Page 1 of 1 [ 5 posts ] 

jbinion
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2008
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 87

09 Apr 2009, 7:39 pm

If I want a career as helping people with autism in some way, and studying autism, what should I major in?



matrixlover
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 11 Feb 2009
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 68

09 Apr 2009, 8:13 pm

Regular Education, Special Education, Vocational Education, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Applied Behavior Analysis
(the last three will bring the most money and are in very high demand right now)



Babtor24
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 54

09 Apr 2009, 10:36 pm

matrixlover brings up some good areas to study in but it really depends on what you want to do inside the field of autism. If you want to go with the current paradigm and just help people these are all good areas to study.

However if you really want to help people go into psychology and focus on autism studies and then see what peaks your interest there.

Hope that helps.



Peko
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,381
Location: Eastern PA, USA

09 Apr 2009, 10:56 pm

All of the other suggestion before are probably the best to go w/ (OT, ST, psych). But, if you are not a people person, I suggest looking into a research related field. Sorry I cannot name specific researching majors off the top of my head :oops: .

p.s. Psychology will due you no good unless you get your master's & specify (trust me, my cousin went into psych & went back 2 school b/c she only got a social work job w/ her bachelors) Also, my mom is just getting her OT masters degree (associates to be a COTA or OT assistant takes around 2 yrs. & a good master's program in OT or ST will take 5 or 6 yrs. depending on the school) More education = more options



Katie_WPG
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 7 Sep 2008
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 492
Location: Winnipeg, MB, Canada

10 Apr 2009, 12:33 pm

Social Work is the best direction I can think of. A couple of people that I know who work with autistic children have psychology degrees, but I don't know how much they can really do (whether it's helping with life skills, or just babysitting).