?

We don't have anything in place. We're more or less off the radar although the LA check up that he's receiving an education.

We had no extra help with my son once he left school at 16. He isn't a very academic child so got a few GCSEs but not enough to go into sixth form.

He didn't know what he wanted to do next. So I took him to an open day at local college. He was drawn to a travel and tourism BTEC course. So although a bit out there as actually wasn't able to get the bus himself. Let alone travelling. I told him to for it.

In the end he got his BTEC and enjoyed the more adult environment. School was very stressful for him because other teenagers are rather unpredictable.

After about 18 months struggling to find work because he isn't exactly good at interviews etc. He found an agency online that was hiring people for some high security work. You needed to jump through hoops to get into the job but his autism actually gave him am advantage. The new he was very up front and honest.

So now he is in a very high paid job and is so much more confident. He still just goes to work and comes home. Not social life outside of that but it suits him and he is a happy young man.

I think all you can do is help them find things they may enjoy then hope life falls into place after that. Don't be pushy about them doing stuff though. It is best they feel comfortable. Even if we think they should be doing more because that is just us pushing our feelings on them. I have arguments with a lot of parents about this.

I am autistic, diagnosed as an adult but would have been aspergers if I had been diagnosed when I was at school. I stayed on at 6th form for A-Levels. When I left school I did a year out and then went on to university, ended up doing two degrees with high results, coped well with the pressures etc. That year out realy helped me to 'grow up' a little and kind of catch up with my peers, I worked full time but had my deferred uni place ready to go for the following September. My main issues were with executive function and organisation, but there are lots of workarounds for those.

These replies are really cheering me up as it sounds like everyone is doing well and managing with the next step into adult life. I think my thinking gets skewed because I'm prone to depression and we're quite isolated, so I don't know what's out there.

We are going to contact the LA to see if they have any careers advice he could access. I haven't looked at the NAS site yet, but I will.

Similar story for my DD - high functioning autism, also on meds due to anxiety / anger. School refused from the beginning of year 10 due to bullying then attended online school for year 11 but only passed her maths and English GCSEs due to missing a lot of her education (combined with exam stress).

With only 2 GCSEs this restricted her options quite a bit (ie she couldn't go down the A level route but I don't think that would have suited her anyway as although she's very bright she struggles with exams). She ideally wanted to do an apprenticeship as she finds it difficult being in a formal education setting / around people her own age and although she applied for a few she wasn't offered any interviews.

In the end she ended up doing a level 2 vocational course at college in a subject she loves (animal care). She really enjoyed the course which was part time at college and part time on a work placement but unfortunately she also experienced some bullying at college in her first year although she passed her course with flying colors.

She has now changed to a new college to continue down the vocational / animal care path and absolutely loves it. As she's also doing a work placement this has given her some real life work experience to add to her cv and has also helped to develop her confidence too.

We have found college very different to school, the staff have been much more helpful, there's free counseling and mentoring available and things are just more relaxed generally. The students seem to be treated with more respect by teachers and are allowed to express themselves as individuals (eg hairstyles and clothes they feel comfortable in which has helped sensory wise too).

How is your DS expected to do in his exams? If he's very academic then the A level route would mean he can choose a range of subjects so he could do those (keeping his options open for a while longer) then choose a speciality later for a degree if he wanted to.

If you think he would be more suited to a vocational course he'd need to pick something he at least has some interest in, there are a lot of subjects to choose from but unfortunately you can only pick one. These are mainly assignment and practical based so have been much less pressure for my DD than her GCSEs and
she has coped much better generally with less stress all round (we have noticed a big difference at home too).

Does your DS have any hobbies / special interests?

Have a look at the national careers service website, there are questionnaires he can do which will come up with some suggestions of careers he could be good at etc :

nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

As he attends cadets, has a medical interest and likes gaming it sounds like either Public Services or computing could be good vocational courses for him. He could also look into doing the Duke of Edinburgh award too which I believe involves camping etc, this would look good on his cv and will help build his social skills etc.

I'm Autistic and although i didn't do well at school (was demand avoidant) i live a normal life, i have been with my husband for 15 years and we have 3 kids xx

There are two books written by Temple Grandin that I'd recommend reading...

1. The Loving Push: How Parents and Professionals Can Help Spectrum Kids Become Successful Adults
2. Developing Talents: Careers For Individuals With Asperger Syndrome And High-functioning Autism

Incidentally, if you've not seen the film of her life then I'd recommend watching that too.

Or maybe ask college if he could do A Level Biology alongside Public Services?

Thank you, I am reading all these responses.

He is going to be doing his Duke of Edinburgh once cadets goes back to proper meetings.