christo

I am so glad you were born and are in the world. I would be so proud of you if you were my child. I am going to tell my daughter about this place and about all the brave, lovely people in here like you. Thank you for sharing your experience. You have every right to feel bad with such poor support, you are right they are wrong. I can see that others have given you some good advice so good luck.

As PHd students you are both clearly clever people, my own daughter is kind of 'average' but struggles with dyslexia etc. Our issues are around what to explain and whom to explain to. As for the ticket office guy, you don't have to be an aspie to run into those types, there is always someone having a'bad day' or just being a 'jobsworth' ready to take it out on someone

I think our children, siblings , friends always have to make their own decisions. My daughter has studied animal care and wants to be a veterinary nurse. She can deal with people if she is made to feel supported by colleagues. She wanted when she was young to do child care but decided herself she was too short fused for that! We got brochures and talked through various options. The college she goes to have taster sessions of up to 3 days and offer weekly boarding. She did this for two years before she went there to make sure she would be ok and we have always said she can change her mind and retrain at any time. She is just finsihing 3 years there having boarded Monday to Friday. It has been brilliant in giving her confidence to be away from us, and develop some social skills, although she is likely to stay in her room and be on her laptop when not in class but now and then she had been encouraged to go out. If you can find a uni/college that provides good taster support that can be helpful

What a joyful posting, thanks!

Thanks again- update have just had a long chat with Gloucestershire Connexions who say they have an advisor in Forest of Dean who serves the college our daughter goes to and is very good. The person I spoke with seemed to understand our daughter's position and AS. They had information on her and thought she was 'eminently ' employable. They are going to set up a meeting for our daughter at her college and sort out a transition plan and say they will support her up to 25 years of age. They also brought up advocacy for her and said they would look into that for us and her. So looks good but will see how it goes. Fingers crossed eh?

I think eye problems can have nothing to do with the sydrome. My daughter was born with bilateral squint in both eyes and had this corrected at about age 3-4. I am vague because we adopted her at age 5 and I know she was in care at that time so might have operated earlier if situation was not so disrupted. She had eyes test then until age 7 and given all clear. She then sufered bad head injuries following an assault at age 16 then a year later suddenly one eye turned out. We understandably though it might be to do with head injuries but no , docs say this just happens. She now wear glasses but has just been given the go ahead to earn to drive so yippee ( I think!)

I never for my daughter applied as only thought about Aspergers in the last 2 years and only diagnosed this year at age 19. She has had problems with communication as well as health issues, epilepsy, reading & writing, dyspraxia etc and hearing impairment and double vision. She had community care people come out and interview her then reported she was 'too high functiioning ' for them. When I look at the criteria I cannot see her fitting.

Doh! I am new and just posted about my daughter 19 newly dx Asperger's trying to find work and just found this thread. Hope it does not get lost

Does anyone have any useful suggestions/knowledge about helping a young person ( my 19 yrs old daughter) with Asperger's make a successful transition from college to work and independant living? She has studied animal care & management for 3 years, has had lots of work experience but has real problems with forms and has never had paid work i.e. a summer job. She does not interview well. She can mimic eye contact and chat well one to one but reverts to eye avoidance and comes across as painfully shy when under pressure. Sadly she would make a great employee and has really good skills. She would love to train as a vet nurse but any job wth animals. We are trying to find help , some kind of transition plan but college seem uninterested in her recent DX. We fear she will slide into long term unemployment. Any ideas, tips gratefully received.So many jobs do not reply or wave inclusion policy forms at her.

Hi I am new to the forum too> i am mother to a 19 year old daughter just DX officially with AS syndrome-high functioning asperger's. She was dx by the Autism Diagnostic & Research Centre, Southampton University. They are newish having started up in early 2008 and aim to offer assessment to adults. We managed due to a fab GP to get our local PCT to fund it out of county! It was about £4000. Mind you what she will be able to use it for we are not sure. She is in her final term at college after 3 years studying animal care & management. They are not interested in helping her make a transition to adult life. Conundrum - does she tell prospective employers or not, she does not interview well but could with some help and a placement train as a veterinary nurse although it looks a tad bleak at the moment. She is keen to work and be independant of us but there seems to be no real help out there and I was told recently that post education it is like falling off a cliff. We are trying to avoid that .