Many know Temple Grandin, as the woman with autism who has achieved so much in her career of animal science, college professor, and autism advocate. She has many famous quotes but this one is probably my favorite. It focuses on emphasizing the strengths of a child rather than his weaknesses or deficits.
I like to call educators to a strength based approach. What does this mean? Focus on what a child is good with, likes and is passionate about. My son is good with math. His brain is wired analytically. He likes things that have one correct answer. He loves things that are concrete. He dislikes anything that is more subjective. He has difficulties with handwriting and organizing his thoughts in writing papers. Looking at these facts that we've learned over the years, a choice for a college major should be fairly simple.
It would be silly to major in psychology or English Literature as these require a lot of research papers and supporting logic to argue a view. There is a lot of subjectivity in these courses. He isn't good at these. They are a struggle for him and take so much emotional and mental energy just to endure them. These subjects are in his area of academic deficits. A subject like teaching, social work or public relations would also be a poor choice for him. Why? He has social deficits that come with his diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Yes, he has developed in the social area with lots of work but he is still much weaker in social skills than most other people. These career choices require a lot of social interaction, emotional awareness and people skills. None of those are areas of strength.
As we have worked to help our son narrow the choices of potential careers, one thing is clear. He will do much better finding an occupation that requires a lot more of his strengths than his deficit areas. I know you are on the edge of your seat wanting to know what he has chosen as a major. Well, he is still at the undecided stage but things are narrowing. He knows he wants to like whatever he chooses. He desires his career to have a limited amount interaction with people. He knows it should be very concrete in the thinking style that's required. Some of the areas he is exploring are actuarial science, computer programming, and accounting. When everything finally shakes down and their appears to be a winning occupation, I will let my readers know.
All I know for sure, it's been a good process to focus on strengths more than deficits!
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