Picture yourself at your first job. Maybe you were working in the fast food or customer service industry. For the first time, you’re expressing your independence in a professional setting. You learned new skills, developed work relationships, and made money by yourself! These are essential skills that any individual needs to learn at some point in their life.
Now, imagine that your parent or caregiver walked in and started asking your boss how you’re performing in your new role. Words cannot express the level of embarrassment that a teenager or young adult would feel at this prospect. It’s a caregiver’s right to be curious about their child’s first job. This is doubly true for a child on the autism spectrum who may have struggled throughout their life with the social and work-related skills they are now developing. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways of learning about their work experiences. So who do you ask? Do you approach their case worker? Autism Nova Scotia? What about human resources, their supervisor, or even their job coach? The answer to these suggestions is a clear and resounding NO. If you want information about your child’s work experiences, you ask your CHILD. Nobody can provide you with a clearer interpretation of your child’s experiences in the workplace than they can. Their strengths, weaknesses, and areas they would like to improve are all just a few questions away. However, we do recognize that some teenagers and young adults, especially in the autistic community, have trouble relaying information to anyone, let alone their loved ones. Here are a few useful hints that will help provide you with information you’re looking for:
If Executive Functioning makes it difficult for your child to answer those questions, contact the employment division of Autism Nova Scotia for continued support. Our team will be happy to work with you and your child to develop strategies that allow you to better understand their work experiences and what you can do as a caregiver to assist them. Using one of the solutions suggested above will not only benefit you but it will ensure that you do not infringe upon your child’s newfound independence.
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