Welcome to the Imap Autism Discussion Forum, please feel free to register and take part in the discussions but please abide by our terms and conditions of use
The young people moving into the adult provision has started and all seems to be going well.
Routine and familiarity is vitally important for people with Autism, so after 9 years working with people with auitism it still amazes me how well they cope with huge transisions such as moving where they live. Sometimes I think we forget or underestimate the coping strategies our young people develop to cope with such moves.
I wonder if this is down to our intensive support of the young people at imap, down to just human nature to cope or some aspect of Autism that allows these big/stressfull changes to succeed?
From my experience, the young people we have had over the years seem to cope better with big changes compared with the little changes. There are some great explanations for this on the internet (mostly American). If you've got a spare 30 mins, have a look!
From my research, I go along with the theory that small changes happen all the time and every day for the young people. These small changes are usually unplanned and unstructed.
For example, Joe Bloggs is told they are going out on the bus. The bus is broke so Joe Bloggs is told they are now not going out on the bus. Small unplanned change that usually Joe Bloggs doesn't cope well with.
Big changes such as a move of bedroom, new staffing, move of home, are all well planned in advance and structured to support the young person. These include transition visits, shadowing of new staff, social stories etc. The young people are better informed and prepared for this type of change than smaller ones.