RE: Planning transition into adulthood.

[Guest guest]

You are smart to start thinking of this transition now...start early and go slow..build in lots of successes and have fun with it. Most typical 16 yr olds are ffaaarrrrrr from ready for adulthood so dont rush our special needs kids. LOL

is 18 and we find we have success when we build upon his interests and think outside the box. The typical jobs that are open to special needs kids wouldn’t suit him so we are venturing out and trying to make sure he has a good basis for some independence and full inclusion in our community.

From: Jill

Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 3:09 PM

autism

Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.

Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment, etc.We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things you know now that you wished you knew then?Thanks for any insight.Jill

[Guest guest]

I also would appreciate this information. Jill may I ask how did you address your child's aggression. We have a 13yr old, functioning about about 30-35 months cognitively. Non verbal most of the time no spontaneous speech, and not potty trained. He is combative out of frustration a lot of the time or if someone tries to direct him to more purposeful behavior/tasks. I'm new at this... a concerned stepmom.

autism From: jgmangus@...Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:09:18 +0000Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.

Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment, etc.We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things you know now that you wished you knew then?Thanks for any insight.Jill

[Guest guest]

I also would appreciate this information. Jill may I ask how did you address

your child's aggression. We have a 13yr old, functioning about about 30-35

months cognitively. Non verbal most of the time no spontaneous speech, and not

potty trained. He is combative out of frustration a lot of the time or if

someone tries to direct him to more purposeful behavior/tasks. I'm new at

this... a concerned stepmom.

>

> Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning

but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under

control so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported

employment, etc.

>

> We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this

experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this?

Things you know now that you wished you knew then?

>

> Thanks for any insight.

> Jill

>

[Guest guest]

Reducing aggression is a big topic and a lot of work. I can not tell you what

will work with your son but I can tell you what worked with mine.

My son's aggression was due to multiple functions.... after we successfully

treated all of them the aggression/sib reduced greatly.

1. He was frustrated because of his lack of language especially in the area of

assertive words (help me, stop it, no, I don't want to, etc). We added

assertive words to his dynavox and purposefully taught him to use them. It's

very very important to give your child a voice. So a kid that does not talk

much needs to have functional language in one form or another.

2. My son has major OCD issues which raise his frustration levels quickly and

high. So one of his behavior plans was to practice frustration tolerance so he

could start handling those situations better. There's a bunch of steps to

teaching this but once you get it working, it's easily adapted to other

scenarios.

3. My son had moments when he went from happy to hitting in a split second.

Finally we found a doctor that would address this. It turned out that

neurotherapy was the trick to balance his brain. He's like another child. I

have posted a lot about neurotherapy on this list group because I really think

it's an overlooked therapy that is very beneficial to our kids.

4. My son did not know how to relax. Massage therapy turned out to be a good

tool to have him understand what that felt like.

5. etc etc etc.

There's no easy answers and it's very individualized per kid. Several

treatments have been helpful to my child but the two most significant have been

a quality neurotherapy program and a quality ABA program. The word quality is

the most important word in that sentence. There's lots of poor programs out

there too. So you really need to be careful.

Jill

>

>

> I also would appreciate this information. Jill may I ask how did you address

your child's aggression. We have a 13yr old, functioning about about 30-35

months cognitively. Non verbal most of the time no spontaneous speech, and not

potty trained. He is combative out of frustration a lot of the time or if

someone tries to direct him to more purposeful behavior/tasks. I'm new at

this... a concerned stepmom.

>

>

>

>

> autism

> From: jgmangus@...

> Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:09:18 +0000

> Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning but

does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control so

I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment,

etc.

>

> We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this

experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things

you know now that you wished you knew then?

>

> Thanks for any insight.

> Jill

>

[Guest guest]

thanks .

My son really likes putting things together. He's good at it too. I'm thinking

an assembly job but there's nothing like that here in Alaska. So I'm thinking

we need to create it but I'm just stumped.

Jill

>

> You are smart to start thinking of this transition now...start early and go

slow..build in lots of successes and have fun with it. Most typical 16 yr olds

are ffaaarrrrrr from ready for adulthood so dont rush our special needs kids.

LOL

> is 18 and we find we have success when we build upon his interests and

think outside the box. The typical jobs that are open to special needs kids

wouldn’t suit him so we are venturing out and trying to make sure he has a

good basis for some independence and full inclusion in our community.

>

>

>

> From: Jill

> Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 3:09 PM

> autism

> Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.

>

>

> Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning but

does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control so

I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment,

etc.

>

> We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this

experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things

you know now that you wished you knew then?

