Questions for students about your life after high school

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Hi all,

Thanks for taking the time and interest in reading this. I am a teacher working specifically with gifted Asperger's students in a transition program setting. I assist my students with gaining work skills (find jobs, mock interviews, work experience) and life skills (pre-teach skills in things like budgeting and being able to live independently---cook, clean, pay bills on time, etc). My students all vary in skills and have the supports in place based on individual needs.

If you an adult with ASD either living independently or semi-independently, what sort of functional life lessons in school were missing from your school experience (if any?).
Did you feel you were well prepared to enter the "real world" post high school?

Your ideas and opinions are welcomed. I appreciate your time reading this.

Katie

I've been independent since age 20.

Basically, in the 1970's, schools forced us to figure it out for ourselves. I was in both "special" and "regular schools." The emphasis was on traditional academics. Practical skills were not taught, except in classes for people with developmental disabilities.

Whenever an untoward behavior occurred, it was dealt with in a traditional manner--the purpose of the intervention was to attempt to prevent the re-occurrence of the behavior in the future. It should be said, however, that there were occurrences when people, informally, would attempt to convey to me the value of identifying with other people and/or to find out why I behaved the way I did. They would then express sympathy with my plight, and offer suggestions of varying usefulness. There were a few instances when role-playing was employed (again, in an informal setting).

I live independently. My life skills training was not from school but from my parents. There was acknowledging that I am book smart and world challenged.

So chores became focused on household management.
My parents did Dave Ramsey financial peace university and had me do all the budgeting, debt avoidance and basics of investing when I was 15.

I use to live independently with no help from my parents who had full control of everything and left me with very little life skills. I learnt skills in college and spent a lot of time observing people, also bbc documentaries and self-help books helped amazingly with getting into the real world. Then I got myself a visa and moved to a country the other side of the world for while. Granted I paid for a support agency to help me with every step but it went well.
I personally think work experience is one of the most important things to give a student, however my sister is a whole another story. She really needed help on learning about fraud and how not to be scammed or taken advantage of before she left school because I have had to get her out of many messes.