When: Tuesday evenings for six weeks starting November 3^rd thru Dec 8^th

Time: 6:30 PM

Where: 13 Eaton Court, 2^nd floor, Wellesley, MA 02481

Contact: AnneFentonMD@CommonSenseMedical.com (tel: 617-848-2937)

Directions: behind the Blockbuster Video Store on Washington Street, Wellesley, which is just past the Whole Foods Market on the same side of Washington St. and about 3 miles west of Newton Wellesley Hospital

Cost: $40 per person per session or discounted fee of $220 for all 6 weeks

Description: This is more than a support group for parents with young adult children who have diagnoses on the Autistic Spectrum. We call them the children with no place to go. Once out of the public school system and educational services, where do they go? What do they do? How do we continue to help them? What resources and services are there and how do we access them?

You are not alone with your grief, guilt, disappointment, and shattered dreams.

• Learn from other parents who share their collective experiences at various stages of parenting these young adults in a society which considers them independent at age 18, but which does not understand or know how to provide for their needs.
• Share information on how to help them to become as functional and independent as possible while preserving one's boundaries and sanity.
• Experience the understanding of other parents who know first hand how profoundly parenting your child has eroded your parental self esteem and self confidence.
• Listen to these young adults as they relate their own stories through their own eyes.
• Learn how to access resources once your child is “out of the system”.
• Learn how to protect them financially and medically.
• Explore the benefits and limitations of legal guardianship, and learn how to obtain and maintain parental rights over finances, health care, and emergency medical needs..
• Discuss the impact of raising these children on marriage and siblings.
• Share with others the challenges of single parenting with the adversarial or non-adversarial ex-spouse.
• Contribute your own ideas on topics for discussion, guest speakers, and a host of other possible formats.