On Jun 08, 2005 11:56am, ARDITH HINTON wrote to PERRY SMITH:

 AH> Hi & welcome, Perry!  Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas
Hinton:

PS>>  survivin' with an adult autistic son who is struggling
PS>>  for his independence. Need someone to hear me ventilate
PS>>  at times :) ---


 AH>          Ah... our daughter Nora, who is now in her late teens,
has a
 AH>          couple of autistic classmates & we also have a friend
who
 AH>          works with autistic students at the high school level.
 So
 AH>          while I don't claim to be an expert, I had a feeling
of being
 AH>          on familiar territory as soon as I saw this message.

Dealing with autism is really a life-long committent.  A book can be
written on the differences between the autistic child and the
austistic adult and the behavioral modification techniques tried
with success, or failure on both.  Everyone knows how an autistic
child behaves (although no two are the same) and understand that
they are dealing with social inadequacies.  The autistic adult on
the other time is often viewed as the odd-ball of society, the guy
who appears to be brilliant but who is unable to tied his own shoes,
as an example.


 AH>          Nora is struggling toward independence too.  It's
normal for
 AH>          folks her age to do that.  In one way I'm glad she's
so normal
 AH>          in spite of her handicaps, in another I'm worried
about the
 AH>          future.  Sometimes Nora wants to rush in where angels
fear to
 AH>          tread... but I was much the same as a young adult!  If
I'd
 AH>          known then what I know now I might never have had the
courage
 AH>          to leave home.  I guess it's part of nature's design
that the
 AH>          urge for independence precedes maturation of some
parts of the
 AH>          brain.  I doubt we can fix anything & I imagine you
know a lot
 AH>          more about autism than anybody else here, but we can
certainly
 AH>          listen.  :-)

Thanks.  Right now we are dealing with my son having lost his job at
a call center after five years and with the difficulties in his
finding new employment.  He doesn't interview well as he cannot
maintain eye-contact and has problems expressing himself.  On the
phone or at the keyboard, he is a different individual.

It sucks that in this country if you are fired from your job you are
unable to receive EI bnefits.






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