Читать книгу Launching Your Autistic Youth to Successful Adulthood - Katharina Manassis - Страница 27

Who wouldn’t want their child on the autism spectrum to become as independent as possible? You have probably been striving to increase your child’s independence since birth, or at least since they received an autism diagnosis. What is different about promoting independence when someone is transitioning from high school to the adult world? How do we sometimes inadvertently undermine our youth’s independence? Who can help us address these challenges?

This chapter answers these questions to help you become more effective in promoting your autistic youth’s independence. We discuss: parent–child interactions which can promote or inadvertently undermine independence, specific independent behaviors needing attention, practical challenges to teaching these behaviors, finding and using case managers to help, and when/when not to advocate on your young person’s behalf. Decisions regarding independent living are examined in Chapter 10. To begin, let’s look at why promoting independence in transition-aged autistic youth can be challenging.