Aspie futures

Here we are December already and Xmas rat-a-tat-tatting on the door.
Yes, the shopping is done.
I think.
Hubby did the Chrissy tree and decs while I had the Feral Aspie teen up in Dunolly.
He got his happy on....he trundled about on his treadly, we sang in the choir for the Chrissy carols and he et a delish chicken parma in The Royal Hotel ( cooked by Mine Host, Karen The Kitchen Whizz).

He's been so full of emotions these past few weeks - end of the year irritation picked up from the other kids at school, excitement at school hols, excitement at staying in Dunolly, birthday excitement (he's a whole 15 now, where the hell did those years go??!!) and so on and so forth.
You get the picture - typical Aspie and typical teen coping with all these GINORMOUS churning emotions inside.
But he's been a good kid.
Got his happy on cos of Dunolly.
And wants to get a part-time job.....

But.
We are starting to get scared for his future.
Like any parents we want to see him independent, doing whatever job/work career that floats his boat and coping with Life.
But.
With his Auditory Sensory issues we can't see him coping with even a part-time job after school...he barely takes in the instructions of school lessons or conversations with friends, how much basic Occ Health and Safety will he retain?
He works at a s-l-o-w pace, hurrying him up Does.Not.Work, it only angers him...how many bosses will tolerate a time-poor employee (who has NO concept of time itself) with what they perceive as "attitude" before booting him out?
How many knocks to his self-esteem will he have to cop before something, anything, turns up?

We've even tossed around the mad idea of starting a business in Dunolly just so he could work at his own pace, learn basic safety proceedures at his own pace, work without a boss hanging over his shoulder or the stress and pressure of keeping up.
How to start a business - what business?! - we have not the foggiest.
This would, of course, involve selling my Dad's house and using that money as we are stoney broke and on pensions.
How would we do this with my vision impairment, hubby's dyslexia and lack of car transportation I have NFI.
It seems like an impossibility but there must be a way or something for him.

Hmm, something for researching in the New Year.
Maybe.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick...tick...tick

Aspie teen had no idea of time.
He can't 'sense' when time has passed while he's been reading or working on a project.
He can't look at the sky or the shadows and guess whether it's morning or afternoon, those little things around us that we pick up mostly without being told.
A friend of ours suggested an egg timer, a little $2 cheapie thing with one of those ear-piercing bell alarms that lets the whole world know you've over-boiled your eggs again.
So.
It worked for Aspie teen.
No longer did he park himself in the backyard for hours watching ants or prattle his "in a minute" when engrossed in a book/tv show/game.
We put the egg timer on his games when arguments ensued - 30 mins on the games and 1 minute less for each time he'd refuse to do something with the "In a minute" chant.
How often do we say that "In a minute" without any real intention of being literally just one minute?
To someone with no concept of what the value of a minute was this was just a throw-away comment.
Until those precious minutes started flying past on the egg timer - how often did we hear "That can't be right! I just started eating my dinner!" when we got tired of dinner being dragged out for 2 hours or "But that can't be 30 mins already!" when his gaming time was up.
Suddenly, he realised how quickly time was whooshing past without his noticing and when he's reminded of losing some of those precious minutes from his gaming time - whoosh!
It's amazing how quickly he gets a wriggle on these days!
Sure, it's not all sunshine and roses and we've had to incorporate a large-faced analogue watch for him to use (with much nagging reminding to wear it) as he's great with digital but analogue gives a more precise indication of time passing.
Look at a digital clock.
It's just numbers.
Look at an analogue clock face.
It's hands are a picture telling you how much time until the next hour.
You can count the 5 minute increments between the numbers, the value of a minute is right there staring you in the face and the movement of the hands gives you the underlying message that time does not stand still.
Aspie teen still isn't fantastic but he's better with time management, organisation and  study.

Cooking

My attempts at teaching my darling son to cook are, at times, both frustrating (for him) and a source of immeasurable giggles (for me).
We have chickens; free ranging, egg-laying, bossy, personality-plus chickens ruling the roost (and backyard) with gossipy cackles from sun up til sun down.
When I instructed him to check the inside cavity of the (store bought) chicken he was going to roast he gave me the most horrified look, followed by,
"I'm not looking up its cloaca!"