{"id":4067,"date":"2015-03-24T14:53:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T18:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=4067"},"modified":"2015-03-25T11:11:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T15:11:26","slug":"transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2015\/03\/transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Justin's<\/a><\/p>\n

It rests precariously on the edge of the countertop, the brightly colored flyer proclaiming \u201cTransition!\u201d in bold letters, urging me to read it and ignore the dinner I\u2019m supposed to be preparing. I toss it into a pile I actually have a prayer of looking at later and return to my prep for potato-chip chicken (I know, worst mom ever, but it\u2019s delish!) I have more mundane matters to attend to right now, like trying to remember where I put the ketchup when I began this endeavor. It will be hours before I return to this invitation, but return to it I will.<\/p>\n

My son is almost twelve, will be officially \u201cin transition\u201d in two years. For a planner like me, I know I have to read that paper.<\/p>\n

This is not the first missive I\u2019ve received either through the mail or electronically on this topic, but until today I\u2019ve either ignored the emails or tossed the info, deeming it too soon to delve into this arena of Justin\u2019s impending life that I admit I find completely intimidating. I know it\u2019s still early, and that I have wonderful resources at my disposal.<\/p>\n

Justin is in an exemplary private school for autism, and I\u2019ve been assured they will do whatever they can to make certain my son is engaged in some productive activity after he graduates at twenty-one. I have friends with adult children who have already passed that \u201clegal to drink\u201d mark, and I know they\u2019ll help me the best they can. There are also a myriad of agencies in New Jersey with fabulous workshops for me to attend in the future, all of which I\u2019m sure will guide me well. But the real conundrum for me is a question only Justin can answer, and I\u2019m not sure he\u2019ll be able<\/p>\n

to do so.<\/p>\n

What does my boy want to do with his life?<\/p>\n

The truth is college, career, and independent living are not in the cards for my son. He can nod \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d to uncomplicated questions, and make simple requests on his iPad for items he wants. At some point however I\u2019m going to want his input, and I just don\u2019t think I\u2019ll get it, although I never truly thought he\u2019d speak and at age eleven he now has a few words. I do have a dream for him- that he\u2019ll live on a farm, work the land a few hours a day in some capacity, and have access to horses for frequent riding.<\/p>\n

But honestly, I really have no idea if this is what he wants to do. His main activities to date are playing DVDs on his player, engaging in some computer games, and occasionally watching a movie with his mom and brother. He likes a brief daily outing, but mostly he likes to be at home, and by home I mean inside the confines of our house.<\/p>\n

Lately, as I\u2019ve been talking to friends in a similar boat, it\u2019s struck me that I will probably be making all the decisions regarding the last sixty years of his life for him. It\u2019s a huge responsibility, one I hope I get right.<\/p>\n

As I write my thoughts it also strikes me that I will have to figure out a balance for him, a life comprised of work he may not want to do, coupled with his leisure pastimes which he would engage in all day if we let him. I take a deep breath as I put that mimeographed missive in the \u201cdone\u201d pile and walk away, realizing it really is too soon to plan.<\/p>\n

The autism landscape is thankfully changing quickly. I simply cannot anticipate what Justin\u2019s options will be in nine years, and more importantly, I can\u2019t know what Justin himself will be like in less than a decade. All I can do is continue to do my best by him, and hope.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m going to hope too that somehow, in his way, he\u2019ll let me know if he\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n

For more on my family visit my blog at autismmommytherapist.wordpress.com\/
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

Follow me on Facebook at Autism Mommy-Therapist<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It rests precariously on the edge of the countertop, the brightly colored flyer proclaiming \u201cTransition!\u201d in bold letters, urging me to read it and ignore the dinner I\u2019m supposed to be preparing. I toss it into a pile I actually have a prayer of looking at later and return to my prep for potato-chip chicken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":4068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[293,295,294,1127,1128],"class_list":["post-4067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-in-brick","category-ocean-county","tag-autism","tag-autism-acceptance","tag-autism-awareness","tag-transition","tag-transition-years"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Justins-First-Digital-Pics-056.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-13B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}