Anyone with an ASD kid who's become a teacher or therapist?
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Anonymous
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I posted this earlier in the College forum and I'm cross-posting here in case parents of older SN kids read this forum...
We're exploring career options for our early HS-aged DC, who has mild/HFA. DC excels in one field which is taught in schools, is very sweet and social, loves working with kids and because of that has always expressed an interest in teaching. DC's main difficulties lie in discerning other people's motives, making somewhat off-the-wall comments from time to time, having a narrow range of interests and loving to discuss them. We think that in many respects teaching would be an ideal job, but we're worried about the social aspects of the work (dealing with workplace politics, dealing with parents, controlling the class and not getting "duped" by students who detect vulnerability and try to take advantage of it, etc.) Because of this, another option we're also encouraging DC to consider is working as a therapist (e.g. O.T. or music therapy) in hopes that the job will provide the same psychic rewards with fewer of the downsides I mentioned. I'm curious as to whether anyone here has a child with ASD who's gone into either of these fields and how that's shaped up, what the challenges have been and how your DC has dealt with them. |
Anonymous
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The first question is would your DC be able to complete coursework for a particular profession? For example in OT, you need to get a masters. If so, than I would have your DC informationally interview people in the "helping" professions. The book "What Color is Your Parachute" gives a how-to on how to do this. Your DC could volunteer at particular organizations if they allow it.
I don't think you can completely avoid office politics no matter where you work. But if your kid is able to stay on track in a social/professional setting, then they should be okay. |
Anonymous
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My ASD kid is young, but at this point I can't imagine him becoming a teacher because he struggles with perspective taking. I think this would make it hard for him to explain to someone else a concept that he easily/intuitively understands. He would also have trouble reading students' non-verbal language regarding in they are listening/understanding.
Maybe your child is different and maybe my child will be different when he's older. But things to think about. |
Anonymous
| OT is only a degree offered at the Masters level in the US. It is extremely competitive to get accepted to. |
Anonymous
| Over the years several OTs have shared with us they have ADHD and LDs. Our old developmental ped had them as well. |
Anonymous
No it isn't EXTREMELY competitive. Not easy to get into either, but no need to be melodramatic. Several people I know who were not good students and couldn't even consider applying to medical school became OTs. A friend of mine who has a undergrad degree in nursing couldn't get into any NP programs so she eventually switched course and became an OT. She found the nursing school demands way more challenging. |
Anonymous
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I personally cannot imagine my kid with ASD working with patients which is what an OT does. That said I have brothers and cousins who are probably on the spectrum who are MDs: surgeon, anesthesiologist, radiologist, etc
They all really love their jobs and their colleagues and the people they work with. They work ALL THE TIME bc they love their jobs. The people they work with tend to be "quirky" too and they are BFFs with another partner in the practice. |
Anonymous
| 14:41 again. My mother, FIL and BIL who all have worst ASD symptoms (and never got treatment) than DS/siblings/cousins were all teachers at one point. Mom and FIL taught elementary school and BIL was a college prof. They all ended up switching careers. |
Anonymous
How long ago? Because I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to get into a masters program for OT or ST without a 4.0 or very close to it. Most schools get an average of 400-500 applicants for about 20-40 spots per school. So yes it is EXTREMELY competitive. It gets harder each and every year. Your comment is offensive. And yes, I'm a therapist who worked very very hard all through school to be able to get into the field I wanted. |
Anonymous
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These two young men are trying to make a go of it, in the way that makes sense to me--working with kids and families that have similar challenges, so that the ASD is an asset of sorts.
http://www.aspergerexperts.com/ Personally I am skeptical that my ASD son would be well suited to other sorts of teaching. The social demands and complexity are way too high. Developing a relationship with a classroom and keeping it under control and productive is extremely difficult, even for very socially capable neurotypical people. Also schools are very chaotic environments and teaching requires great time management, executive function, and frustration tolerance--none of which are ASD strengths. Maybe if he were teaching at a high-end private school with smallish classes and kids who were very well-behaved and motivated for all sorts of reasons external to the classroom it would be OK. Or at the college level. But I think there's a reason why most of the successful people with ASD you hear about have made it in computer science or engineering--fields where you can work by yourself at your own pace, there's not a lot of social complexity, and the work product speaks for itself. (FWIW I know a few lawyers too, who did well in big firms or in the government). I'm inclined to nudge my kid in those sorts of directions, or toward the skilled trades like fixing old cars (e.g., John Elder Robison) or boats. |