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<p>We took him to our state department of assistive and rehabilitative services and they wouldn’t take him on as a client because he is too bright BUT they did suggest library science.</p>
<p>My D has NVLD (which some people think is on the Spectrum; I don’t but there can be some similarities) and ADHD inattentive. She has some EF issues but over the past 4 years has developed strategies to bypass the EF issues. Working with a tutor/coach can work wonders if the student is fully on board. </p>
<p>Having said that (since Asperger’s presents much differently than NVLD) I don’t know if counseling jobs would be a good fit because it’s so “soft” and “emotional.” I know that studies have shown that a good portion of IT and engineering type folks have Aspie tendencies; really the generation that is working in those fields today grew up before it was diagnosed/ recognized as readily as it is now. </p>
<p>As a librarian, I can tell you that a lot of people in the field (both full librarians and support staff) seem to have personalities & traits that herald Asperger/NVLD tendencies. Not the route you want to necessarily go if you want to eat well though ;)</p>
<p>He started out as a psychology major…I was thinking diagnostician rather than counseling. But he just liked learning about disorders and didn’t like the sciency classes he had to take.</p>
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<p>The nice thing is that a huge income won’t be important to him…he just has to avoid marrying a woman for whom a huge income* is *important. (If he sticks with his current GF they’ll be fine.)</p>
<p>Missypie, one of my first jobs out of college was in the policy processing department of a regional insurance company. Extremely routine work but enough day to day problem solving to keep me from going crazy. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs028.htm]Insurance[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs028.htm]Insurance[/url</a>] This links you to information about careers in the insurance industry. Also look into civil service careers.</p>
<p>Missypie - My son has Asperger’s too and also is not the math and science type. His interests are writing and film. He is more than likely going to major in film and/or creative writing in college. I’m really leaning towards a community college that teaches a lot of the technical/production stuff. As far as the film thing goes, it does require a good deal of collaboration and people skills, but at the same time, there are technical sides that don’t require as much. Maybe editing, sound, special effects? Something on the back end of the film process and not really on the set in all the chaos? Maybe even something like a film archivist. A lot of the colleges have film libraries. I don’t know if they are managed seperately from the regular library.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you can really teach planning to someone who really doesn’t have much of a concept of time. I’ve been trying :). My kid is a sophomore in high school. He is just noticing how less stressed he feels when he doesn’t have a million things due yesterday. So now instead of doing everything late, he is at least doing everything a little early. It’s still a bit overwhelming for him at times but at least he isn’t worried about being late. He still hasn’t learned to pace himself or come to me to ask for help with setting his priorities. I kind of just force myself on him and ask what does he have to do, what’s due when, etc. I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that he will pick up on how to make those decisions on his own within the next couple of years!</p>
<p>Here’s a possibility: archivist. It brings together library science, history, and a discipline related to the materials being archived. I once heard a talk by a corporate archivist at a company in Silicon Valley, and the work sounded completely fascinating. It is detail-oriented, but I don’t think it’s particularly deadline-driven. It requires being a smart person.</p>
<p>If you bring your son out to the Bay Area, he could do an informational interview with the Grateful Dead archivist at UC Santa Cruz, then go up to Berkeley and talk to people at the Pacific Film Archives.</p>
<p>LOL, on the “silly typo.” I was wondering why you had to be small!</p>
<p>Should have known you would catch it! What was I thinking.</p>
<p>I would hate to drive a car that had been worked on by a mechanic with ADD and Executive Function disorder. As a Mom of a S with such issues plus LD’s I would not trust any car he worked on. He went through a phase where he loved to work on bikes. He practiced one day on his 8 yr old sisters bike. He did a great job till he lost focus at the end and forgot to rehook up the brakes. Our driveway is quite steep with a big wood gate at the bottom. Luckily she rode well enough to cut out at the end onto the grass when she realized her brakes were not working.
My S is graduating college this spring.He has LD,dyslexia, Executive Function Disorder and ADD. He majored in Graphic Design. He is very creative and can produce good work but he still struggles with time management and the concept of deadlines. He can tell you he has a due date and think he is giving himself the time needed but in reality every night before a project is due he is working in the art building at this University till the wee hours of the night or morning depending on the project.
I don’t know how he will fare out in the real world. Having great work won’t help you find a job if you don’t have a resume or if your portfolio is not completed. We have used coaches and therapists in the past but at college my son has felt he can do it on his own. His way. No meds and no coach.
Another option I have pushed for my son is teaching at the middle school level. He would have to go back to school for a credential but he would make a good teacher in the right enviroment. Though he would be the teacher who took forever to turn any graded work back that is if he hasn’t misplaced it.
The most successful people I have seen with these issues are those that have been somehow able to become successful enough that they can pay someone to do the stuff they can’t.
In my S’s case he is great at thinking outside the “box”. I hope he can figure out a way to take his strengths and make a living. I hate the thought of him living at home again if he can’t figure out how to make a living.
Missypie- a question. I don’t know if I have missed it but at any point has your S voiced what he would like? What kind of career he see’s for himself. What he would like out of life?</p>
<p>Forgive typos. Using a phone. My brother went into bookkeeping. He is not add, but has adp. Spectrum. Major in accounting at a lower level private.
