To be unable to think of any job DS could do

[alexx321]

He has autism and his timekeeping is nonexistent, he is unintentionally rude to people, he can’t work technology.

Is there anything out there for him?

what does he enjoy doing?

What are his strengths? What would he like to do in an ideal world?

When you say unintentionally rude, what sort of level/kind or rudeness are you talking about? Is it the sort of thing that could it be ameliorated with training/practicing scripts? Or more severe?

OP contact BASE (British Association for Supported Employment). A five minute conversation with them will be a thousand times more beneficial than all the posts on here .

Have a look at www.lighthousefuturestrust.org.uk/ , they may at least be able to give you ideas about what is out there. They were recently looking an intern for ITV.

Is he analytical? Does he pick up on inconsistencies or missing details? Because there are some quite well-paid support jobs in finance and law that use those skills, and you've said he's above average intelligence.
When you say he 'can't work technology', do you mean he can't use Word / Outlook / Excel, things like that? If so, that would rule out most office / admin-type jobs...

Have you looked into local colleges? I work as an LSA with young people with many different special educational needs. Some have very severe learning difficulties but we also have others like your son, who are in the mainstream classes but have someone like me assigned to support them in whatever way is needed. The offer both academic and practical courses and will help the student find something suited to their needs. They also run an on site shop, cafe and other businesses staffed by SEN students to help them gain work experience in a supported envoironment before moving onto placements in local companies which often lead to full term employment. Some students remain until they are in their mid-twenties and are fully funded by the LA. Some travel considerable distances. If you want to know where I am based feel free to PM me.

B+Q hire a lot of autistic people. I'm not sure if they have some sort of formal programme in place but they certainly seem like they are very good to its employees. Could he try that?

Has he studied since leaving school? Does he have any other qualifications other than GCSEs?

For time keeping a schedule with digital times could help, with alarms set for each time e.g get up at 7am, breakfast at 7:30, leave the house at 8:30 etc.

Jobs such as lab work, factory work - anything that isn't public facing. My son does stock taking.

I work in a hospital and there is a scheme here where they employ people with autism and learning difficulties. They carry out a variety of jobs I think but it includes 'portering' items around and seems to be tailored to their skills. A lot of them are non verbal but this isn't an issue. They come in for an open event and a trial initially and then are offered jobs if they are interested. Maybe see if there is something in a hospital near you?

My DH would probably get a dx if he went for assessment (DD2 has ASD and they're very similar). He is a successful site manager for 4 local primary schools. He does it by having alarms for everything, from putting the school buns out, to doing fire safety checks, etc.

When he's on holiday from work, his phone still bleeps and he can say instantly "oh, it's reminding me to..." but without the alarms he wouldn't keep track of all that he does.

He can be artless with words (e.g. yesterday, I thought I had forgotten something and he told me that I "had definitely brought it home." When it turned out that I hadn't, he said "well I thought you definitely had, but on later review, realised you hadn't") and can cause inadvertent offence, but his employers all know him and know that he's a good man with a foot in his mouth.

Can he do a supportive apprenticeship? Does he have a learning mentor/ coach at college? Why is he not finishing the course?

My friend works cataloguing andordering books in a university library. Its repetetive not highly skilled but also a good employer, a nice working environment and interesting for someone academic. My friend is very bright too.

He sounds very similar to a young man I know. He works behind the scenes in a chain restaurant. He likes the "order" of a fixed menu and that x is made one way; while y is made another etc.

He does have challenges still, but there is a reliable adult presence who can help him as well (outside work I mean)

History - library/archives of some description?
Science - there are lots of repetitive scientific jobs. Analysis and quality control where you sample and run the same routine tests. Lab technician or lab store manager (e.g. unis have these which issue equipment).

OP I have high functioning autism, Inattentive ADD and dyspraxia. I’m at University doing STEM. There is a lot of support available from DSA, I have a really good package as well as Academic Support, things like extra time in exams, being able to get up and walk around. I had extended deadlines, taxis to and from Uni to help with timekeeping and my anxiety on public transport.

So if he’d like to go to Uni, please don’t discount it.

How bad is his timekeeping? Can he do a job where on time can vary two hours either way? Or doesn't he show up till evening? I was thinking of dog walking. That would require him turning up somewhere around midday though.

one of my colleagues has autism - he is unintentionally rude and not so good with technology. He is in a managers position because he likes following rules and he can mostly be non customer facing. He likes things that are fairly repetitive so he works through invoices and dealing with regular email queries etc. Could an admin type job work for your son?

