<p>missypie, I was waiting at the pharmacy today and wondered if pharmacist-type work might do. But then I saw you mention that he didn’t enjoy the science classes, so maybe not.</p>
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<p>Speaking as another Aspergers parent, this is a both/and situation. Missypie’s son is getting therapy, and so is mine, but (at least in my son’s case) that therapy, if it succeeds, will bring my son up to the barest level of executive functioning that would allow him success in jobs that require almost no executive functioning. Parents who are lucky enough not to have family members with executive functioning difficulties don’t always realize how much of a deficit my son has, and how hard it is to remediate that deficit. Missypie is not a bad mother, and her son’s Aspergers is not because of her bad parenting.</p>
<p>In other words, she’s not going to be able to wave a magic wand and make her son not have executive function problems. There’s no cure. This problem is not going to go away.</p>
<p>CF I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that missypie is a bad parent. In fact I don’t think I said anywhere that his problem is due to bad parenting. My mother is an autism specialist and I’ve grown up around kids with all kinds of developmental delays, including Asperger’s. I understand that it’s an extremely difficult thing to overcome and in some ways cannot be overcome. There is no cure for it. Like any developmental delay it’s something you have to work on everyday. I didn’t see in the original post that her son was already in therapy, but I guess I should have assumed that. It just seemed to me that the focus of the thread was off, centering on what kinds of jobs don’t require executive function and less on how can he use the skills he has and then find ways to accomodate his executive function issues. If that makes sense. I just don’t want people to think his EF is a totally lost cause, as I’m sure that missypie, as his mother who clearly loves him enough to go through this exhaustive thread, does not. I’m sorry if I came off differently than I intended. After all, why should professions that are open to his peers be barred to him? I see no reason why a kid with Asperger’s shouldn’t have a career like anyone else. But professional jobs require executive function skills, so I just didn’t want that ruled out as a focus of the search.</p>
<p>Sorry, Smithie. I didn’t think you thought Missypie was a bad parent. I’m probably ranting because I’m oversensitive. Both Missypie and I often get this strange reaction when we talk about our sons: why don’t you teach him to X? Like, y’know, I forgot to tell my son that finishing an assignment and handing it in was important, but when I convey that important information to him, he’ll get it, he’ll figure out how to do it, and he’ll carry through with doing it.</p>
<p>I too think it would be swell if professions that were open to my son’s peers were open to him too. Unfortunately, though, I see daily why a kid with Asperger’s won’t have a career like everyone else.</p>
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<p>Cardinal Fang looks out for me; we’re in this together. </p>
<p>I posted to try to get help in thinking of career-type jobs that don’t really require as much in executive function. As CF said, therapy may get him to the barest level.</p>
<p>Years ago a friend had a baby with Down syndrome. A well meaning older lady from church called her and said she was praying “that her daughter would be cured.” We all know that Down syndrome isn’t something from which a person is cured and I think there may not be a cure for EF issues either.</p>
<p>"Parents who are lucky enough not to have family members with executive functioning difficulties don’t always realize how much of a deficit my son has, and how hard it is to remediate that deficit. "</p>
<p>let me add, i suspect that those of us with kids who DO have executive functioning issues, but milder (like those that come with more or less garden variety ADHD) probably mostly don’t fully grok what aspergers kids deal with wrt ex functioning either.</p>
<p>@missypie and CF – I understand, and again, I apologize if my original post seemed insensitive to the challenges that your kids struggle with (and you struggle with with them). I certainly don’t mean to be flip, and I know that many people who do not understand Asperger’s, Autism, the spectrum, etc. probably make you and your children’s lives much harder than they need to be. </p>
<p>Now, back to our originally scheduled programming: I came up with a few other thoughts. Along the line of archivist, what about careers in museum-related or restoration fields? Kind of obscure, but could be challenging/interesting for him and definitely involves a task-accomplishment structure that might be appealing.</p>
<p>Missypie- does he have a passion? I know he likes to sing. Would he be able to give lessons?
Paying3tuitions might be on to something on the film industry. I don’t know how hard it is to get into the film industry but I have come across some Dad’s that are on the “unusual” side who work in the film industry in some way. I am not sure in what capacity but they appear successful but are awkward socially.
