9 Ways to Prepare Your Teen with Autism For the Future
As your child becomes an adolescent, the world demands more of them - more expectations, more responsibility. How can we prepare them for what lies ahead?
Thinking about how you can help your teen prepare for life beyond high school might seem intimidating. After all, we are the grown-ups… aren’t we supposed to have all the answers?
Certainly not - you don’t have to have all of the answers, and it’s perfectly normal to be wondering how to tackle teaching your teen important life lessons. Not to worry, these fears of not having it all figured out are completely justified - every parent experiences self-doubt. But not to worry! You can help your child learn independence and responsibility. Without further ado, let’s get into some ways you can help your teen prepare for whatever life throws at them.
Start with Self-Care
Help your teen understand how important it is to take care of themselves and give them the tools to do so.
The key here is routine.
A self-care routine can help incorporate daily, weekly, and monthly checklists. Reward them when they complete activities on their list.
Examples of daily activities are:
Brushing teeth
Taking medication
Applying deodorant
While weekly activities could be:
Watching their favorite show
Cleaning their room
Helping with chores
A great way to teach your teen these skills is to do them backwards, meaning - do everything with them until the final steps. Over the next few days or weeks, have them complete the last step, then the second to last, and so on, until they can do all of these tasks by themselves.
TAKE A LOOK AT our LIFE BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL FREE GUIDE to help your student discover their passions and interests
Give Them More Household Responsibilities
Hand in hand with self-care, teens need the know-how to take care of their space. Learning to manage responsibilities early on in life increases their self-awareness.
As they start to become an expert on basic skills like putting their clothes in a specific clothes bin, you can start to incorporate more complex tasks such as actually doing the laundry. The more challenging the task, the better it is to break it down into smaller, easier-to-understand steps.
Help Your Teen Learn Financial Freedom
Understanding the fundamental concepts behind money management is crucial for any young adult. Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) need extra support to grasp how everyday transactions work.
Parents can accompany their teenagers, helping them choose which practical items to purchase and the reasons behind each one, before overseeing them handle the payment at the cash register. To take this a step further, you can start rewarding their weekly chores with a cash incentive. Having an allowance will help them wrap their heads around how to earn, save, and spend responsibly.
Teach Your Team Organization & Time Management
While learning how to take care of themselves, teenagers benefit from being taught how to organize their time, juggle diverse responsibilities, and prioritize accordingly. Teens with autism need to understand realistic time frames to complete their home, school, and community duties.
The most tried and trusted method employs daily, weekly, and monthly schedules. They help reinforce positive behaviors and monitor your teen's progress. You can help them create their priorities using a method that works best for their learning style.
For some, it might be purely visual, like a board with different color-coded post-it notes. For others, it could be teaching them SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based.) You may have to be patient while trying different methods, but the foundation remains the same - in order to successfully manage their tasks, they need routine, structure, and accountability. You can set aside an hour at the beginning of each week to make a plan for the week ahead, then do daily check-ins to help them keep track of their priorities. Then, at the end of each week, regroup to talk about what goals they achieved, didn’t achieve, and why, and repeat the process the following week.
Role Play Your Way to Safety
As your teen becomes more independent, they will face more and more situations on their own.
To ensure their safety, help them learn how to cross the road, take public transport, and learn what to do when they find themselves in a distressing situation. Running them through practice scenarios or doing role play where they exercise "street smart" skills will boost their confidence, so they can handle whatever life throws at them.
Help Reduce Stress Through Mindfulness
All humans experience stress, and your teen with autism needs to have the tools in place to deal with it accordingly. Some simple ways to incorporate stress-reducing skills is by incorporating ten minutes of meditation or paced breathing into their morning routine to start the day off right.
Teach them to say out loud what they are grateful for, and to think positively about how they want to feel and what they want to accomplish that day. Meditation has been proven to have enormous benefits for teens with ASD, especially in response to overstimulation by stimuli.
Incorporating mindfulness habits will not only benefit your teen, but it would also be extremely helpful for you as well. Taking a few minutes to be quiet and set the intentions for the day will help you build the framework for more self-awareness, inner peace, and self-care.
Show Them Around the Kitchen
We all know the benefits of nutrition, and teaching your teen how to take it a step further by learning how to cook is imperative. Cooking can not only teach children the concept of nutrition, but also portioning, and using kitchen equipment, including safety and avoiding burns. The best way to go about teaching them is by starting with choosing a favorite dish. This gets them excited about learning and also helps keep their attention.
Make sure to choose age-appropriate recipes. Younger children should stick to no-heat recipes like no-bake cookies or granola bars. Older kids can start with basics like scrambled eggs, toast, and other 2 or three-ingredient recipes until they feel comfortable with doing something more complex.
Prepare ahead by writing the recipe in a manner they will understand. Most online recipes have excessive information - be sure to remove the fluff and make it as easy to comprehend as possible. You can create cards that have each step on each one, and even add a visual aid if your child is a visual learner. While cooking, teach them the importance of hygiene and safety, but most importantly - make it fun!
Communication & Networking
Everyone could benefit from a crash course in effective communication. Work with your teen to develop their emotional literacy, empowering them with tools to express their emotions. Try to teach them to listen without interrupting, how to pay attention, and when it’s time to respond.
To take this a step further, get out into the community. Introduce him or her to people so they gain more experience with face-to-face interaction with strangers, and have them talk on their own instead of talking for them when it feels appropriate. The more people they meet, the more likely it is that later down the road when they graduate high school, they have more options for what’s next. Just read what the kids have to say about it!
Help Them Understand What’s Next
Speaking of work, help your teen plan out their future options. We know - this can be the most intimidating part of planning for the future. One way to go about this is by putting them in a transition program. These programs help students practice daily living skills like the ones we mentioned above but also help them experiment with different types of jobs so they can figure out what they want to be when they grow up.
A good transition program should take into account their strengths and personal interests, finding a happy medium between what they are capable of doing and what they are excited about.
Our program, LyfeLaunch, is a transition program created specifically for teens 17-22 years old. In one component of the program, we use a role-play approach, where kids are the ‘employees’ and teachers are the ‘employers.’ This hands-on approach helps them put themselves in the shoes of their future potential selves, and teaches them invaluable skills that they will use forever.
If you think your student could benefit from a transition program, learn how you can get them into the program for free. Get in touch with an enrollment specialist to learn more today.
WHEN LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE, WHERE DO YOU PICTURE YOUR STUDENT?
What do they aspire to become? Most importantly, are they prepared for the real world? Part of our mission is to provide resources to help your student discover their passions and interests so they can reach their full potential.
Prepare your student with autism and other exceptionalities for success 🚀
