In the early years of a child's life an early diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome or Autism is a good means of identifying the situation and allowing for a means of awareness, intervention and understanding. What can be done therefore at an early age?
1. Try to assist the child wherever possible to obtain support and services
2. Find a school which understands and provides support
3. Nurture the special interest and try to encourage where necessary an interest in the mainstream syllabus.
4. Join an organisation and look very carefully for career options after school has finished.
I can only speak as an adult affected by Autism and I may wrongly be judged or seen as being obsessed with the Autism Spectrum but if I am not to speak or share my thoughts, will people ever really understand?
In my own life, I was not diagnosed until I was 26 years of age, and for me my earlier years were not really happy memories as very little was known about the Autism Spectrum and more importantly I was not able to be helped or understood earlier. From personal experience, early diagnosis and intervention is far better than letting things go until later in life. It is harder to make friends and find a place in the world. I find constantly that I am unable to advance from my current situation in employment for despite submitting employment applications, I just do not seem to get anywhere. I fear that for the rest of my life that I will be shelving books in a library and doing library collections of picking up books unused from library desks when I could be doing more. People may say what is it I want to do and why am I not grateful for what I have? To put it simply I am not money driven and I find it confusing that despite having to work, I am more or less having to do something I do not really want to do and feel frustrated that I cannot do more! I hope in this lifetime that I can help others with Asperger Syndrome to obtain employment and keep a job. Please do not get me wrong, I just would like to be doing something where I help other people and currently I would like to try and help adults on the Autism Spectrum obtain employment.
People with Autism need time to demonstrate their skills and abilities and are often confused from personal experience in the hierarchical nature of having to work. People say for instance that I have an easy life but they do not really see the personal struggles I endure personally in my own life. They do not see that despite devoting a lot of hard work and energy into advocacy of Asperger Syndrome that I am even told by a counselor that I use AS as too much as an excuse to hold myself back. I often feel totally isolated from humanity and can only rely on my own intelligence to try and problem solve and make sense of the world around me. This in itself can be very difficult and you can only do your best.
We need in schools to make accommodations for persons on the spectrum and I am aware that I do not have magical letters at the end of my name but I can speak from personal experience and surely this means something? On Friday 5th November I will be speaking at the Autism Queensland Symposium about the transition from school into employment. I intend to in this presentation provide some awareness and information about how this process can be made easier and I would encourage those of you interested to attend.
I also have a link to a book I appear in called "Aquarmarine Blue - 5 Personal Stories of College Students with Autism. I hope this book may prove useful.
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