"Are there some careers that people with autism do well in compared to others? My son (high functioning) will graduate from high school next year, and I am feeling a bit concerned about his future. His one and only interest currently is computers."
Because people with ASD or High-Functioning Autism (HFA) have normal to high intelligence, they often go into some very interesting and lucrative careers when they get older. In many cases, the field they enter is related to one or more of those things they were fixated on as a child. For example, if child on the autism spectrum has a fixation on the weather, he or she can think about a career in meteorology.
Other careers include working in the music industry. People with HFA often develop striking musical abilities and can then work in this field as a later career.
Careers involving engineering, mathematics or science are also common in people with the disorder. This can include becoming an accountant, working in economics or scientific research, working as a university professor or other mathematical or scientific area. Often, the interest in math and science are natural gifts for these individuals, and the transition from avocation to vocation is usually a seamless one.
Careers in writing are not uncommon, too. Writing is a solitary task, and often times, the person on the spectrum can learn to use words on a page to create books, articles and other material that overcomes his or her natural need to think in pictures.
Usually, the process of exploring careers needs to be done sooner for people with HFA than with "typical" people. Talking with guidance and career counselors is a good idea in order to explore possible options. Tours of different careers or shadowing a scientist or mathematician may help the "special needs" teenager to get an idea of which type of career would be the best for him/her.
Older teens on the autism spectrum should be doing plenty of reading about careers and jobs specific to those with the disorder. Two older books, Aspergers Syndrome Employment Workbook: An Employment Workbook for Adults with Aspergers Syndrome (paperback) and Employment for Individuals with Aspergers Syndrome and Non-Verbal Learning Disability by Yvona Fast are available at www.amazon.com. There are plenty of ideas as to how to begin searching for an appropriate career in these publications.
There is nothing to limit a young person to just the areas listed above. Many of these individuals have found success in other areas of employment. Pay attention to your son’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the interests he exhibits. The key idea here is that your son will excel in whatever area he has a strong passion for!
As one 23-year-old male with ASD stated:
“Here are the facts: -I have Asperger Syndrome -I am a 23-year-old guy -I am in my last year of grad school doing an internship. -I had a strong interest in many natural sciences as a younger child. -I am an Eagle Scout. -I was frequently bullied by others in middle school. -I started my first year of college as a biology major.
-----HOWEVER-----
I am NOT a Rocket Scientist and I am NOT a Zookeeper; I am a Social Worker.
I don't technically have an established career or license just yet, but I have an internship and I'm getting really close. Since my first year of college I have experienced many emotional changes, and I realized that my place in society is to give direct help to those who cannot help themselves. It is my job in society to prevent young and innocent lives from being lost and destroyed. I have volunteered and worked for several different after-school programs, helping agencies, and day camps. My internship is with a children's mental health consultative services in my home state, and even though so far, it's been emotionally hardcore, I have no intentions of turning back.
My point is there may be some genetics involved in this disorder, and there may be some common patterns, but I really believe that people with Asperger's syndrome and other forms of autism on the high functioning end of the Autistic Spectrum actually CAN do things that many people believe they can't or deliberately don't do. Don't get me wrong, my own family, as well as many close others were shaming me into going back to the science field, and it made me feel very useless, but I simply refused to go back. They have long given up on their quest to get me 'back on track' (so to speak) because they finally came to realize that their resistance and my own deficits together were just no match for my passion.
