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My son is 23 and has severe (fully diagnosed at age 5) ADHD but also shows some Aspergers symptoms. The diagnosing doctor thought he would never be able to graduate high school, but he actually graduated a public college with a Liberal Arts Degree and no direction. I am wildly proud of him not accepting the limitations and excuses the diagnosis afforded him. He is financially set, but wants his life to have a goal. Unfortunately, he does not seem to fit any personality patterns that I can find. For example, he is very comfortable in social settings (e.g. family get together events) but does not seek out such events. He started several businesses (badge making, neighborhood flyer delivery, etc..). More recently, he interned as a handyman for an improv theater and now helps to operate their tech/lighting.
The problem is that all of these positions bore him after several weeks and he losses interest. Having so many short term jobs has made him unemployable to the jobs he sees advertised. As such, most of his time is spent playing Mindcraft with his friend. That game lets him hyper-focus, during which time he hums or sings (not good for quiet offices). That humming is from his need for multiple levels of stimulation. If he is not hyper-focused, he gets bored which is why those prior jobs did not last. One last consideration is that he works best with positions that span the afternoon and evening. I tried to get him interested in my computer based quality control business, but the repetitious aspects of my work quickly annoyed, frustrated and bored him (although he and I get along great in every other aspect of our relationship).
Maybe our son should go to a trade school and become highly skilled...but what job titles should he consider? I appreciate any career advice.
I can relate to the need for multiple levels of stimulation. I was diagnosed with mild ADD at age five, but if I'm doing something that really captures my focus and challenges my mind, I can do it in a quiet or even silent environment. Otherwise, I do need to have some kind of background noise such as music or news/talk on the radio. As a child I remember humming in school and being teased for it until I gained control over the impulse. That might be more difficult for someone with a severe case of ADHD and an autism-spectrum disorder like Asperger's. Has he tried listening to music instead? In many modern offices, employees are permitted to don headphones and listen to music while they work. I've done it in tedious jobs and it really does help.
The main thing for him would be to find something that truly interests him enough to hold his focus, and then find a way to build a career around that. What were his favorite courses when he was in college? Does he have any particularly strong talents or skills, or hobbies that might be turned into a career? Is he creative, or perhaps someone who genuinely enjoys problem-solving and logical puzzles? There are career fields in which people who are Aspies or have ADHD tend to do quite well, and many of them are either creative, puzzle-oriented or both. (I'm thinking here of my many ADHD/Aspie friends who have gone into tech fields or some form of creative work.)
Kinetcity. Thank you for replying. Yes, he used to solve jigsaw puzzles (typically 500 pieces). He also cycles between comfort hording of small stuff (what I consider junk) and major reductions in that junk (typically each time a positive change occurs in his social skills or relationships). My son has yet to show any interests, other than the game and few short term jobs noted above. The Liberal Arts degree was just to be done with college since no interests where formed while there (he lived at home and drove to the school). He still lives at home and only recently reached the level of social skills such that I no longer worry about his ability to live somewhere, or travel somewhere, to have his own life. What type of tech jobs were you thinking of?
He must have found some things in school more interesting than others. Even gaming indicates an interest.
He might do well in something related to information technology, although it would require additional schooling. But something like troubleshooting issues with a computer system can be very rewarding and mentally engaging to people whose minds have this different sort of focusing apparatus (which is how I and many others view the minds of ADHD and autism-spectrum folks -- it doesn't have to be a liability or a disability; it's merely a different flavor of ability).
It sounds like this guy needs a huge amount of variety in his job. Ask HIM what the common thread is in all the jobs that catch his interest for a while. Find that thread and yank on it, hard. Is he an ideas type, a hands-on person who works with things he can fix or build, or maybe (despite the diagnosis) more of a people person? Maybe he needs to be an event planner, or in sales, or travelling from place to place.
I also suggest, not stimulants, but OT for his "ADHD" -- in my experience (which is kind of vast at this point) as lot of people diagnosed with "severe ADHD" actually have mild autism. He may be much better able to regulate himself and stick to things with the right kind of occupational therapy. Has he ever had a sensory eval?
Thank you both for your assistance. My son stopped using Adderall five years ago but his doctor placed him on Prozac, which curtailed his depression (which may have solely originated from a feeling of a lack of purpose). His threads of interest are very thin because of how quickly he losses interest (except for mindcraft which he plays a lot because he can build anything he can think of). His greatest strength is his ability to look at any problem (a broken physical object, an object's design, a friend in distress, game concepts, political issues, etc...) and come up with an improvement (his spacial reasoning is the top 1%). He would be extraordinary as an idea man (inventor, marketing, etc...) and contributor to the feasibility analysis, development, and marketing so long as others did all the minutia work. It is that last part that makes it so hard to place him because all the jobs are for those that only do the minutia. Since he is financially set for life, my hope is to find some company/career that can tap this talent.
It sounds like he would excel at something like civil engineering or mechanical engineering maybe industrial design where there would be a lot of variety but he could stay physically active. Maybe an inspector job such as building inspector where he could use analytic skills in a physically active setting.
By your description, I would not recommend anything requiring extreme focus like database management, web development or computer programming.
Quite a few people in history had difficulty finding a career path due to ADHD. Some studies of their writing as well as accounts of their activities indicate they had various degrees of Aspergers. What they needed was encouragement and freedom to pursue their ideas, no rigid structured careers forced upon them. I'm thinking of Einstein, Edison, Jefferson, and Newton. They all eventually did pretty well.
Why isn't your son working with a rehab counselor?
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