Published on 12, July, 2020
hi I have 16 year old with aspergers, only diagnosed in May. We struggled her Intire life Manly with school but other social activities. She suffers terribly with anxiety, at one point she didn’t want to live anymore. She is on medication but that seems to have stopped working as much. She didn’t go to school much in the last 2 years, even though she is extremely bright. She did manage to get 4 GCSE. Got into college, I thought she’s cracked it. She lasted a week, she has no friends, very little interests outside of the house. She doesn’t know what she wants to do and it’s breaking my heart. I feel I’ve failed her as a mother. Will she ever get a job, move out, live independently. I want all the things my elder daughter is striving for but realistically I’m scared for her. Advice is most definatly needed.
My advice would be to not give up, keep trying different things and hopefully she will find something she enjoys, and from that find some purpose in life or enjoyment. Switching to a new environment with additional counseling is often beneficial in treating depression , e.g., would she like to try doing some new and exciting volunteer work? how about getting a dog she needs to take responsibility to care for? These activities help give some form of purpose and value to her existence. It would be helpful for the depression side of things. But as she also has Aspergers, you would need to keep in mind not to push her too hard when asking her to try new things, as those with Aspergers also struggle with too much change and too much information all coming at once. Try finding some activity she would be comfortable with, but at her own pace. You might also like to read this article, I think it may resonate with you quite a lot. The main character struggled similarly like your daughter, but at the end found something she was passionate about. www.spectrumnews.org/.../
Hi
thanks for your reply, she volunteers at a dog walking organisation. The School helped to put her in it a year ago and they are happy for her to continue which is great. We have 2 dogs which she’s fab with and she’s just adopted some guinea pigs which are the things she loves at the moment and spends all her time with them or watching films. She doesn’t seem interested in she doesn’t seem to need to understand the way she is, she’s just accepted it and as long as she feels no pressure she’s happy and content. The article was a good read thank you x