I'm not advising those out there to enter this field or not enter it, but if you feel passionate about a cause of some kind, there has got to be a way you can fight for it. Though I wouldn't suggest discussing religion in your job, God really does work in mysterious ways. LOL”
Resources for parents of children and teens on the autism spectrum:
• Anonymous said... As Jon Willis said. His was computers as well and he has done that and managed to build onto it. Go with the flow while building up experience and courage to step out a little bit more. Aspies can do and will achieve. Mary Camp-Autism. Have you read this ? • Anonymous said... Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg are a part if an initiative to get high schools to start teaching code, which is something that a lot of aspergers kids really understand! Computers are a great career track for anyone! • Anonymous said... Contact the school. Does he have an IEP? If so, they can refer to voc rehab for transitional services. My daughter has ASD. She is very bright but could not cope in some classrooms & has IEP even with A's & B's. Every state has a Voc Rehab. They will be a job coach for him so he can test different jobs or they will offer college support. Both in effort to prepare him for the work force. Its a fed gvt program funnelled down to the states. Ultimately its an effort to rehab folks with disabilities so they can earn a living and not spend life on ssi/ssd ----------
• Anonymous said... Have you watched the documentary on John Robinson,? • Anonymous said... I am quite sure that there are specialists in this area who assess those with ASD to assist in working out their strengths for this purpose! • Anonymous said... I know that is covered in the adult assessment here in Australia. Not sure about other places though. I wish you and your son all the best!! • Anonymous said... It has long been suggested that Bill Gates is an aspie. Computers will be enough if he decides to go that route. • Anonymous said... I've found that "growing up" is subjective, and often times, over rated. I don't think of it as moving out of my comfort zone, rather extending it into other areas. • Anonymous said... Many tech careers, engineering, art for some, a lot of aspie symptoms improve or refine with age and the aspie gifts start-a-shinin' • Anonymous said... My husband has Aspergers and he works in IT. He doesn't talk on the phone but in these times of smart phones he can be contacted pretty much anytime anywhere by email. It took him a long time to find a workplace in which he felt comfortable but I think that's the case for many people Aspergers or not! • Anonymous said... My husband has finally discovered Library Studies: cataloguing and little human contact! • Anonymous said... My son's therapist told me that most kids do better after high school.because they can focus on their interest, not a bunch of stuff they could careless about. Computers arent going away, so I would see about grants and scholarships to an ITT or other tech school for certifications and job position placement. • Anonymous said... Nothing wrong with a Career in computing, can command big bucks if you are lucky. • Anonymous said... Ps IT is often great for folks with ASD. Almost a perfect fit. Check out on youtube the documentary i watched on discovery on the story about John Robison. It will touch you & inspire you. It's called Ingenious Minds: John E. Robison. I am betting your son is much like him. Your son will be successful just hang in. I was where you are a year ago. My daughter is now in college. She does struggle every day but she is doing it one day at a time. Good luck to you & I hope the info is helpful • Anonymous said... Recently (last few years) I found out that I myself have aspergers. Since being diagnosed as a type one diabetic, I've been forcing myself into situations and roles that I find myself initially shying away from our despising the thought of, just to conquer my own psyche. Before being diagnosed with t1D, I had a crippling fear of needles, which as you can imagine I had to overcome quite quickly. This has become the mantra to my life. "You can do what your brain Screams you cannot. You only have to try." I'm now working in a face to face and phone based sales and solution position, and I'm loving it so far. I still occasionally get the old urges to retreat into my computer for solace and familiarity, but the more and more I squash those urges, the easier it becomes to face new challenges everyday. Any job, or role, would suit an ASD fine as a career, but they have to get comfortable with the idea of having challenging situations which trigger the "panic station" response to be overcome. It is possible, but to begin with it's not easy. • Anonymous said... The thing is, aspie kids have challenges but are most often quite gifted human beings. Geek chic baby. I think Sheldon on TBBT is wildly popular because he nails it in a lot of endearing ways. • Anonymous said... With many Aspergers people it takes longer to what some people would say"grow up" and be mature enough to take on roles away from our comfort zone.
"My son with high functioning autism just revealed to me that he has been bullied by one particular peer since the start of the school year. I guess he didn't mentioned it before because he didn't realize until recently that this other student was actually doing something 'wrong' and hurtful (go figure). What would be the best way to address this issue? I don't want him going through an entire school year under this kind of pressure!"
Children with ASD or High-Functioning Autism (HFA) often exhibit behaviors that are peculiar enough to hold the attention of kids who do not have the best interests of the "special needs" child in mind. Besides simple teasing, bullying of young people on the autism spectrum can happen in situations in which they have little ability to protect themselves.
Fortunately, if such bullying happens in school, it can be managed more easily (provided your son divulges that it is going on). Most schools are cracking down on bullying and are treating such behavior as assault and punishable by legal means. You have every right to speak with the principal, teacher or counselor in order to ask their help in controlling the bully. Some schools have behavioral support staff whose job is to get to the bottom of behavior issues and crack down on bullies.
In the meantime, teach your son to walk away from the bully, preferably before the bully gets started with another round of abuse. Help him learn to recognize those situations that may lead to bullying (e.g., after school, on the playground, during lunch, etc.), and teach him to be more vigilant and stay near adults in such circumstances.
Sometimes, just having another friend around may reduce the incidence of bullying. If your son has problems making friends on his own, facilitate friendships with mature, understanding kids who can both be a friend to your son and can help out if bullies try to tease or hurt him. Facilitating friendships may mean inviting a child over for a meal or for some games or television. It may mean taking the two of them to a movie or on a shopping trip.
Bullies are a fact of life for many (if not most) children with HFA. The more you can do as a parent to intervene with the help of other adults (and other students), and the more you can teach your son methods of self-preservation that don’t include fighting back, the better able he can be in dealing with this difficult situation.
