My niece is 13 and recently diagnosed with autism. My sister is doing everything possible regarding to therapy/tried DN in different educational settings but DN is essentially becoming a school refuser. DN is getting private tuition in Maths/English/science but it’s pretty impossible to get her to do any other subject. DN is probably quite average in English/Maths but she has had private tuition since she’s been around 6 to help prop her up. She’s got zero interest in any of the traditional school subjects and it’s getting quite a battle to get her to do anything productive during the day. She had her phone confiscated for five months and that didn’t even motivate her to participate.
Her current interests are: Going to dance, nails, making bracelets, shopping, reorganising her bedroom, hanging out with her friends and watching tv.
Her appearance and bedroom is always immaculate. She’s a huge perfectionist and we think that’s a cause to her severe anxiety/refusing school/struggles with any form of criticism. She struggles to understand why people do things differently/different opinions. It’s looking unlikely she’ll flourish in a role that involves team work/collaboration.
Anyway, my sister is pretty exhausted and feeling like the life she wanted for DN is slipping away. I’m trying to be optimistic that DN just hasn’t found her path yet. There’s lots of jobs out there that pay more than being a nail technician for non-academic people but she’s just got to find her niche… My suggestions were people who work with leather, stain glass window maker, goldsmith..
I know there’s hundreds of jobs out there for somebody who wants a trade but not in construction/beauty. She’s not the kind of person who will want to work majority behind a screen either.