>

> Thanks for any insight.

> Jill

>

[Guest guest]

Questions: what is neurotherapy? how do you find it? What program helps with OCD?

Thanks,

D.

From: Jill <jgmangus@...>Subject: Re: Planning transition into adulthood.autism Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 8:34 PM

Reducing aggression is a big topic and a lot of work. I can not tell you what will work with your son but I can tell you what worked with mine.My son's aggression was due to multiple functions.... after we successfully treated all of them the aggression/sib reduced greatly.1. He was frustrated because of his lack of language especially in the area of assertive words (help me, stop it, no, I don't want to, etc). We added assertive words to his dynavox and purposefully taught him to use them. It's very very important to give your child a voice. So a kid that does not talk much needs to have functional language in one form or another.2. My son has major OCD issues which raise his frustration levels quickly and high. So one of his behavior plans was to practice frustration tolerance so he could start handling those situations better. There's a bunch of steps to teaching this but once you get it working, it's easily adapted to other

scenarios.3. My son had moments when he went from happy to hitting in a split second. Finally we found a doctor that would address this. It turned out that neurotherapy was the trick to balance his brain. He's like another child. I have posted a lot about neurotherapy on this list group because I really think it's an overlooked therapy that is very beneficial to our kids.4. My son did not know how to relax. Massage therapy turned out to be a good tool to have him understand what that felt like.5. etc etc etc.There's no easy answers and it's very individualized per kid. Several treatments have been helpful to my child but the two most significant have been a quality neurotherapy program and a quality ABA program. The word quality is the most important word in that sentence. There's lots of poor programs out there too. So you really need to be careful.Jill>> > I also would appreciate this information. Jill may I ask how did you address your child's aggression. We have a 13yr old, functioning about about 30-35 months cognitively. Non verbal most of the time no spontaneous speech, and not potty trained. He is combative out of frustration a lot of the time or if someone tries to direct him to more purposeful behavior/tasks. I'm new at this... a concerned stepmom. > > > > > autism > From: jgmangus@...> Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:09:18 +0000> Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.> > > > > > > Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment, etc.> > We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things you know now that you wished you knew then?> > Thanks for any insight.> Jill>

[Guest guest]

I have posted a ton of messages on this list about neurotherapy. Do a search

for posts by me and you'll see them include some links, etc.

The short answer is that neurotherapy is an individualized treatment that

balances the brain functioning based on a QEEG. There are many good sites on

the internet to explore both for information about this treatment but to also

find providers. Heres two.

This first one is a story about my son but the whole site is dedicated to

neurotherapy.

http://www.centerforbrain.com/conditions/Autism and Aspergers Treatment/Autism and Aspergers Treatmentautism\

-case-examples/family-finds-a-normal-life/

Our doctor is associated with this one.

http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/home.html

Regards, Jill

> >

> >

> > I also would appreciate this information. Jill may I ask how did you address

your child's aggression. We have a 13yr old, functioning about about 30-35

months cognitively. Non verbal most of the time no spontaneous speech, and not

potty trained. He is combative out of frustration a lot of the time or if

someone tries to direct him to more purposeful behavior/tasks. I'm new at

this... a concerned stepmom.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > autism

> > From: jgmangus@

> > Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:09:18 +0000

> > Subject: Planning transition into adulthood.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning

but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under control

so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported employment,

etc.

> >

> > We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this

experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this? Things

you know now that you wished you knew then?

> >

> > Thanks for any insight.

> > Jill

> >

>

[Guest guest]

It's different for each child. For my son, I'm convinced that the following

activities contributed to the reduction of his aggression. The first three are

the big ones.

1. Prayer and more prayer. God answered with people, programs, and strength.

2. Neurotherapy (see my other posts). Improved brain functioning.

3. ABA - proactive plans to teach skills in managing frustration and

communication skills. reactive plans to manage the behaviors.

4. Massage therapy - taught the kid to relax.

5. speech therapy - more help on communication skills.

6. vitamins and minerals and anti-yeast - made him healthier.

We have well-trained staff that implemented the programs in a consistent way.

That's the biggest thing that made it come together. I am so thankful.

Jill Longenecker

> >

> > Hi everyone. My son is 16yo and in 9th grade. He is pretty low-functioning

but does have limited language. We finally have the aggression/sib under

control so I think he may have a good future with assisted living, supported

employment, etc.

> >

> > We are planning his transition to adulthood. Do any of you have this

experience? Any gems of wisdom that you learned as you went through this?

Things you know now that you wished you knew then?

> >

> > Thanks for any insight.

> > Jill

> >

>