Good fields for daughter with ADHD and NLD

Parents Forum
1

<p>I have an NLD daughter who is currently in college. She is having an exceptionally hard time choosing a major and a career that can accommodate her deficits while capitalizing on her strengths. Here’s what we need to take into account:</p>

<p>-Organization: She really struggles with losing things, and her desk is a mess. Anything requires spatial awareness is a challenge for her. Ask her to complete online paperwork in a timely manner, and she’ll do it, but ask her where she put a form in her filing cabinet, and she won’t be able to tell you. While she struggles with keeping track of her surroundings, otherwise, she is very responsible (e.g. good with getting on places on time and meeting deadlines). </p>

<p>-math: she can do basic arithmetic with the help of a calculator, but tested at an eighth grade math level despite her status as a college student. If her job occasionally requires basic math, she’ll be able to get by, but it shouldn’t be a core duty of the position (nor should it be a job that constantly requires calculation no matter how basic, like cashier work. She has a slow processing speed). </p>

<p>-restlessness/hyperactivity: She likes a lot of variety, and needs tasks to change every so often or else she won’t be able to sit in her chair. Working on one project for an entire day isn’t the best set-up for her–she needs a job with a diversity of different duties, or alternatively, something repetitive that offers the chance to “travel through the cycle” several times throughout one work day.</p>

<p>-social skills: while autism-like traits are often used to diagnose NLD, my daughter is very outgoing and prefers being around others to being alone. A desk job with minimal interaction doesn’t appeal to her. However, she does have some idiosyncracies, e.g. she talks rather loudly at points and sometimes speaks very fast. This means she would need a position that allows for her to be around/work with others, but could tolerate a bit of quirk. </p>

<p>-verbal skills: my daughter excels at writing and at speaking (despite the aforementioned rate/volume issues, she is very articulate and good at presentations or talking to others individually). Many people have suggested journalism or editing, but the issue is that my daughter thinks she is too hyper to spend all day writing at a desk–perhaps an ideal job might be one that includes writing, but one that features other tasks at all. </p>

<p>-attention to detail: verbally, my daughter is very attentive to detail (good at noticing errors in writing or factual issues in research), but this does not carry over to visual domains. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions? She is considering teaching at the high school level, but she is concerned her executive function issues might generate challenges–the more people there are and the more noise there is, the more difficult it is for her to focus. Could a person like her succeed as a teacher? She is worried that her idiosyncracies will make her be an easy target for adolescent jokes. Any thoughts?</p>

2

<p>Does she like being outside & being active?
I found that I was very interested in plants & have been taking horticulture classes as well as working with sustainable restoration of habitat along waterways.
What does she like to do in her free time?</p>

3

<p>I recommend that almost everyone take a year off before college, and Im wondering if that is an option for your daughter?
Experience in the " real world" may help her see her strengths in a way she can apply them to her interests.</p>

<p>I haven’t read this book, but it looks good.
[Developing</a> Talents: Careers For Individuals With Asperger Syndrome And High-functioning Autism- Temple Grandin](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Talents-Individuals-Asperger-High-functioning/dp/1934575283]Developing”>http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Talents-Individuals-Asperger-High-functioning/dp/1934575283)</p>

4

<p>This sounds EXACTLY like my D!! She wants to teach high school English but is very concerned about her ability to pass the math portion of the Praxis I. While there are some states that don’t require Praxis, they all seem to have their own state tests. She is now considering educational research, social sciences, journalism and creative writing. I also mentioned marketing, but she is not interested.</p>

<p>Has your D taken and passed statistics? At my D’s school it was a computer based class and she did very well in it. There was really no computation as data was entered into spreadsheets. Stats is required for most social science majors.</p>

<p>Fwiw, D worked as a cashier for a major retailer for two years in high school. For the few cash transactions, the register does all the work!</p>

5

<p>How about event planning, hospitality industry, NGO marketing and fundraising?</p>

6

<p>Theater, theatrical design or costuming, recreation (sports team management, coaching), art.</p>

<p>If she’s interested in journalism, she might do that but focus on tv or reporting, which would get her into the field and out of the office more.</p>

7

<p>What are her non-academic interests? There may be careers that would capitalize on these.</p>

<p>Ex. If she loves to ski, possibly she could work at a ski resort. Hiking? Possibly work at a state park, Outward Bound or another outdoor or adventure organization.</p>

8

<p>Not marketing but yes to fundraising. Marketing is really more metrics related. Perhaps sales, PR or communications as opposed to marketing. As a tangent to journalism, perhaps editing or proofreading. Advertising is another possibility for a career field and not anywhere near as many kids targeting it as a career as in the hey days of my youth. I thought of recreational sports majors. But you say she’s in college – what classes is she enjoying and doing well at - those would be clues.</p>

