aspergers failure to launch young adults

Asperger’s Disorder and Failure to Launch Syndrome in Young Adults

aspergers failure to launch young adultsMany people wonder why young adults with Asperger’s often struggle when it is time to launch into adulthood and independent living. Is it due to their difficulties in the social world? Is it due to their thinking style? Is it due to their challenges with day to day independent living skills? At OPI, we believe that it is a combination of all three. We have been successfully helping young adults with Asperger’s launch into independent living because of the unique approach that we take and the incredible services that we offer.

Life is pretty structured, planned out, and predictable when you are a child. You live with your parents, who take care of all of your basic needs, including housing, food, clothing, paying bills, doing laundry, and washing dishes. You get up and go to school every morning, come home and do your homework, eat dinner, and go to sleep. You are surrounded by a group of peers that either your parents have selected for you, or who you interact with because you go to the same school, live in the same neighborhood, belong to the same club, or play on the same sports team. Until you finish high school, there aren’t a lot of decisions to be made.

However, once you approach the end of high school, graduate high school or start college, there is this big question that every young adult faces which is: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? For any young adult, this question can be challenging, confusing, and overwhelming, but for young adults with Asperger’s, this can be the question that stops them in their tracks. This is usually around the time period when we begin our work with the young adult.

Young adults with Asperger’s are often challenged in social situations. They tend to miss social cues, have difficulty initiating and maintaining conversations and often present as awkward. How do young adults with these challenges all of the sudden go out in the world and make friends on their own? It is not so uncommon for young adults with Asperger’s to begin isolating at this stage of life, often through excessive computer use, which allows them to escape face-to-face social interactions while still trying to socialize to some degree. As humans, we all desire relationships and connections with others, so without a strong sense of social support, taking that next step in life can be very lonely and scary. We offer our In-Vivo socialization group to teach, practice, and master socialization through education, role plays, and improvisational games. We also have social outings every weekend and in-house clubs every week for participants to connect with each other with common interests and practice their skills.

The thinking style of many young adults with Asperger’s presents in a very rigid, black and white way. These young adults tend to view the world as if there are only two possible options in a given moment. While this is often an unconscious coping strategy – essentially an attempt to bind and manage anxiety – it doesn’t seem work well in a world where possibilities are endless. How does a young adult with Asperger’s know how to choose the next step in their life when they are used to following a predetermined path that was chosen for them? And how do they make a decision when there are so many options and no right or wrong choice? This is another reason why we often see young adults with Asperger’s become stuck or have difficulty launching at this point in their lives. Through individual therapy, group therapy, and our various departments (Education, Career & Volunteer, Extra-Curricular, etc.) participants are exposed to opportunities that challenge their rigid thinking, allowing them to begin to find alternative options and then go out in the world to try new things with the hope of creating a more balanced way of thinking and living.

One component of becoming an adult is independent living. This includes all of the day-to-day chores, and responsibilities that one takes on in order to function and manage on his/her own. For many young adults with Asperger’s, these tasks can be overwhelming. Some common challenges for young adults with Asperger’s are time management and organization. If you struggle in these areas, how do you pay bills on time, show up to scheduled appointments when you are responsible for getting yourself there, and maintain a living environment that is clean and organized? And, who teaches you basic self-care skills like cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene, and budgeting? Without the knowledge or support in these areas, many young adults with Asperger’s will struggle to live independently, adding more anxiety and feelings of “stuckness.” To address these issues head-on, we provide a sixweek Life Skills Workshop in which we teach basic independent living skills. We then offer individual life coaching to help participants hone in on his or her specific needs and give them the opportunity to practice their independent living skills with the support of a life coach.

So, rather than simply asking why so many young adults with Asperger’s experience a “failure to launch,” at OPI, we help them get unstuck and move forward with their lives. We help them build social skills so that they can create a supportive social network of peers in which they feel accepted. We challenge their black and white thinking and help them explore various options, so that rather than feeling scared and anxious, they can feel excited about all of the possibilities out there. We teach them day-to-day living skills and continue to support them so that they can live on their own and feel a sense of pride and self-sufficiency.

At OPI, we understand and anticipate the challenges that young adults with Asperger’s face and we help them answer the million dollar question of WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE?

 

For more information on Optimum Performance Institute’s Overcoming Failure to Launch Syndrome Program for young adults with Asperger’s Disorder, contact us now by calling (888) 814-5985 or by submitting this contact form. We’ll be in touch promptly and look forward to connecting with you!