meaningful occupation

Hi Katie,

yeh i use to worry about everything,and found out the hard way,that i could not fight a loosing battle,i was getting stressed ,tierd and family felt like was going to fall apart.

Then started reading my bible more and found a passage that read;

God wants us to live for today,enjoy ourselfs and not worrie he will take care of the future and things we can't do.

and guess what?we seem better for it more relaxed as a family,things arn't perfect but we enjoy each others company more.we dont worry about school.

I also think so long as kids have home skills thats good,How many teanagers can't boil an egg?our eldest daughter(21) nothing wrong with her but she cant cook.(poor home skills). But our Autistic son who loves jamie Oliver (all his books)will do you a 3 course meal on his own,but cant comunicate v-well,or go to school.

Out of the two i think my Autistic son has a better chance of living on his own than my daughter who has loads of education/not home skills.

 Thanks so much for your feedback Bessie, good advise to live in the moment and take each day as it comes, i think I get too stuck worrying about their furture. It feels like its just about trying all sorts of things to see what captures their attention.

Hi,

Our other son ,age 12,who was non-verbal at the start (we thought he was deaf)until we got him a pony spends most of his time comunicating with it,to our amazment he has come on loads,but do's not go to school full time,but managed to get a saterday job walking a friends dog,but still does not comunicate much with people,we do worrie about his future,but i feel that i we can only live for to day with him and if he smiles so do we.

I have found animals may help them to talk or say the odd word.

I am also an artist and do lots of art with our children,this helps comunication and express of feelings with them. Yes it is hard work,we only have a tiny house,and we get very tierd alot(all the time) but every activity helps however small or big.

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply, that is so fantastic that you have supported his passions and interests that may follow through into possible career options!

As I mentioned before the clients I work with may never have the opportunity to have a career, so the challenge is trying to figure out how they might like to spend their time (much of  which is spent at home) in activities that are meaningful to them...this I'm finding difficult as they are non-verbal and  unable to tell me what is meaningful to them?..

katiecooks said:

Hi,

I work with adults with autism who have learning disabilities and limited verbal communication.

As the majority of people I support may well never have the opportunity to go out and work, I'm always thinking of ways in which they could be meaningfully occupied throughout the day.

To extend and expand their occupations and opportunties for learning during the day, as a starting point I am looking at their special interests and passions, and thinking about ways i can explore this further.

Does anyone have some advice, experiences or stories to tell on this subject?

Thank you

my son who loves maps,timetables and over the top about boats,is going into shipping this year.and doing very well he has a hi iQ very inteligent.and a very hard worker,as we have tought him if he wants to be rich he has to be good. work/study very hard,and your dream will come true.

I beleive his dream will come true in time,and we suport him all the way.

He was diagnosed as being aspergers