Can autistics work with autistics?

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I'm a 14 year-old female with HFA. When I grow up i really want to work with special needs children, especially autistic children. Recently my class have been on a PRAO, that we call it here in Sweden. The kids go to different places to observe a work place. Many went to the dentist, the supermarket, ect. I went to a special school for children with disabilities. I was only with one child though, a little 6-year old boy who couldn't speak, but speaks through sign-language. I don't know if he had autism though, but it was intresting to see how they worked with him and how HE worked. He was so cute and came up to me and looked at me in the face, and he took my hand and pulled me away to show things. He hugged me, hit me, pulled my hair and took his hands on my cheeks. I did realize you have to be patient when you work with those kids

I am not officially diagnosed AS, but my son is and I have worked with him all of his life. I think that autistic people working with other autistics is prolly the best idea. We instinctively know what to do to make situations less sensory crazy for the children. Plus we are in a unique position of teaching them how to be better functioning, because we've bought and sold the t-shirt for it. I work with alot of AS kids, and I find that sometimes it's just good for them to know that there is hope to function semi-normally in the real world and that you can build your own modifications to make your life better.

This is a different situation than working with special needs kids, but I have AS and I'm the assistant manager at a store, and we have a HFA employee. Most of the times it's great, because we generally "get" each other, and it's nice to have someone who understands meltdowns and stuff. The problem comes in when I have to become all manager-y towards her when I know full well what she's going through. If she reacts badly with a customer, for instance (which doesn't happen often), even though I completely understand the entire process, and I probably would have done the exact same thing myself, I still have to talk to her as a manager when the whole time I'm understanding her side more than the side I'm enforcing. So it gets weird there, but 99% of the time, it's great to have someone who understands and has gone through many of the same things I have.

Can neurotypicals work with neurotypicals?

no

Its completely possible for autistics to woprk with autistics. I noticed multiple times over the summer where i picked up on an autistic camper getting overstimulated well before the "NT" counsolers did. Once i noticed a HFA camper pacing and rubbing his hair alot during the "clean up the cabin" period. Asked if he was ok, he said it was loud, so i told him he could sweep the porch ( were its a lot quiter, plus he was still doing the "cleaning" part).

as others said, autistics working with autistics have a unique insight. They have walked in those shoes before.

If you work hard for it, I think you could do it. Since you have HFA yourself, you can understand what they're going through, so you'll just have to prove that you can help them. It might be hard, but I believe you can do it!

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I know Autistic people can often dismiss what people say when they are wrong because they think they are right and they believe the problem lies within the person trying to help them not understanding them because of their Autism. Being Autistic yourself they really have to think they are wrong and there is no misunderstandings because you think the same way as them.

Yes I think so. I'm going to volunteering as a 'befriender' after some training. I do think we have a definite contribution to make, because we have understanding and experience from growing up. That doesn't mean we don't need to or can't do training. If you are working with ausitic and special need children, whatever the work is there is going to be a learning curve. It doesn't make a difference whether you are AS of NT. If anything you would expect the learning curve to be greater with somebody who has not experienced what it is like to have some of those difficulties. Of course each child is an individual. I think there are pros and cons for being an AS or NT support worker. Ideally you should have both to compliment each other.

My best friend has AS, so we get along wonderfully

Emma, you're probably one of the most qualified people to work with autistics. There's people that learn about autism from books but there's a lot that's missing from those books. At least the ones I read. You have actual experience where you learnt everything about it (well, not everything, we don't all have all the autistic experiences, but most of it).

I believe you could. I believe those of us who have differences are well equipped to help others facing similar difficulties. I find myself doing extensive research on special needs populations, such as autistic people and those with Down syndrome, although I have never had experience working with them.

Yes, and not just children, we are tuned to each other.

NT is about things now, ASD is about direction. They seek common function, we seek common goals.

Shared goals, enlightened self interest, many people by many paths can work for the same end.

I find it applies well to Autistics in business. We all do it our way, but we are all doing the same thing.

Another thing that we are completely able to do that NT teachers or specialists are not so able to do is that we can find the patterns in things. Because we are on the spectrum we function totally within the parameters of patterns. We see the patterns in others behaviours that NTs don't get. We also get why children sometimes behave the way that they do. We understand what drives them to distraction so to speak and we can figure out how to make them feel better. We understand that they are driven by patterns and we understand the need to function within those patterns.

NTs don't understand that. They only understand cause and effect but often mistake one for the other. She repeats things over and over because she's echolalic. Not she repeats things because her brain cannot process them at just this second. Repeating those things give them meaning and help her to process them better.

I know that's not a great example. But I hope someone gets what I'm really trying to convey here.

I know teaching is a little different but I have been working as a care provider for special needs adults for about 5 years now. I think it can be rewarding, and it can teach you alot about yourself and your own traits. On the opposite side it can be a very testing and challenging job. It has taken me awhile to learn to take on the social aspect of the job, I am doing much better than I used to at this as I used to come home and obsess on work. Now I can leave my two lives separate.

I think it takes a lot of patience as special needs children can be challenging to work with, as anyone can be.

I had a HFA friend who got her education para-pro, she said that it can be quite challenging as the kids she worked with would like to test her.

My best suggestion, reasearch! Get books on teaching, see if you can volunteer anywhere like an equestrian therapy ranch. Good luck!