Employment is not something you’d typically think about when your child is young, but there are skills they can start to learn that will help plant the seeds for when they are a teen and then adult.

For example self-determination is the ability to make decisions for yourself. This begins very simply with the idea of making choices like what your child prefers to play with. You can give your child the power and ability to decide what they want by giving them some choices when you can. Someday when they are an adult this leads to what kind of job they would enjoy.

Teaching your child some simple chores provides first sense of responsibility and pride for taking care of something. They can start to learn some organizational skills like where to put their toys.

Working on life skills like hygiene, self-advocacy, money management basics and social communication are important building blocks to prepare for employment. The related articles in the Milestones Autism Planning (MAP) Tool provide more information.