My grandson is on the spectrum...

[Grandmother B]

I am very interested in helping my 22 year old grandson, who has been diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, and anxiety. I hope to tap into some of your ideas and ways to help him get out into the world. He stays in his room most of the time on the computer and plays games with Avatars and some others I don't know the names of. We have a close relationship and he does engage with the family for holiday meals and things like that. He is an artist and I wish he could turn that into a career. He went to college a couple of semesters, but did not want to continue. I am retired, so I have time to do things with him if he will do them! Thank you for letting me be a part of the group.

 

[Elemental]

I did not know this was going to show my picture! Is there any way not to do that?

Erm...click on your user name, top right of this page & when you land on that page, click on your avatar pic & an option should come up for "Avatar Editor". You can either change it with another or there should be a "delete" option there.

Nice to meet you Grandmother B There are lots of books & online resources about autistic experience & many of us on here developed a better understanding of our diagnosis through using such.

Meeting others & reading their experiences here is also helpful, especially from the point of view of feeling very isolated & alone at times. Maybe both you & your Grandson could share exploring here together? We certainly have an array of different ages at Central

 

[toothless]

hi grandmother b,welcome to the group,its great to have you here as you give us a different take on autism.

i know your grandson playing computer games in his room all day might seem isolating, but to him its his inner world,his safety net and his routine- when i was younger i used to spend all of my time in my bedroom using the computer,my whole life revolved around it.
however,my support staff began offering me a regular schedule of activities every week such as going to longford park or walton park to see the animals, or special college to do the ASDAN towards independance course or animal therapy at david lewis college, and clubs for people with intellectual disabilities,they all involve my strengths and interests so i was very motivated to go.

for your grandson,im wondering would he be motivated to go and do a voluntary job;building or fixing computers in a computer shop,this would involve his strengths and make his self confidence better plus he might make some friends with the techies in the shop.

is he interested in photography? he could save for a half decent SLR camera [my dad bought one some years ago for around 400-500 pound, theyre called bridge cameras and are halfway between a full on SLR and a regular camera-so all the quality of an SLR without the complexity of options] and go photographing in scenic areas which would get him out in the fresh air,he could advertise his work online and who knows-maybe become a selling photographer through it?

as for art, he could sell his work online which might motivate him enough to join a local art group or program for people with autism,i know of a good site for autistic artists and theres a huge list of programs available but there may be none in your area-
http://the-art-of-autism.com/sponsors/directory-of-programsstudios/

i also know of a program in manchester,UK who may know of a local program if your in the UK but not in manchester you could give them a call;its called venture arts and has a load of autistic members they offer all forms of art there and your work gets put in a professional gallery.
i would go but its quite expensive.

 

[Elemental]

Grandmother B Many of the people who really succeed in occupations are those who harnessed their drive & focus for a favorite interest or pastime & extended it into cash-spinning employment.

toothless I just got a digi bridge camera for precisely the reasons you cite, plus it's a long-term interest & a subject I did at school. Hopefully, I will post some natural world shots on here before too long

 

[toothless]

Grandmother B Many of the people who really succeed in occupations are those who harnessed their drive & focus for a favorite interest or pastime & extended it into cash-spinning employment.

toothless I just got a digi bridge camera for precisely the reasons you cite, plus it's a long-term interest & a subject I did at school. Hopefully, I will post some natural world shots on here before too long

elemental,
i would love to see your photography! what is your particular interest? i used to love taking photographs of weird trees and wild animals with my dads camera.

 

[Warmheart]

A very warm welcome to you, Grandmother B! I'm happy you've joined us. How very fortunate your grandson is that you care do much for him, and gave time to be with him. I hope you feel right at home posting here. Welcome to AC!

 

[Elemental]

Thx for the RSVP This is some of my stuff

https://www.aspiescentral.com/media/albums/landscape.368/

https://www.aspiescentral.com/media/albums/untitled.364/

With the facility of zoom & wide angle, I hope to focus more on the indiginous landscape & wildlife, which is stunning

 

[Grandmother B]

Erm...click on your user name, top right of this page & when you land on that page, click on your avatar pic & an option should come up for "Avatar Editor". You can either change it with another or there should be a "delete" option there.

Nice to meet you Grandmother B There are lots of books & online resources about autistic experience & many of us on here developed a better understanding of our diagnosis through using such.