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<p>Longhaul, can you tell me more about accounting majors? I don’t think that would work for Missypie’s son, but it might for my son, who also has Aspergers.</p>
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<p>And in a later post you mentioned the 14-hour days of a film crew. Very true.</p>
<p>But there’s another kind of film-related work - “Post-Production.” Learn something very technical, such as sound or editing. I recently visited my S in film school, directing a shoot on a 14-hour set. It was all deadlines and anxious pressure, for “the talent” (casted actors) as well as “crew” (cameramen, makeup, assistant producers and all). Four days, unbearable heat, creative dilemmas…It IS tense and pressureful on a film set. </p>
<p>During a break, I had a chat with one of his friends who dropped by. He told me he was interning and delighted with a future career in “post-production” (his was specifically: sound) because he didn’t enjoyt the tense, pressureful, deadline-riddled days on a film shoot. In the near future, he’d be doing sound post-production on my S’s short film, but for today he just wanted to drop over and say “hi.” Nice!</p>
<p>His company gets all the film in a big computer box, after it’s shot. He works then with a team, over many months, to put all the cues and so forth into place. There’s a lot of work in it. They work “hours” that are reasonable in air-conditioned studios. You don’t become a famous celebrity or get stopped in an L.A. cafe, but it’s a paying career. </p>
<p>For now he has a paid internship with a sound post-production company so he doesn’t have to hustle the work at this point. He just performs it, as part of a team of technicians, and gets paid. He’s currently a college senior who majored in film production at a LAC near L.A. From all the options in film, he most likes “Post Production.” </p>
<p>He does have a charming personality, but I don’t know if that played or plays a role in his finding the internship and being able to continue into the future with that firm. In fact, I don’t even think this guy has Asperger’s. I mention the “charming personality” only because I know that Aspergers can be tricky with respect to social cues. My guess is his charm helped him to network over time, and secure his entree first position, that’s all. </p>
<p>But I’ll guess here, re: continuation: the ability to sit for a long time in front of editing equipment and think that’s great fun would make a good Post-Production person. It requires training, technical skill and long/patient effort. </p>
<p>Socially, the friendship community is in the film industry. The respect is there. It’s just that nobody comes to a party hoping to meet the Sound Editor from Post-Production! But…they ARE at the party :)</p>
<p>I kind of agree with the first responder to this thread, it’s probably better in the long run to look at therapies he could do that would help improve his executive function, rather than look for jobs that just work around it. In terms of professional jobs, it’s not going to be easy to find something that doesn’t want someone who can work independently, meet deadlines, and is detail oriented. </p>
<p>But just to throw things out there: even if he doesn’t have a “computer science” type brain, he might think about something like network security or network systems. These jobs pay very well, though in order to get them you do need to pass certification exams. Once you’re certified though, a lot of it is problem solving, tackling what’s in front of you with what you already know how to do. It’s different from writing code or other “computer science” type things you might think of. </p>
<p>Also, I agree with others who have suggested library science, archiving, or post-production in film. Music production/music technician might be another option. </p>
<p>Another option might be something in the forestry services if he’s interested in working outdoors and doesn’t mind using his hands for breaking/making trails etc. He could try training to be a fish and wildlife warden, or some other kind of forestry official.</p>
<p>I actually mentioned forestry one time. He laughed and laughed. His idea of an outdoor activity is reading a book outside.</p>
<p>He’s now seeing a guy who has written a book on Executive Function Disorder. I don’t know where y’all live but many of the psychologists around here don’t appear to be familiar with the issue at all. And finding a coach is as elusive as finding a unicorn (and this from a major metropolitan area.)</p>
<p>If you are familiar with Mel Levine and his book All Kinds of Minds - he might be able to help you. [Home</a> Page](<a href=“http://www.allkindsofminds.org/]Home”>http://www.allkindsofminds.org/)</p>
<p>Well, sounds like Librarian/archivist it is then. Not an exploding field exactly, but if he gets good training at a well respected library sciences school, he coulud do OK. Also there’s always working in bookstores, but he should have a realistic expectation of this. As a former bookseller myself, I know that a lot of people think working in bookstores is a fantasyland where you sit around and read and occasionally sell things. It’s actual a hard day’s work of retail, where the bulk of your day is invested in stocking, re-shelving, dusting, and organizing the stock. And if he has difficulty with social cues/trouble in social situations, but wants to work in a bookstore, he should aim for big box stores or see what opportunities might be available from companies that sell books (and other things) online, such as Amazon.com. To survive at an indie bookstore, you need really stellar customer service skills. At a big box store, they can always keep you busy in inventory or at the register if you can’t/don’t want to do the customer thing.</p>
<p>I mean this with no disrespect – has he considered the military? They will tell him exactly what to do and when to do it and provide the emotional counseling he needs. Given his symptoms, will not be put into combat (he would be a danger to himself and others) but a likely support position.</p>
<p>Also, no deadlines, no people, great pay-- plumber or electrician! No shame in being a skilled tradesperson.</p>
<p>Why doesn’t he take an aptitude test and see a professional career counselor?</p>
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<p>Sort of like being a car mechanic or lifeguard, I fear that he would be a danger to himself and/or others. Or end up in the brig for not realizing that that order that was given to the group applied to him. More practically, from everything I’ve read, you can’t be on antidepressants (have to be off them for a year, etc.) and join the military.</p>
<p>I actually started a thread about aptitude testing almost two years ago. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/712940-tell-me-about-your-experience-aptitude-testing-evaluation-2.html?highlight=aptitude[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/712940-tell-me-about-your-experience-aptitude-testing-evaluation-2.html?highlight=aptitude</a></p>
<p>A close friend of S1 has problems with executive function disorder. He is currently working on a degree in game design at a 4-year university. He is highly creative & artistic, and spends many hours on the computer working on his designs. Gaming is not just limited to video games, but also covers strategy games & simulations that are used by corporations & the government & military. He has designed things from 3-dimensional board games as well as helped run Model UN simulations.</p>