The advantage of being reasonably bright is if you can find his motivation he can probably develop copeing mechanisms.

My DS is slightly younger (15) also Autistic. He loves technology though so we're hoping some form of tech apprenticeship at 16. We do have one that I have everything crossed for.

When he was little we had a great psychologist momentarily who said that bright ASC children can learn but only if they have reason to want to.

One of the (many) things I worried about was him having adult independance. She said there's no reason that at 30 he couldn't have some form of independant living. What would be unlikely would be that he'd be ready at 18 to simultaneously leave school, access higher education/ employment, learn to drive and manage finances. All at the same time.

This has always resonated with me. So my expectations are he'll be at home for some years and we need to keep wobbling him to encourage his personal development and keep moving him towards that degree of independence whether it's semi supported living or just family supported living.

For DS, change needs to be managed a bit at a time. We find change is best managed by creating motivation for change.

We've started on using a mobile phone when things go wrong, watering plants for someone close (a relative) whilst they were on holiday for a nominal amount of money. We have let him open a bank account with his own debit card and basic online banking app so he can watch his monies grow. His motivation for earning money was to buy some peach paint (long irrelevant story). We created the motivation by stopping just handing him money and I point blank refused for my hard earnt cash to be spent on paint when his walls were a perfectly good colour (he could see the logic - it was hard to create this motivation as i'd still do anything for him). He got involved in the repainting of his room, i tried not to take over too much.

He understands the necessity to work to earn money to get a mortgage to get his own place (yes he's getting a little ahead of himself). So he's been open to weighing up different career choices and we've spent time looking at things online together - mainly his suggestions (some painful). He though about doctor but patients, hours, stress, uni years all made that undesirable. Paramedic but people and stress again an issue. Airline pilot - cost of training makes it impractical. He's talked about other jobs and looked at the salaries and they've not met his expectations for the sort of property he'd like to live in.

It's been hard to encourage but allow him to lead the conversation without saying not a chance. At 15 he can't walk two streets from home, cross at a pedestrian crossing, reliable use a phone, use the pavement when a vehicle obstructs it. Use toilets in public places like school. But, he is bright. With enough determination if he really wants something, I think it may just be possible.

He knows he wants to have a car. Currently he likes the little 2 seater smart cars. He wants to work fairly near to home. He'd like his home to have a spare bedroom so his sibblings can visit him and maybe a yard so he can have a tool shed. This motivation means he takes responsibility for the fact he needs to earn.

So after what is no doubt now a lengthy post....Does your son have any big motivations or can you create any?

What about something like working with horses? Mucking out/cleaning tack etc, pay is grim but no technology

Off the top of my head i know that McDonalds and supermarkets are very inclusive. I work at a large supermarket and several members of our team have various disabilities

I am taking notes. My DS2 is 19 with ASD and is at college doing an HND in computing with a year to go. He’s not getting great grades but it’s keeping him occupied.

If he could be a professional Egghead on a quiz show, that would be his ideal job. But he can’t drive, cook or travel outside town on his own. He gets PIP. I have no idea what sort of job he could do, as he’s academically average, 9 GCSEs, mostly Cs, level 3 BTEC, MMP and next summer should have an HND. The local big government computing type employer has already rejected him for an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships are actually really competitive and hard to get on to.

Data entry sounds good, if he didn’t get too bored. I’d be happy with him working part time. I’m going to look into all the websites recommended so thank you.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/autism-in-workplace/supporting-diverse-minds-charity-gala/?WT.mc_id=tmgspk_fbppc_2439_AsWF4nym0FSt&utm_source=tmgspk&utm_medium=fbppc&utm_content=2439&utm_campaign=tmgspk_fbppc_2439_AsWF4nym0FSt&pso=1

learningworksforkids.com/clinicians/executive-functions-checklist/

Also check your local mencap as they have a job match service. My local parent carer forum also posts jobs occasionally from the civil service & other government dept neuro diversity programmes.

Factory work, warehouse, picking, cleaning, does he have any skills? Could he work gardening, window cleaning or street sweeping.

I’m sure it was well intentioned but the ‘get him a watch’ comment is about as helpful as the mother of my daughter’s friend, who, when discussing (at her probing) my daughter’s very severe anorexia, said “why don’t you just make her stay at the table till she has finished?”

Sadly, some people do not understand what it is to deal with children who are not NT or who have LD or mental illness.

I echo those who have suggested supermarkets. My cousin has severe epilepsy. ASDA have been great as an employer of him.

I’d also give your Local Authority a go. Look into public sector jobs. Good luck to you and him.