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Lonely adult son with high functioning autism

Acdo

Hi

My adult son has high functioning autism. He is very lonely and has no friends. He is reluctant to communicate on the web so would find it hard to meet groups of people this way. I gave looked for appropriate social groups through the autistic society in our area and they do not exist. Any ideas, we live in the South Yorkshire area?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions made.

  • If you can find the time have a look on the Meet Up website there might not be any groups for his age but you might be able to start one using this site for your local area. Give other the chance to meet others with similarities. Or being more involved in the local community by going to church or if he can doing voluntary work in something he is interested in. Not sure if this is helpful.

    All the best

  • Hi, I don't know much about autism services but my brother who is now 40 and still undiagnosed as far as I know, got a huge amount of help from the charity Mind. I know it's not autism-focused but they gave him counselling every week and helped him fill his time with activities and voluntary work. He also found a social circle through Mind of adults with mental health issues, which I imagine is more inclusive than most normal social situations. Good luck!

  • May I suggest that you search online for what they call the One Stop Shops for Autism as here in Scotland we have them poping up all over the shop and they have been very vital for many families who have autism. However may I suggest you try an ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)approach to your intervention with your son as my mum did years ago and it really helped me to get out of my comfort zone. Anyways I hope your son gets the help he needs and things get better in the future. 

  • HI Acdo,

    The active Autism community online and offline is still extremely small. 

    I was supprised there was no NAS support groups in UKs second largest city birmingham.

    I am sure with the help of technology new active groups should form...

    There is Autism Plus (http://www.autismplus.org) in sheffield that may advise. Othervise, volunteering and befriending would be a good idea.

    If you need some help then DM here or on Twitter

    Rgs

    https://twitter.com/AutismMeetup

  • Have you tried at Autism Centre at Sheffield Hallam University www.shu.ac.uk/theautismcentre ?

    Although they seem now to be primarily autism without aspergers they were supposedly providing outreach and social groups and they may be able to help.

    They published a series of books on living with Aspergers called the "Adults Speak out about Asperger Syndrome Series" which used personal stories as a basis. One of the books deals with socialising - Asperger Syndrome & Social Relationships. It was edited by Genevieve Edmunds and Luke Beardon and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2008 (ISBN 978 1 84310 647 0). The ISBN can be used by a bookshop or library to track down a copy.