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21-year old son has autism and would like to learn computers

raxa
raxa Community member Posts: 37 Connected
edited October 2016 in Autism and neurodiversity
My son is 21 years old and has autism with learning difficulties, his very keen to learn or training on technology computer with support.  If there any work experience?

Comments

  • Yiman60
    Yiman60 Community member Posts: 95 Connected
    raxa said:
    My son is 21 years old and has autism with learning difficulties, his very keen to learn or training on technology computer with support.  If there any work experience?
    http://www.lead.org.uk/

    I live in Scotland , something like this may be available where you live.
    Job Centre Plus should have a list of suggestions , even a course. I believe you should get support till you are 25.
    Another suggestion is Autism Iniative. They will have extensive knowledge as well as NAS .
  • InformationSupportWorker
    InformationSupportWorker Community member Posts: 15 Connected

    Hello Raxa

    Is your son already confident using the computer or does he want to learn more and become confident?

    Warm wishes

    Vicky


  • raxa
    raxa Community member Posts: 37 Connected
    Hi Vicky thank you very much for the information,  his very good in computer, I am looking for appriantship (supported) internship, who course in hardware in computer thank you raxa
  • Yiman60
    Yiman60 Community member Posts: 95 Connected
    raxa said:
    Hi Vicky thank you very much for the information,  his very good in computer, I am looking for appriantship (supported) internship, who course in hardware in computer thank you raxa
    I am sure your local College would have lots of ideas and courses to suit. The undergraduate Support at Colleges is very good and of course if it's HNC or above you would be entitled to Disabled Students Allowance.

    The support teams have lots of experience of funding opportunities and the  level of support required.

    suggest you give them a call and arrange a visit.
  • jamieknight
    jamieknight Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hello,

    If he is looking to learn more about software development then let me know. I work at the BBC and am involved in recruiting autistic developers etc.

    In general, there are a few options:

    Education:

    For learning about development / engineering skills then a computer science degree is useful, but not the only route. Many developers are self taught and in reality if you have the skills and a good CV most companies won't really care if you have a degree. Software engineering moves to fast for traditional education to keep up.

    I'd suggest looking at some of the online courses, like https://teamtreehouse.com and https://www.codecademy.com. I'd heavily recommend learning basic web skills (HTML, CSS, JS) as they can provide a good foundation for other types of developer. It's also easy to build projects for yourself and fine small web development clients online via freelancing sites and via family and friends.

    Employment

    After building the skills and experience there are a few autism specific employment agencies out there. 

    http://uk.specialisterne.com - focus on finding supportive placements for autistic developers / IT professionals.

    http://auticon.co.uk - an agency which hires autistic people to work on client projects.

    I hope that is useful, the path i took was:

    - Self taught development, started freelancing at 11.
    - By 16 i was working for a local agency alongside my GCSE
    - between 16-21 Mixed freelance and agency work a A Levels / FDA (including working on projects for Channel 4 and Dogs Trust).
    - 21 left my degree early to join the BBC, Was a lead developer on iPlayer Radio.
    - 23 joined BBC platform engineering as a senior developer.
    - 25 Left BBC platform engineering to my current role as a senior accessibility specialist.

    I don't have a single qualification in what i do, no one care much :D

    hope that helps,

    Jamie + Lion



  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 210 Listener
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  • raxa
    raxa Community member Posts: 37 Connected
    Hi Jamie Thank your for your information regarding BBC employing adults with Autisum He will need 1.1 support
  • jamieknight
    jamieknight Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    I get 1:1 support via access to work.

    it might also be with chatting to any local computer shops. PC assembly / setup might suite him well.
  • raxa
    raxa Community member Posts: 37 Connected
    Hi  Jamie please advise how to apply at BBC for software development for Autisum adults with learning difficulties 

    If I can have more details or contact details.

    Thank you
    Raxa

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