Anonymous wrote:Wait, what? My 2 year old DS was just diagnosed as autistic. I work full time (+I'm the bread winner and the insurance holder). No snark here, are you all saying I may have to quit my job? I have some flexibility, but mostly I work 9am-4pm. I can leave early, come in later some days, once in a while but certainly not every week. DH does not have a flexible job a all. He has a strict schedule M-F. We both have vacation time but generally we have to save that for snow days and doc visits.

When I say just diagnosed, I do mean last week. We haven't got final report with recommendations but we were verbally given a laundry list of proposed things they would like us to do...nutritional eval, ABA therapy, OT, someone to see about DS putting everything in his mouth, sleep evaluation...it was a lot. We are already doing speech therapy once a week that I have to leave work for.

What do people who have to work full-time do? I'm getting worried. This is all so overwhelming

It is a lot, and many parents decide that someone needs to stay home to manage it all. It depends on the particular child and his/her needs and how they evolve. As was mentioned above some people hire caregivers, and others have more serious needs that require/mean more full time professionals to work with your child.

Take it one step at a time though. You'll need to devote some significant time for lots of assessments for a few weeks or months, and you'll need to decide what therapies and interventions you think makes sense to have your child do. Cost and logistics will no doubt play a role.

Good luck.

I've always worked full time, and both DH and I travel sometimes. Our son is ASD and not HFA. We have a live-in nanny. I can't imagine that every situation dictates that career take a back seat. My child is in school and therapy somewhere between 25-30 hours per week. At one point when he was having ABA therapy, he had 40 hours a week of school plus therapy, part of it home-based. There isn't a single answer.

Wait, what? My 2 year old DS was just diagnosed as autistic. I work full time (+I'm the bread winner and the insurance holder). No snark here, are you all saying I may have to quit my job? I have some flexibility, but mostly I work 9am-4pm. I can leave early, come in later some days, once in a while but certainly not every week. DH does not have a flexible job a all. He has a strict schedule M-F. We both have vacation time but generally we have to save that for snow days and doc visits.

When I say just diagnosed, I do mean last week. We haven't got final report with recommendations but we were verbally given a laundry list of proposed things they would like us to do...nutritional eval, ABA therapy, OT, someone to see about DS putting everything in his mouth, sleep evaluation...it was a lot. We are already doing speech therapy once a week that I have to leave work for.

What do people who have to work full-time do? I'm getting worried. This is all so overwhelming

Thank you pp. I'm a SAHM with 2 kids one who is hfa, he's almost 14 and doing great. Sometimes I wish that I could go to work and have a career. My only outlet now is going to the gym in the mornings after I drop off my kids to school. I really would like to find some ty of hobby or something. I tried taking a drawing class, but that did not work out. My husband has a government job, we are not rich, but we manage to live a simple modest life with one vacation a year. But you are right pp, it is stressful raising a special needs child, and if doable one parent should make the kids the top priority.

My husband has told me many times how much he appreciates all of the work that I have done and if it was not for me, my son would not have been able to be as successful as he is today. I'm still looking for that hobby or something that I can do from home. My son will be going to high school in the fall and my son has been receiving. services since he was a toddler. Time goes by quickly, to the OP, if you can find something part time that you enjoy, go for it. If not now, then don't worry about now. All the best to you OP, I'm sure you will be fine.

I agree that this is a relevant questions to all parents of special needs kids. I have two kids with ADHD and so many things have come up over the years along with the stress of dealing with the day to day. I could never have worked full-time. I worked in a family owned business for a while and now work as a consultant which gives me a lot of flexibility. Flexibility is absolutely key. I also don't think it is good for both parents to have high stress jobs. Raising kids with special needs is stressful enough and at least one parent needs to make the kids their top priority.

I work PT as a writer/editor for a company. Work while DS attends school. I gave up on FT work because I couldn't manage and didn't want to hire a nanny. We are frugal And do ok financially.

Full time nanny plus free lance something -- like writing or consulting.

op here sorry I should have included all SN parents

op here thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. I am thinking of creating a startup biz

Depends on how severe your child's challenges are. I've always worked FT because we needed benefits. I did have to get off the career path because I needed more flexibility and less stress.

BTW - parents of kids with ASD aren't the only one facing these choices. You might think about not limiting your questions to those in the ASD community. Otherwise, you might miss a lot of good advice. Unless, of course, you don't think the experiences of parents of kids with other SN are relateable.

I am an in house attorney. My schedule is extremely flexible because I worked for the company before I had my son. Even with the flexibilty, working full time and managing my sons schedule of school and therapies plus constantly coordinating with the teachers, doctors, therapists and shadows is very stressful.

Most moms I know with a child with ASD either work in a business that thier family owns or work part time.

It depends on your child's needs and how you choose to make it work. You can hire a nanny, find a school accommodating with services that go to the school, etc. or, your child has more needs and PT or SAH is better. Autism is a spectrum which is why I don't like the term or calling it a spectrum so it really depends on your child - the more severe, the more services and needs your child will have.

A job that is flexible is key. I know that there are parents who work full-time but I could not make that work. I needed time for ALL of the appointments and there are sooooo many.

Agree with PP, it depends on how much money you have and need.

The answer depends on how much help you can afford to hire but I honestly don't know any moms with kids with ASD who work. I'm sure they are out there but I haven't run in to them.

what kind of career can one have with a child on the autism spectrum?