Welcome to the May edition of Ask Dr. Emily!
We often receive questions that we want to share with all our readers. To help with this, Dr. Emily Rastall, a clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s Autism Center, will share insights in a question and answer format. We welcome you to send us your questions and Dr. Rastall will do her best to answer them each month. Send your questions to [email protected].
Q: I have a 16-year-old with autism who is “high functioning.” As a parent, how do you get a teen to realize they are going to be on their own? How do you help them see that the things that you try to teach them at home are going to be things they will need for the rest of their lives?
A: I think you’ve asked the ultimate parenting question when it comes to raising teens. This is something most parents of teens struggle with, so I know you’re not alone. Add autism into the mix, and it can be a real challenge to prepare a teen for the “real world.” Listen, all teens (and especially those with ASD) have challenges with executive functioning; that’s the thing that happens in your frontal lobe when you plan ahead, think of the future, think critically and logically. Science tells us that the frontal lobes of adolescents are going through a lot of changes, which causes them to function at a sub-optimal level. In fact the frontal lobe does not fully develop until the age of 25! We also know that autism can affect how quickly parts of the brain (the frontal lobe included) develop over time. Your child with ASD may need more time for parts of their brain to fully develop. Translation: Your child with autism may need more time to become fully independent.
What can parents do to support their child’s independence while the brain is developing? The answer–we (the parents) will have to act as their frontal lobes while theirs are “offline.” For example, we set expectations and limits around things like screens, social media, sleep, nutrition, freedom, driving, hygiene, chores. We assist kids with time management; we help them make and execute a plan, provide visuals to help them see their progress, and offer rewards for task completion. Ultimately, teens don’t like the limits and “meddling,” but it’s one of those necessary evils to help them develop good habits for the future. Over time, we slowly offer more and more freedom and take away some of the supports. By the time your child’s brain is fully developed, they will have the skills and habits you have helped them form and they will have a fully developed brain to help them use these skills effectively. At this point, we won’t expect them to understand WHY we put those boundaries in place or to appreciate the life skills we are teaching them. That comes later…much, much later.
Q: Our son graduated college in Aug 2016. He is living at home working part time, lacking a social group, anxious, and stressed, which I’m sure we are adding to. He does not know that he has autism. I believe we’ve been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole for years. How do I tell him he’s on the spectrum?
A: It sounds like you know it’s time to have this challenging, but important, conversation with your son. My guess is that he has wondered (or is currently wondering) why things that seem easy for others are harder for him. In my opinion, honesty, along with love and empathy and compassion and support, is the best policy here. You might let him know that you have something important you’d like to talk to him about and then check in with him about a time that is generally a good time for him to talk. I would also go into this conversation with as little expectation about the outcome as possible and with resolve to remain calm and compassionate no matter what his reaction is. We can’t begin predict how this will feel for him. He may be relieved to finally have an answer. He may not agree with the diagnosis and ultimately reject it. He may feel a number of things. The important thing to convey is that you love and accept him no matter what and want to help him however you can. Good luck to you and your family as you navigate this transition into “knowing.”
