Expert: Catherine Ridenour - 4/12/2009

Question
I'm a mother of a young man with Asperger's. I'm also a special ed consultant with a school district and am currently working on a Ph.D. in autism. I'm one of the other autism experts @ AllExperts.com. I'd appreciate your thoughts on two areas, please.

1. My son attends university and lives on his own. Unfortunately I'm not sure this is the norm for young people with high functioning autism and Asperger's. What do you see as preventing them from having more independent outcomes?

2. I also need some help please for one of the classes I'm taking in my Ph.D program. Could you tell me what sorts of things in your experience families, teachers and/or counselors spend money on related to AS and autism? Which books and other forms of services do you feel are bought? Are there gaps in the information they can currently find?

Thanks for your thoughts and your time,

Sharon


Answer
Hi Sharon,

Nice to meet you!

My daughter also lived on her own at college. She was only 30 miles away but I saw it as the opportunity for her to experience and learn to cope with life in the real world. It was an apartment situation, not a dormitory, so she had to manage her own food as well as laundry. I do not know if this is the norm for students with AS or HFA.

I can tell you that the result was a great learning experience for her in terms of creating systems to get to class on time, keep her assignments from being lost and due dates in mind. She managed to keep herself fed but housekeeping was not a skill she acquired. I made an occasional trip to gather laundry to do at home. The laundry facilities were not very good, though I don't know if she would have kept it up even if they were.

During her 5 years of college (she will graduate this June with her BA in Flute performance and a minor in business) we moved her 3 times. Each time, I had to swamp out her apartment sifting the trash from the "treasure."

Currently, she resides at home as she works a full-time night shift job, Fri. Sat. and Sun. 12 hour shifts, and attends school Tues. Wed. and Thurs during the day. We live closer to her job than she would be if she lived at school. She has had the job for a year. She did not work most of the rest of the time she was in school.

As to how we spent money because of her autism; I bought a few books along the way. We spent money trying to find out what her problem really was before we finally got her diagnosis at age 15. We tried counseling for her, not a thing she would participate in, though, so I consider it wasted. Fortunately, we have been insured most of the time, but we would be laying out for her Adderall if we were not.

The major expense has been paying for college out of our pockets as she did not qualify for scholarships or financial aid, beyond student loans. I consider that money well spent though, it was definitely a gamble, as her high school grades were abysmal. She is currently about .1 below the Dean's list. She expects to reach it this term, just in time to graduate with honors.

Another expense is gluten free food. She has not been diagnosed as having Celiac disease but has all the symptoms.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to ask follow up questions if needed.

Best wishes,
Catherine