I am a mom with a child diagnosed with Autism.  Like many of you with a child "under the spectrum", our journey started wondering why our child wasn't hitting milestones like other children his age.  We would go to pediatric doctor appointments and expressed our concerns and the response would be that he was "normal", "boys develop slower than girls", "you are just comparing him to his sister's growth and development."  I don't care who you are, but everything from preliminary of getting a diagnosis, to getting the actual diagnosis to the aftermath of thinking " now what do we do?" is stressful for most people.  Everyone has their story of how their child got diagnosed and I don't want to dwell on that because it's .... stressful.  So we'll  jump forward 7 years and here we are.

What I wanted to focus on is sharing ideas for young adolescents who are under the spectrum. The more that I research, the less I find about materials to work with adolescents with Autism.  We are so fortunate to have leading specialists like Michelle Garcia Winner who centers her research around adolescents.  I have many of her organizational materials and another activity that works is the "Should I or Shouldn't I" card series.

Because social groups are not covered by our insurance company, like many families we are paying out of pocket for our sons services.  He will be getting an hour a week of social group with kids around his age.  They will be working on eye contact, appropriate communication, staying on topic, talking about things that they really don't want to talk about and communication skills that most children naturally have. I struggle wondering am I doing enough?  Because I feel being taught at home is the most ideal because that is where he mostly spends his time.  Therefore there are about 10-15 things that we work on a day regarding communication.

Right now we are working on the following: he needs to learn to raise his arm to ask questions if he doesn't understand assignments or a problem, stay organized both at school & in his locker, backpack and room at home.  I want him to understand that when his life is organized he can think clearer and everything is expected and in it's own place.  This tends to keep anxiety down especially in times of the unexpected like being late for school because of sleeping in.

So I'd like to ask what everyone is doing to help their adolescent who is under the spectrum prepare for school and the school year?  My son is in 6th grade.  Tell your story.  I want to hear all about it and learn from you.