For yourself
For teenagers and young adults aged 14 to 25
You are the person we work with, and your goals count. Everyday life, transitions and self-advocacy, with or without a diagnosis.
01Shore
Autism · ages 14 to 25 · for parents too
Autism coaching for teenagers and young adults
Much of what is hard in autistic everyday life comes from the fit between person and surroundings: rooms that are too loud, routines that change without notice, expectations nobody states. In coaching you find out what you need and how it can fit into your everyday life. With or without a diagnosis.
02Reframe
A change of perspective
Often it is the setting that does not fit, not the person.
So coaching does not start from the idea that you should adapt more. We look at what you need and find ways to make room for it in your everyday life. Sometimes the surroundings can change, sometimes it takes strategies that hold.
Stage 2The bridgeWhat support can look like in practice.
03Understanding
How I understand autism
Here, autism describes a different way of perceiving, thinking and communicating. Not an illness that needs treating. Three ideas explain a lot of it.
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Monotropism
Attention gathers on fewer things, and goes deep. That makes interests a source of energy, and interruptions, changes of topic and multitasking especially tiring.
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Sensory processing
Sounds, light, touch or smells can arrive more strongly, more weakly or differently. How much energy a room costs is often invisible from the outside.
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The Double Empathy Problem
In 2012, Damian Milton described how communication between autistic and non-autistic people is difficult in both directions. The problem is not a lack in the autistic person, but the gap between two ways of communicating.
Where autism and ADHD come together, both feed in. More under ADHD coaching.
04What we work on
What autism coaching covers here
What we can work on
- Noticing which sensory input costs you capacity, and building in relief before it gets too much.
- Looking at where your energy goes, including where it looks like nothing from the outside.
- Preparing changes and transitions so that deviations are planned for.
- Saying what you mean directly, being allowed to ask again, and clarifying in writing what does not work out loud.
- Deciding deliberately where masking is necessary, where it is not, and what it takes to balance it out.
- After a late diagnosis, finding out what belongs to you and what was adaptation.
What it is not
- Not an assessment. Whether an autism diagnosis applies is established by medical or psychological professionals.
- Not psychotherapy and not treatment.
- Not training to appear less autistic, and no promise that autism can be fixed.
- No self-tests and no symptom checklists.
- Not crisis support.
You don’t need a diagnosis. An assessment is a separate decision, and it is not a condition for getting support.
05Two paths
Two ways into coaching
Autism coaching is part of one shared offer. Autism, ADHD or both: the stance is the same.
For you as a parent
For parents
You are a client in your own right, even if your child does not come themselves. It is about your stability and understanding your child better.
Stage 3BloomWhat is allowed to change, at your own pace.
06Bloom
What change can look like
Not a new person, more an everyday life that suits the way you perceive things. For example:
A transition that is prepared without everything having to be fixed in advance.
A break that comes before your battery is empty.
A question you ask without apologising for it.
A place where you don’t have to mask.
Examples, not promises.
07Knowledge
Further reading
Three articles that go deeper than this page can.
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Self-understanding
Masking, exhaustion and the question of fitting support
It works — that is the problem. Why the bill only arrives later and what can be changed about it.
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Direction and transitions
Preparing transitions with autism, without prescribing everything
A seamless plan is not security — it is a risk. What preparation can do instead.
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Communication and self-advocacy
Saying more clearly what you need in an important conversation
“I cannot stand it” is true but not negotiable. How it becomes something that can be discussed.
Common questions about autism coaching
Do I need an autism diagnosis?
No. If you have one, that knowledge feeds in. If not, we work with what you experience. Coaching does not replace an assessment. More in the article Do I need a diagnosis?
How are the sessions set up?
What you need for a conversation to work is agreed beforehand: camera on or off, breaks, written preparation, a fixed time frame, a structure known in advance and, for in-person sessions, the same room. These are not special requests. They are working conditions.
Do I have to stop masking?
No. Masking cannot be dropped safely everywhere. Coaching is about deciding deliberately where it is necessary and where it is not, and what you need afterwards to balance it out.
08The first step
The first step can be small.
In the introductory call we spend 20 to 30 minutes clarifying what it is about, how I work and whether coaching fits. It is not a free coaching session, and in the end you decide. No pressure to sign up and no follow-up chasing.
- 20 to 30 minutes
- Free and without obligation
- Online or in Rheinfelden
Who are you asking for?
