Phase 2: Adulthood....."In Progress"

We hear stories about autism when they are “out-of-the-ordinary”. The likes of Dr. Temple Grandin, Ron Suskind “Reaching my autistic son through Disney” or autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire who is able to draw cityscapes following short helicopter rides over cities. But…

What if your child is somewhere in the “middle” of the spectrum?

What if your child may need some type of support for the rest of their life?

What if your child is not “out-of-the-ordinary”?

OR

What if your child will NOT be going on to a post secondary school?
What if your child is NOT ready for paid employment?

OR

What if your child is eligible for funding but there are no monies available?

What if your child is eligible for services but there are no services available?

What then???

What happens in the next 5-10 years when the wave of 1 in 68 (in the US) diagnosed ASD kids are finishing high school and entering adulthood?  Scary isn’t it.

If you are a parent of a younger child; if you are anything like I was…you are probably running off screaming incoherently in the opposite direction. If you are still reading…WOW!! Please leave a comment as to what type of medication you are on so I can get some too  ;) OR if it helps…you can read all about my angst when Riley finished school FOREVER, why we decided to take a “Gap” year and what turning 19 looked like in Riley World.

With our “Gap” year behind us, we are ready to move ahead with this adulthood thing. I am excited to start sharing with you some of our plans for "Riley World: Adulthood" in the coming weeks/months. As my friend Liane Kupferberg Carter wrote in her article “Loosening the Ties that Bind: Growing Up with Autism”:

“But we must. And we will figure out what comes next. We will do this just as we have done everything else these past twenty years. Pulling together as a family.”

~Liane Kupferberg Carter

Yes we will. And as a community we need to start planning for the 1 in 68 diagnosed ASD kids who are coming behind us. We need to start thinking outside the box.

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I hope you'll come back and follow the next phase of Riley World.