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Dear Readers,
I am sorry for my absence these past few months have been extremely busy, but quite exciting! I have finished our first set of studies on plasticity in ASD have have some very exciting results which hopefully will be published soon. I have also been traveling quite a lot to conferences in Washington D.C., Amsterdam, and France where I met other researchers studying autism and neuroscience. It was quite an exciting, but exhausting few months, but now I am getting settled back in the swing of things and will be beginning the next set of studies in January.
For this entry, I wanted to talk about something that I have been thinking about quite a lot recently. This is, what happens to the children with autism when they grow up? I have worked with many children with autism whose parents spend many a sleepless night worrying about this. Will I be able to care for them? Will they have to go to an institution? What services are out there when my child with autism becomes an adult with autism?
Luckily, there are several programs sponsored by both governmental and private organizations for adults with ASD. As I currently live in New England, I am most familiar with the programs here, but I am sure similar programs exist in other areas of the country.
For example,
For the highest functioning people who are able to live on their own, have a job, go to school, etc. There are support groups. For example, where I am, the largest organization that provides support groups is the AANE (Asperger's Association of New England) http://www.aane.org which has support group meetings, activities, speakers, classes, etc. for adults of all ages. They have workshops with topics focusing around employment, relationships (both romantic and friendships) and housing. They are an excellent resource for those with high functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome who just need a little help every now and then and want a supportive group to discuss problems with.
But what about those who are not able to live on their own? I was at a conference recently where I heard about really interesting centers where adults with disabilities including autism as well as others can live and work in a supportive community. Specifically, the ones that I am aware of are Camphill. http://www.camphill.org/ and Amego http://www.amegoinc.org/index.html I really like these programs as they stress independence and self-confidence. For those who are not able to live on their own, they have support and medical staff available, but also stress independence and have work programs that give the residents a sense of responsibility and pride in contributing to society.
So, I can confidently say to the parents who worry that their child's options are living with them or an institution, that we have many other options available now that will give your (adult) son or daughter the opportunity to live in a supportive, respectful community, while still giving you the piece of mind that they are safe and well taken care of. If you would like to learn more about centers such as the one's I listed above, I encourage you to contact your local chapter of the Autism society of America http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
I encourage your comments regarding these and other postings.
Thank you and I wish all a very Happy Holidays and New Year!
