The Parents' Practical Guide to Resilience for Preteens and Teenagers on the Autism Spectrum by Jeanette Purkis

Author:Jeanette Purkis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784505752
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2018-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

GETTING A DIAGNOSIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD

While many autistic children gain a diagnosis at an early age, some will be diagnosed as teens or young adults. This may mean that they have a much greater awareness of the process and of the views of other people about the autism spectrum.

Many parents report that they feel guilty for not getting their child assessed for autism earlier. This kind of guilt is unhelpful. There are any number of reasons that impact on the timeframe for getting a diagnosis for your child. It is not really the fault of parents, and the fact that they are getting a diagnosis now is positive. While a lot of emphasis is placed on the value of early intervention, a diagnosis at an older age is not necessarily a terrible thing. In fact, some forms of early intervention can in fact be detrimental to some autistic kids. These include the kinds of interventions that focus on changing behaviour that is not ‘wrong’ but that makes the autistic child look different from their peers (such as therapy that tries to force eye contact or to stop the child from stimming). As with anything in life, starting in the present and not regretting the past is a good philosophy. You can’t change the past, but you can help to shape the future for your child.

Recent research has shown that some of the most positive ‘early interventions’ for young autistics revolve around good parenting that teaches new skills in the natural family context. The implication of this is that you may already have provided excellent early intervention supports for your child, even if your child had not been diagnosed at the time.

A teen or young adult who gains a diagnosis can respond in a number of ways. For some it is experienced as liberating and overwhelmingly positive. It explains where they ‘fit’ in the world and becomes an important part of their individual identity. For others it is a shock that more gradually turns into understanding and self-acceptance. For still others, it may take months or years to reconcile themselves to the diagnosis. For a variety of reasons, these young people are likely to be uncomfortable even thinking about autism, and they will probably not want to engage in the autistic community in any way and will find reasons for their differences that are anything other than autism. These responses are all valid. Gaining a diagnosis is often a significant event in a person’s life. As the teen years tend to be the time for understanding and forging identity, an autism diagnosis at that time can be particularly influential.

When seeking an assessment for your teenager, it is important to answer any questions they have as best as you can, to present a view that autism is a difference rather than a tragedy, and to introduce them to some autistic role models (in books, movies, blogs, etc.). You can encourage them to find out about autism if they are interested. There are

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