9

<p>How about being a librarian?</p>

10

<p>Leverage her passions – what does she enjoy (academic & non-academic)?
Whatever field she chooses, she’ll need to develop/enhance ‘coping’ mechanisms to address her deficits.
btw – but for a Y chromosome, the description of your daughter also largely applies to my son.<br>
He’s heading to college this fall, and his current interests include environmental studies and international relations)</p>

11

<p>a few other books you might be interested in:</p>

<p>Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome Or Non-verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies, by Yvonne Fast</p>

<p>How to Find Work that Works for People with Asperger Syndrome: The Ultimate Guide for Getting People with Asperger Syndrome Into the Workplace (and Keeping Them There!), by Gail Hawkins</p>

12

<p>Event planning requires a lot of organizational skills, probably not a good fit.</p>

<p>How about Human Resources? Your D’s good communication and people skills would be assets.</p>

13

<p>Hmmm. It sounds like she has no clue what she wants to do, and it’s independent of her NLD issues. She just doesn’t know, like so many other college students. If she had an idea of the career she wanted, her NLD would be a non issue. She would find a workaround. Has she ever expressed anything she’s passionate about or interested in?</p>

14

<p>Would it help to choose a major based on interest rather than future job? I think that is a good way to go for everyone, unless she wants a vocational kind of program (nursing, accounting, engineering for instance, none of which seems like a fit).</p>

<p>Has she been in college long enough to explore a lot of different academic areas?</p>

<p>Has she volunteered or interned at all? Or had jobs she liked?</p>

<p>It is hard to answer this in the abstract, and every person is unique. Also, the job market and choices don’t really fall in neat categories.</p>

<p>Can she finish school and then figure out during her twenties like most other students? (I have one with challenges who is doing that right now.)</p>

15

<p>I figured it out in my twenties. And my thirties. And forties & fifties. </p>

<p>It may not work that way for most, or even many, but it has for me. And it hasn’t stopped me from getting (& staying) married, earning a decent income, becoming a parent and helping to guide my son through the same process.</p>

<p>As long as your daughter can find something of interest for now and move towards that first degree, I’d suggest that she needn’t choose her vocation just yet – just try to keep many doors open as possible, selecting courses that play to her interests & strengths.</p>

16

<p>I do feel as if PR or advertising might be a good fit. She is very creative and has a constant stream of ideas! One concern for her is the level of competition in these fields. She has heard they can be quite cutthroat. </p>

<p>To clarify, while my daughter is restless, she is not at all mechanically inclined. She struggles with manual tasks of any sort due to dyspraxia (she was asked to quit her cashiering position because she would drop too many food items). </p>

<p>In terms of interests, she likes reading a lot about Eastern Europe and picking up Slavic languages. The problem is that she is unable to live on her own currently due to extreme executive function issues (she commutes), so it would be hard for her to leverage this interest into a job that doesn’t entail travel. Originally, she thought about studying abroad, but at this time, she loses things far too often for a study abroad experience to be successful. Several times a week she loses her cell phone, credit card, keys, etc. and if she were to live on her own this could lead to some dangerous situations. She also really enjoys reading about socioeconomic issues in the context of race, disability, and ethnicity here in America.</p>

<p>Glopop11: she did pass college level statistics. While she can do math with the help of a calculator in her own time, anything with time constraints generates significant challenges. </p>

<p>My daughter is very anxious about choosing a career in part because of her past failures. She earns almost all A’s in college, but has been asked to quit several jobs, and she is starting to recognize that while her transcript can help her get a job, it doesn’t guarantee that she can keep it. She is is eager to please and always puts forth her 110%, but her slow processing speed and clumsiness has generated a lot of issues. She is hesitant to choose a major because she’s concerned this failure will continue.</p>

17

<p>I have a kid with NLD, so I am very sympathetic to your question. Fortunately my kid has strong math skills (for a NLDer), so has more options – she is in college and really liked her computer science class this fall, so is thinking of going in that direction. But the executive functioning issues you describe are the same with my daughter, and that is a very difficult issue to make progress on with NLD. Since she is pretty outgoing, maybe teaching is something she should explore further. If she has a knack for languages, maybe foreign language teacher would be an option. Although there are executive function requirements, it seems to me that there is also a lot of repetition – so once she had been through a semester, she would know the tasks and be able to repeat them.</p>

18

<p>An interest in Eastern Europe & Slavic languages / socioeconomic issues suggests political/policy analyst.</p>

19

<p>How about translator?</p>

20

<p>Again, can the anxiety over choosing a major be reduced by explaining that the major does not have to relate directly to a career choice? In other words, that she can study what she likes and deal with job choices later?</p>

<p>Maybe you could sit down with her and go over craigslist listings or something, just to see the complexity and variety in jobs out there.</p>