Therapies for very late diagnosed ASD?

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For those of you who were diagnosed later than 24 years old, have you been treated with therapies that were tailored, adapted, or designed for people on the spectrum? Was your therapist trained in these techniques, or did they just claim to be an "expert" in ASD because they had treated 2 or 3 people on the spectrum?

I've been diagnosed for over a year now, and I've had a frustrating time trying to find someone that has some different approaches to treating ASD beyond cognitive-based therapy (the talking cure) or relaxation techniques. Some claim to be knowledgeable about ASD but wind up knowing less than I do from reading some books. They base their "experience" on having treated a couple of people with standard therapies, but have little understanding of our unique issues.

I've just about talked to everybody in my plan -- everybody is either booked for months, only treats children, or doesn't do anything different from my regular therapist. I'd like to know if it would be worth it to pay extra to go out of network.

I'm looking to get help with social awkwardness, assertiveness, fear of crowds, anxiety, depression, and coping with sensory overloads.

I was 61 when first diagnosed. I finally forced Kaiser to provide services for autism. I have an excellent therapist who really does specialize in autism in both children and adults. I've made some good progress in the last year through weekly counseling and work on my part. I would recommend that you keep pushing and see if your state mandates appropriate care for autism as an adult. Kaiser's own doctors were suing Kaiser over a lack of mandated care. I used this to my advantage. I also found my therapist before Kaiser agreed. They relented and have paid for it since. Lastly, working for your help is worthwhile...

I see in another thread that you have Kaiser. I would definitely call your state agencies to find out what is necessary for Kaiser to provide in terms of treatment. Once you have the full information, go to Kaiser and explain to them what is required by the state and force them to do the right thing.

They don't really exist. Its frustrating, right?

I'm planning on trying to fix this a wee little bit in my area. I'm starting a face-to-face group where autistic adults can actually practice the skills they need for developing deeper friendships, while sharing coping mechanisms an stratagies that work for them. The hard part, of course, is getting people to come out to a group, even if its a small, safe, respectful group. We are still autistic. And its hard to convince people that it will be safe.

So, that's one need. There is a massive shortage of things like supportive and/or low income housing, employment supports, etc... for people who need it in my area. Even simply grants are almost always targeted at children.

Having a regular therapist works for me.

I think that a therapist who works with people who have childhood trauma issues might be a possible place to start, if there is no one trained in adult ASD issues in your area (almost a certainty I guess...) A large percentage of us end up traumatized, too, so there can be overlap in issues.

I think that my difficulty noticing, interpreting, and dealing with some of my emotions was helped by folks with that kind of training, even when I was not diagnosed. (I'm female, and just got diagnosed at 52.) It's common for neurotypical kids with childhood trauma to have emotion regulation and emotion identification trouble. There are other similarities too, or sometimes at least analogies even where I feel my issues might be different from stuff I read in trauma support literature.