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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have an adult DC with autism.  In today’s vernacular they are level one, low support.  They are 26 and have a good job.

They lived at home for the first 3 years Post college and now live in their own apartment. They need help with cleaning the apartment and other things.  They generally consult with us on various decisions.  We see them about once a week and FaceTime several times during the week.  They are still active with their friend group online, but Covid has stunted their ability to find a friend group locally.  They are in a job that is stereotypical for level one, low support, and have been able to do a few things outside of work with co-workers.  The problem is that, for the most part, they are all still working from home.  I think working in the office would be beneficial to them and their co-workers at this point in their careers.

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I have thought more about this and want to add to my post above.

I would say, DC is still a work in progress and we are not done as parents.  For DC, most things have been delayed but eventually things click.

We have had to break down some things into smaller steps.  For example, when they learned how to drive we spent many more hours on the smaller roads gradually working up to larger and faster roads.  They probably had closer to 100 hours of driving before they took Behind the Wheel - instead of the required 45.   Getting other life skills has been similar.  When they lived at home after college, they were responsible for one dinner meal a week and it took two years for them to get comfortable cooking enough recipes.  The first few times they cooked something, we cooked together then I was just around for questions, then I would purposely go out for a walk while they were cooking.  Same thing with laundry or cleaning the bathroom or other household tasks.  It just took longer.

We have to be explicit in instructions, it just doesn’t come naturally. They make an excellent salary now and we had to explicitly tell them that they should pick Up the tab sometimes when we go out to eat or when they go out with an Aunt or Uncle - like maybe every third or fourth time,  They just don’t get the implicit cultural norms without being told explicitly what they are. [/quote]

Thanks for this info.  Thinking about using it with my ASD daughter in 9th grade.  Seems like this would also be an approach that would work with her, since she seems to go longer and slower with things, and also doesn't understand cultural norms that aren't explained to her (and gets mad when we expect her to follow them).  Thanks for the detail![/quote]

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