Regarding manually dexterity. My son had poor fine motor skills resulting in him not being able to hold a pencil or write and form letters and numbers. We met with an occupational and physical therapist when he was young who gave me exercises to have him do at home. I remember one of them was having him try to undo a toothpaste cap with one hand. Another was rolling a quarter through his fingers. Another picking up grains of uncooked rice and making a cradle in the palm of his hand. It was hard work and at the time I thought he would never learn to write. His writing as a 7th grader looked like a 1st grader, Huge letters of irregular sizes and pressed hard on the paper. Fast forward by the end of HS with some miracle was drawing and painting.
I hope the new therapist will have some ideas for your son.</p>
<p>Another Mom of a 10th grade Aspie (he does love the math and engineering stuff) and one thing that helped start my son thinking about careers was taking him to hear Temple Grandin and her Mother speak. The conference also had a panel of young adults on the spectrum speak and it seems that most of them didn’t find there paths until their mid to late 20’s. I repeat to myself frequently that the frontal lobe doesn’t finish developing until 25. Any way I was wonderring if you had read Temple’s book [Amazon.com:</a> Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism (9781931282567): Temple Grandin, Kate Duffy, Tony Attwood: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Talents-Individuals-Asperger-High-Functioning/dp/1931282560]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Talents-Individuals-Asperger-High-Functioning/dp/1931282560)
Also, my son once said that he should work with kids with classic autism becuase he would understand their thought process more then a NT. Since your son likes to sing, do you think he might enjoy being a music therapist.</p>
<p>This one just occurred to me: Paralegal. Lots of detail work, requires thinking skills, but mostly dealing with work as assigned rather than creating from scratch.</p>
<p>^ That might be a good choice, as long as he chose the right firm. The large firms that deal with a lot of high profile cases tend to be big on pressure and deadlines.</p>
<p>I haven’t read this whole thread, so I’m not sure it’s been mentioned, but a career in air traffic control might work. A family member of mine has very similar characteristics as your son - although it’s never been diagnosed - and they have thrived in their career in air traffic control. The pay is very good, and surprisingly, this person isn’t stressed by their work. The only negative for them is the schedule - the hours aren’t always great. Another plus is that this person has been able to move all over the country & have great adventures - there are job opportunities in air traffic control all over the US</p>
<p>Would love to find an EF coach for my son (who’s 22 and floundering), but don’t even know where to start. We had a lead on one, but it never materialized. We also live in a metropolitan area - have always despaired about how little help there is.</p>
<p>"i suspect that those of us with kids who DO have executive functioning issues, but milder (like those that come with more or less garden variety ADHD) probably mostly don’t fully grok what aspergers kids deal with wrt ex functioning either. "</p>
<p>And that could be because two “Aspergers kid’s” can look as different as night and day.</p>
<p>klh720: the way we found our D’s was through a private high school that catered to kids with learning disabilities. It was a teacher who coached/tutored after school.</p>
<p>klh720, I’m sure you would do this already, but check out anyone who claims to be an EF coach. At least one of the national franchised SAT prep/college counseling operations has branched into the EF coaching business. The thing is, I’d be willing to pay a grad student or other inexperienced person $20-$25 an hour to learn, but even the inexperienced folks seem to want $80-$100 an hour.</p>
Someone mentioned sales before. I think short term goals are essential for people with executive function issues. Inside sales through phone management…for example classified ad sales at a newspaper or ad sales at a magazine. I think even spectrum people can work with a script or converse on the phone. The weekly sales goal can be manageable. My younger high school freshman D is on the spectrum and does fairly well socially but is very challenged in terms of executive function. I think about career options often. I do notice though she has the ability to hyper focus on areas of interest. I think it is all about finding a career in that realm of interest. We are beginning to explore animation. There is a company that trains spectrum people to be software testers. Its a niche field that many do very well in and it also pays well. Big companies like Microsoft are actively hiring people on the spectrum. I wish there was some sort of vocational training at the high school level for software testing. It would open up a lot of doors…sorry for all the random thoughts!
This is a thread that’s five years old.