Well this is were I look back at my sons achievements over the past year. There has been many achievements over the past year, The first and the most important achievement was that my ASD son finally finished year 10 and received a graduation certificate, which came in the mail, by surprise. As my son grabbed it out of the letter box he was excited that he finally finished something first time in his life, it meant so much to him. He told one of his brothers that he finally achieved something and he didn't feel like a loser!! But as he took the certificate out of our letter it was crumpled and he thought it was ruined and he cried, something my son does do is cry very much, he was devastated by the condition of the envelope. It turned out his certificate was slightly crumpled and was able to be saved.
The 2nd achievement my ASD son set up his own master card through Woolworths supermarket without any help from me, that was pretty impressive, and that day I realised he was capable of doing so much more.
He has become a social butterfly and likes to socialise in most large functions, he walks around and talks to everyone and when someone asks for a hug/ cuddle he actually gives it freely, something I thought he would never do. It is nice to see him happy at social events instead of him melting down or looking for somewhere to hide. All those psychologists appointments and concentrating on social skills have paid off big time!!! I am now confident he will be able to get along with others outside his family circle.
He had his first outing without us being there or stepping in when things don't go as planned. I was worried if he would cope or even be able to manage it. He went to Taronga Zoo with my husbands step family, who were not familiar with him or him familiar with them. As we were taking to the train station I discussed his trip and if he had any problems he could ring us and we would come and get him. He rang me twice, once to tell me he was OK and he was having fun. The second phone call is to let us know we had to pick him up from the train station. It was a success, and it made me think it is time to start lifting the boundaries. Now he can walk to our small shopping centre, which is 20 min walk from our house. I am looking at him in totally different way.
He is setting goals with his banking, he started off with a large goal with a large sum of money to be saved. He added small goals to help keep on track, he has almost met this goal and in the meantime he is learning how to use the ATM's and eftpos when we go out. He is coping well with this. He likes the idea he has almost reached his goal!!!
He participated in workshop called the Lab, where he was with others just like him. For the first time he realised there were others like him, but they were so different, they all had one thing in common they liked technology and gaming. He attended for 5 months before he realised he didn't really want to do gaming, because he found programming needed good maths skills, which he does not have. So he started looking at business and found out he likes it!!! It was a place where he could go and do what he wanted, so he read a lot and researched what he was interested in and no one judged him and he could be himself!!!
We still have a way to go, now he is looking at his future and having some say in it!!! Something he was unable to do before, he would go into meltdown mode. Life is getting easier with time!!!
The 2nd achievement my ASD son set up his own master card through Woolworths supermarket without any help from me, that was pretty impressive, and that day I realised he was capable of doing so much more.
He has become a social butterfly and likes to socialise in most large functions, he walks around and talks to everyone and when someone asks for a hug/ cuddle he actually gives it freely, something I thought he would never do. It is nice to see him happy at social events instead of him melting down or looking for somewhere to hide. All those psychologists appointments and concentrating on social skills have paid off big time!!! I am now confident he will be able to get along with others outside his family circle.
He had his first outing without us being there or stepping in when things don't go as planned. I was worried if he would cope or even be able to manage it. He went to Taronga Zoo with my husbands step family, who were not familiar with him or him familiar with them. As we were taking to the train station I discussed his trip and if he had any problems he could ring us and we would come and get him. He rang me twice, once to tell me he was OK and he was having fun. The second phone call is to let us know we had to pick him up from the train station. It was a success, and it made me think it is time to start lifting the boundaries. Now he can walk to our small shopping centre, which is 20 min walk from our house. I am looking at him in totally different way.
He is setting goals with his banking, he started off with a large goal with a large sum of money to be saved. He added small goals to help keep on track, he has almost met this goal and in the meantime he is learning how to use the ATM's and eftpos when we go out. He is coping well with this. He likes the idea he has almost reached his goal!!!
He participated in workshop called the Lab, where he was with others just like him. For the first time he realised there were others like him, but they were so different, they all had one thing in common they liked technology and gaming. He attended for 5 months before he realised he didn't really want to do gaming, because he found programming needed good maths skills, which he does not have. So he started looking at business and found out he likes it!!! It was a place where he could go and do what he wanted, so he read a lot and researched what he was interested in and no one judged him and he could be himself!!!
We still have a way to go, now he is looking at his future and having some say in it!!! Something he was unable to do before, he would go into meltdown mode. Life is getting easier with time!!!
That is awesome progress Annette, I'm so pleased to hear it. He has come such a long way and well done you for all your hard work to help him get there. Letting go and letting them have independence is so hard but he sounds as if he is ready for it and coping well - yay!
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