Meeting others & reading their experiences here is also helpful, especially from the point of view of feeling very isolated & alone at times. Maybe both you & your Grandson could share exploring here together? We certainly have an array of different ages at Central

Thank you, I figured it out. I will tell my grandson about the site.

 

[Elemental]

Thank you, I figured it out. I will tell my grandson about the site.

Excellent!

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I'm am or was much the same as him. I spend a lot of my time in my bedroom playing games, nothing else could compare to the enjoyment I received out of them. My interests are very hard set and I have very little control over them, the only way I stopped spending so much time playing games was because I had to go on medication, after months of a lesser desire to play games did my interests change into something potentially helpful and that I could make a career out of. Unfortunately I can offer no advice on how to bring about this change, medication is not something lightly chosen when you're perfectly mentally healthy. Even wanting to change yourself doesn't necessarily spur it on. For me, I probably needed someone to take control of the situation for me in order to make any real change; wanting to spend your free time playing computer games is fine but you need to make movements into getting employment - that getting employed for us is tricky enough as it is!

If you want to enact some change and get him going, your best bet is to get in contact with autism services in your area, charities or specialists in the health service who might be able to offer some programmes that'll help him. Your first stop might well be your family doctor or GP. Voluntary positions can be good too, if he is somewhat intimidated by people perhaps work on a farm or something similar might be effective in getting him out there.

I hope that helps.

 

[Grandmother B]

I'm am or was much the same as him. I spend a lot of my time in my bedroom playing games, nothing else could compare to the enjoyment I received out of them. My interests are very hard set and I have very little control over them, the only way I stopped spending so much time playing games was because I had to go on medication, after months of a lesser desire to play games did my interests change into something potentially helpful and that I could make a career out of. Unfortunately I can offer no advice on how to bring about this change, medication is not something lightly chosen when you're perfectly mentally healthy. Even wanting to change yourself doesn't necessarily spur it on. For me, I probably needed someone to take control of the situation for me in order to make any real change; wanting to spend your free time playing computer games is fine but you need to make movements into getting employment - that getting employed for us is tricky enough as it is!

If you want to enact some change and get him going, your best bet is to get in contact with autism services in your area, charities or specialists in the health service who might be able to offer some programmes that'll help him. Your first stop might well be your family doctor or GP. Voluntary positions can be good too, if he is somewhat intimidated by people perhaps work on a farm or something similar might be effective in getting him out there.

I hope that helps.

Thank you so much! He is already getting counseling and is on medication. I just finished a book called The Loving Push by Debra Moore PhD and Temple Grandin PhD that was very eye opening. It talks about how parents and family have to push the child/adult. It says when you play video games all the time it rewires your brain and that's why the games are addicting. Hopefully his mom will start to use some of these ideas after she reads it. Also there is a lot of help on www.aspergerexperts.com. The guys that run this site have Asperger's and know all about it.

 

[Grandmother B]

hi grandmother b,welcome to the group,its great to have you here as you give us a different take on autism.

i know your grandson playing computer games in his room all day might seem isolating, but to him its his inner world,his safety net and his routine- when i was younger i used to spend all of my time in my bedroom using the computer,my whole life revolved around it.
however,my support staff began offering me a regular schedule of activities every week such as going to longford park or walton park to see the animals, or special college to do the ASDAN towards independance course or animal therapy at david lewis college, and clubs for people with intellectual disabilities,they all involve my strengths and interests so i was very motivated to go.

for your grandson,im wondering would he be motivated to go and do a voluntary job;building or fixing computers in a computer shop,this would involve his strengths and make his self confidence better plus he might make some friends with the techies in the shop.

is he interested in photography? he could save for a half decent SLR camera [my dad bought one some years ago for around 400-500 pound, theyre called bridge cameras and are halfway between a full on SLR and a regular camera-so all the quality of an SLR without the complexity of options] and go photographing in scenic areas which would get him out in the fresh air,he could advertise his work online and who knows-maybe become a selling photographer through it?

as for art, he could sell his work online which might motivate him enough to join a local art group or program for people with autism,i know of a good site for autistic artists and theres a huge list of programs available but there may be none in your area-
http://the-art-of-autism.com/sponsors/directory-of-programsstudios/

i also know of a program in manchester,UK who may know of a local program if your in the UK but not in manchester you could give them a call;its called venture arts and has a load of autistic members they offer all forms of art there and your work gets put in a professional gallery.
i would go but its quite expensive.

Thank you. We are in the USA. But he knows about sites to sell art. I will tell him about the one you gave the link to. I doubt he knows of that one.