Tips for Finding Talents for Autistic Children in the Context of Preparing Financial Independence
Preparing an autistic child who is starting to enter adulthood towards financial independence, of course, is something that is challenging for parents. Starting from how to find talents that match children's interests, what professions are most suitable for children, how to control feelings of worry about the child's future, to how to build a sense of 'confidence' that the child will be able to be financially independent in the future with the provision of skills from talent it has. Collaboration between parents, companions, teachers, and professionals is needed to get answers to the questions above.
Talking about talent, of course, will always be related to interest. Even so, talent and interest are two different things, but they have a mutually reinforcing relationship. Talent can be interpreted as a skill, or potential someone possesses from birth. Talents that are well developed since childhood can make a person a professional in his field and vice versa. At the same time, interest is a person's feeling of being attracted to something that creates a strong urge to do it. Interest grows naturally based on the influence of the environment. For example, a child's talent for singing, while children's interests can be different (due to environmental impacts), in keroncong, jazz, pop, dangdut, or other songs.
Searching for talent in autistic children certainly cannot be done instantly. Still, a search is needed, accompanied by process of exploration in children from an early age so that potential children can be found to be proud of. Here are eight tips for finding children's talents:
1. In-Depth Observation or Early Observation
Parents should be sensitive to anything that children do. Don't just focus on grades or academic achievement; focus on the child's strengths, not weaknesses.
Take a closer look at the activities your child does, even if it's trivial:
- Does the child enjoy doing it?
- Did the child do well?
- Does the child want to repeat it again?
- What needs to be done so that it gets better when children do this activity?
If necessary, make a list of activities the child does in a special note. It would be better if you added a score column, where a score of 10 is for the most often done activity and the most exciting according to children.
2. Recognizing Children's Intelligence
After observing and recording some of the activities children usually do, we also need to know the type of child's intelligence. This type of intelligence influences learning styles, reflects interests, and can be a sign of strength in a child.
To get a picture of the intelligence possessed by children, we can use the Multiple Intelligence from Howard Gardner, which divides intelligence into eight types, namely; logical-mathematical intelligence, bodily intelligence (kinesthetic), relational intelligence (interpersonal), image intelligence (spatial), musical intelligence, self-intelligence (intrapersonal), language intelligence, and natural intelligence.
3. Ability to Absorb Knowledge
Pay attention to the child's learning speed in understanding a knowledge or skill being taught. If a child is taught something easy to understand, learns quickly, and the results of his work are of good quality, chances are he has talent in that regard. For example, Does the child quickly understand cooking techniques, baking, or computer programs?
4. Create a Conducive Environment
Every child must have talent, which can be likened to a seed. If cared for, fertilized, and cared for by the owner, the seed will grow and bear fruit well. Then the task of parents is to create an environment that is conducive, comfortable, and safe so that the child's self-confidence and potential can emerge and develop. A conducive environment can be in the form of a house (place of residence), school, training ground, place of exploration as wide as possible, programs, facilities, and teachers following the child's conditions and needs.
5. Give Positive Encouragement
Of course, discovering children's talents needs encouragement or motivation from parents, especially autistic children. Their dependence on parents or companions is still relatively high. Parents should encourage the right measure so that the child's potential can grow optimally. Positive encouragement can be through praise, gifts for children's efforts, quality time with children, and assistance during the child's growing process. Appreciate every child's hard work and effort in producing something.
6. Have a Growth Mindset
Mindset is an essential thing in one's success and growth. Autistic children also can grow and develop both mentally, emotionally, and physically. So parents and companions must have a growth mindset so that it is in line with the potential of the child. It should be understood that every autistic child needs their own time, intensity, ways, and methods to understand and master new things, so be patient with them and appreciate every little or significant progress they achieve.
7. Consistent
Consistency is also an important thing related to how discovering children's talents. Autistic children tend to like order, repetition, and consistency. So parents should start looking for talent and providing stimulus to their children's skills as early as possible and be consistent in running programs that suit their children's crafts. Thus, when he enters adulthood, the child is competent enough to work according to his interests and skills to achieve financial independence.
8. Take an Interest and Aptitude Test
Test results can be accurate or miss due to human error factors when working, for example, the use of faulty test equipment, the child's condition that is not conducive, environmental conditions that are not conducive, etc. It is better to do it at 14 and over (junior high school age). So, the personality and aptitude test results should only be used as a recommendation and one of the references that can be considered in determining skills, education majors, or professions. And this test is only a recommendation; children will only reach their potential with effort through the things mentioned earlier.**
Author: Sari Andhayani, S.Psi
(Mother from Hugo, 18 years old with ASD, student of Informatics Engineering at the Jakarta State Polytechnic through the SBMPTN route. Hugo started to seem interested in symbols from the age of 3-4 years)
