Profile
- Participants will understand the different hurdles and challenges faced by adolescents with autism during their teenage years
- Participants will gain an awareness of how their parenting styles impact the relationship with their teenage child and the ways to manage these changing relationships
What You'll Learn
This workshop aims to introduce parents to the key issues faced by teenagers with autism. Participants will gain insights into managing this turbulent period and learn some strategies to build steps to helping their children become successful adults.
Participants will get to examine their own teaching and parenting styles and understand how this can affect the independence of their children with autism. A specific tool, 'Circles of Intimacy' will be shared. This will help teens understand and deal with changing family and peer relationships during this period. The impact and management of social media will also be addressed.
The workshop will also look at the factors that predispose teens with autism to some mental health issues and discuss ways of recognising when more (medical or psychological) help is needed. Participants will also learn to develop some parenting strategies that may deal with (or, ideally prevent) minor mental health problems.
Although the teenage years can be very trying and stressful for those with autism, this can also be a time of intellectual and social growth for the individual with autism.