Is your Autistic child capable of living independently?
After years of struggling to find help, it’s often difficult for parents to believe their child could ever live an independent life. Many of them fear for the future of their child. If they are unable to develop independent living skills, “what will happen to them?” they ask. Yet they feel powerless to change the course of events.
At A Complete 180 we work with the family to support them and show them that their autistic child is more capable than what they previously thought.
Transition Housing in Federal Way and Seattle
A Complete 180 currently manages two transition houses, one in Federal Way, and the most recent one now opening in Seattle.
Each house has a live-in house manager, who mentors the residents and works with them to develop:
- Independent living skills
- Social skills
- Executive functioning skills
As part of the Complete 180 program, each resident also receives independent therapy, group therapy, and skills training. The program is intended to expose the residents to a social environment where they are expected to be self-responsible. We start with simple tasks, and continue to build on each individuals success.
One of the first things we might teach them to do is laundry. Or we might teach them to be responsible for brushing their teeth. It’s extremely basic. But over time, we’ve seen residents build on these simple skills and grow beyond previous expectations. We’ve seen numerous residents go on to live independently, hold down jobs, and even graduate from college.
But we started simple. You need to get up. You have to do your laundry. You have to leave the house once a day. We start out with these tiny little steps and we build up from there.
Community Living
In addition to a live-in house manager, each house also has between 3-5 residents. An important part of the program is that each resident learns how to live in a community, and how to socially interact with one another.
We match the people in each house based on their interest and level of functioning. We make sure all of the residents are paired appropriately. This allows for a more comfortable living arrangement for the residents but also allows us to provide the right staff and support to address the houses unique needs.
Ready to See A Complete 180?
After working with residents and clients for years, we’re always happy to hear parents say the following things in disbelief as their autistic children grow and exceed their expectations:
- “I never thought my child would ever be independent”
- “I never thought my child would go to college”
- “I never thought my child would have a job”
Parents are terrified to let go of their Autistic children, and to push them out of the house. But at A Complete 180, the path to independence begins by taking that step. We have 100% faith in all of our clients and 100% faith in their families.
If you’re interested in learning more about A Complete 180‘s housing program, please reach out to us below or call us at (206) 466-5649.