In 2006 I composed of Patty's and my decision to homeschool our son Trevor to help give a learning environment much more conducive with his autism. It's now twelve years later and time to write about how things worked out.

Trevor began seventh grade with a customized schooling plan. Patty focused on language and arts and I concentrated on math and science. In addition, he attended a homeschool-assisted faculty which provided English and math courses and attended a science class in the middle school he would have normally attended. The program plan was created by Patty and me together with Trevor's school counselor. his response ended up being a hybrid of homeschooling and traditional education which we believed gave Trevor that the best likelihood of success. Trevor's counselor was completely awesome in working together with us and placing Trevor's well-being first. conversational tone mixed teaching worked very well in seventh grade, but we noticed that Trevor wasn't getting enough peer reviewed. In eighth grade we decided to start the process of mainstreaming him back into the public-school system. Patty continued focus on arts and language and mathematics and science topics were being supplied by Trevor's middle school. I like to joke I was fired as a homeschool teacher and my wife and son did the shooting. In fact the mainstreaming has been the right answer because it enabled him to get desired socialization through spending more time in school while at the same time giving him some extra 1:1 attention . In ninth grade we believed Trevor was prepared to be fully mainstreamed to the public-school system. While we packed our homeschool stuff, our involvement with Trevor's schooling and socialization growth was still strong.

Ninth through 12th grade attracted some high points but also brought a great deal of battle. Trevor was bullied and made fun of many other students who took advantage of his autism. He had trouble telling the difference between children mocking him versus being a buddy. Since he was supporting his peers in his social interaction skills, he'd say and do things that weren't appropriate. He'd have a few close friends who were real in their friendship, some of which he is still friends with today. He participated in several performances both on stage and behind the scenes. The play club was his first "clique", and while some in the club took advantage of Trevor's autism, many accepted and looked out for him.


navigate here graduated from high school in 2011 with plans to go to school. Feeling the leap from high school to a huge university would be too drastic for him personally he attended a local junior college for two years while living at home. He had developed a love for movies and photography, so he chose to major in film studies with an emphasis in photography. Both of these years were foundational for Trevor's expansion in that he continued to advance academically while also allowing him to work on socialization and adaptation abilities. In his sophomore year that he decided he wanted to transfer to a four-year college majoring in media and film studies. His decision on where to proceed was an outstanding example of decision making through empirical data investigation and pros/cons articulation. He also developed a visibility board with numerous decision criteria for example offering of important, closeness of family, and church offerings. He finally decided on Arizona State, comfy through his investigation that this was the best option. It was also during that period that Trevor wrote about his experiences growing up with autism at Six-Word Lessons on Growing Autistic.

Back in August 2013 we chose Trevor to the ASU Tempe campus, helped him set up his dorm room, and compelled him to start his junior year of school. While it was a bit unnerving being a million miles away from him, we'd peace in knowing there were a number of household members in the region including Trevor's big sister Briana who was currently a nurse in nearby Scottsdale. His last two years of school were those of tremendous growth. He needed to figure out a lot of things on his own, make new friends, and also be accountable for his own research. Fortunately, he plugged into a church group that was walking distance from ASU. He fit in like a glove and the church group was a high point of his time at ASU. He got to experience living and dealing with roommates, most of which he felt were too immature for him. We obtained several difficulty calls when he dropped his wallet, had computer difficulties, or has been having difficulty coping with a few scenarios.

His post-college life was filled with a great deal of anxiety. Now he had been out of college and it was time to support himself. He also didn't have a job upon graduation, so Patty and I decided to hire him to our company as our Media Director. He was employed by us for 17 months where we got to help him build good work habits. We staged a monthly review process called "dones" where in the start of the month he would lay out exactly what he'd have done by the end of the month, which we'd then review at the start of the following month. this guy was an outstanding process in that all three of us were aligned as to what he needed to do, and he had been held accountable for getting things done. His advertising and marketing assignments have been fruitful, including being interviewed by two local TV news channels.

Now article is 26. He resides on his own in a condo we bought for him and two additional tenants on the autism spectrum. He pays rent, he manages his own money, he is as self sufficient as any 26-year-old. He's still got some challenges that he'll continue to get for the remainder of his life. He'll always need someone else to help coach him throughout scenarios. It was a lot of difficult work on all our parts, but Patty and I are excited about his potential and are grateful that we're in a position to assist Trevor.