• Anonymous said... A lot of times the "bullies" are just regular kids that are reacting in the usual ways to the ASD reactions to being overstimulated & overcrowded. For example - Z tends to touch/bother the kid in front of her when in line, so the teacher always moves her to the front. The other kids think that's not fair, so at lunch and recess they make a point not to allow Z to play with them, and they say hurtful things to Z. Z repeats over and over that she likes cats, and says peanut butter at the most random/inappropriate times. This makes other children uncomfortable around her. The class clown makes the other kids laugh by making snide comments about Z. Laughter helps make them feel more comfortable, even if it comes at the expense of the one they laugh at. In a wholly NT society, the group shunning of such behavior would make the child doing it stop and think about how doing things differently and being called "teacher's pet" is a bad way and they would most likely stop and conform to the norm. But for an ASD child this is extremely difficult to grasp, and not only that, it is completely wrong to expect an ASD child to "act normal". Teachers can try to combat this by educating the children about the child's condition, but it is hard for them to understand (and teachers themselves barely understand half the time) and it is tiring, takes up a ton of time, and they get extremely frustrated with Z because she is a distraction more often than not. It's not Z's fault she's a distraction, she is simply reacting to the pressure of being in a classroom with florescent lights, 20+ children all talking/moving at once, and the torture of having to sit still in one place for too long. The way the school handled our situation was to put her in a smaller class with other kids with behavioral issues, i.e., the Alternative School. The social stigma surrounding going to the Alternative School means that neighborhood kids who used to play with Z now will not, because their mommies and daddies say that only bad kids go to the Alternative School. So the shunning goes on and on and on. At least at the Alternative School, there are fewer kids in the classroom (7 children instead of 20+). She gets more one on one time with the teacher and has a chance to actually learn. • Anonymous said... Absolutely NOT too late. A lot of times Aspies dont realize it is bullying because they are so used to not fitting in.. • Anonymous said... I fear this happens more than we know. • Anonymous said... It took two years before I realised how bad the bullying was at my daughter's first school. Not until she was suicidal at 9 years old. the school denied the problem, telling me she was making it up. So much bullying goes under a teacher's notice. I now home school, after three schools and a constant attack on her self-worth and the stress of coping with crowds and noise and lack of proper support. For the first time she is now making friends and keeping them, feeling safe around teens now she is not having to deal with them full time. • Anonymous said... It's never too late • Anonymous said... it's never too late to mention this to the teachers... and help the other child realize he is wrong with his behavior too! • Anonymous said... my daughter has had probelms at school with one girl who also has her own probelms as she is in care this girl is alot older and has so far laughed at my child who has aspergers , locked her in a room , pulled a chair from under her so she hurt herself , my child has always forgiven her as she wants to be friends and be part of the group , last week though this girl bent her hands back and really hurt her , she has been excluded now and as she leaves school this year , the school only allowing the girl in when her personal tutor in , and only half days, since she been gone my daughter has really been happy , and is fitting in with the other kids in her small inclusion group , and all her tics have gone as shes not got the anxiety from the last few months with this girl, i would confront the teacher and talk it though good luck x • Anonymous said... Never too late. My eldest has just been on a camp and my husband went as well and a few of girls from my son's class mentioned that there are a couple of kids giving my youngest a hard time. He has not told us nor has he reacted. Told his teacher when I took him to school Thursday as my son told me 1 child which was no surprise and by that afternoon it had been dealt with and his teacher is going to ask the girls who else is doing it so they can be dealt with. I am very lucky at the school we are at as there are a lot of kids, mainly girls who watch out and report bullying of my 2 boys when they see it, and school do something without having to catch the bullies in the act. Our last school we had issues for 2 years and always got the excuse we have to catch them at it, it was verbal so very hard to catch, we took our kids out of that school. • Anonymous said... That is very true! Or they get so used to being bullied that they assume everyone is doing it and they give up! • Anonymous said... This sounds so familiar and terrible. I don't understand how children can be so cruel, but mostly I don't understand how schools that say that understand and want to help don't really do anything proactive. And the understanding they give lasts for one incident only. My boy is in yr 8 and has been strangled, beaten up and held down by 3 boys, dragged along the ground. And so many other little tormenting things in he class room. He's been suspended 4 times since starting high school because there view is if my boy were able to take no for an answer and not try to interact with others they wouldn't resort to hurting him to get their point across. So in part they feel he's responsible for the kids hurting him so he gets suspended. Go figure!!!! More comments below…
Because people with ASD or High-Functioning Autism (HFA) have normal to high intelligence, they often go into some very interesting and lucrative careers when they get older. In many cases, the field they enter is related to one or more of those things they were fixated on as a child. For example, if child on the autism spectrum has a fixation on the weather, he or she can think about a career in meteorology.
