Are Your Dreams for Your Autistic Child Serving You or Them?

Listen to Your Child's Dreams for Himself

dance at wedding

Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision / Getty Images

Most parents have specific goals for their children—and even more specific ones for their autistic children. Often, those goals start with "I want my child to be happy." But a neurotypical adult's version of happiness may not have much to do with an autistic child's interests, abilities, or desires.

Why Parents Set Unrealistic Goals for Their Autistic Children

Many parents of autistic children set short and long-term goals for their child without spending much time discussing the subject with their child. This makes sense to a degree: autistic children may have a tough time envisioning or articulating specific ideas about what they want from life.

Even teens or adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have a hard time coming up with a clear vision of the future. And goal-making requires a degree of abstract thinking and executive planning that may be unreasonable to expect.

Problems arise, however, when parents fill in any blanks with their own visions of what is desirable, interesting, comfortable, or preferable. That's because the hopes and dreams of the adult are rarely the same as those of an autistic child, teen, or young adult.

In fact, parental goals are often created, not with their actual autistic child in mind, but with the hope (sometimes subconscious) that their autistic child will somehow morph into a neurotypical adult. Many parents, in fact, hope and dream that their autistic child will change to the degree that they will fit into society's norms and expectations.

Common Goals Held By Parents of Autistic Children

Many parents with autistic children express the desire to see their children happy. Their definition of happiness may look something like this:

  • "I want my child to have a nice group of friends."
  • "I want my child to live independently."
  • "I want my child to get married and have a family."
  • "I want my child to behave and think normally."
  • "I want my child to hold down a good job and advance in her career."

As you may have noticed, every one of the goals above—all of which are commonly expressed by parents of autistic children—are built around preferences and abilities that require strong social communication skills, solid executive planning skills, a preference for spending time in social groups, and quite a bit of personal ambition. They also assume a desire to find a permanent romantic partner and (ideally) produce offspring.

Autistic people have many strengths, skills, interests, and desires. But because they are autistic, their strengths, skills, interests, or desires are not likely to revolve around social prestige or the desire to impress others.

In fact, many autistic people prefer solitude to groups. Some autistic people pair up, but many find intense intimacy overwhelming. What's more, it's a rare autistic person who is ambitious in the usual sense of wanting to impress and outdo his peers or parents.

Appropriate Goals for an Autistic Child

So, what are the appropriate goals for an autistic child? As with everything else related to ASD, the answers will vary and depend upon your individual child's strengths, interests, and desires. Here are some tips for getting started:

  • Complex social goals like finding a romantic partner may not be particularly important to your child. In reality, relatively few autistic people marry, though many develop solid friendships.
  • Few autistic people have strong executive functioning skills. That means that it may never be possible for them to live independently. Of course, your child can improve their adaptive living skills, but it's likely they'll need at least some support for planning, time management, bill paying, and other important tasks.
  • Many autistic people have passionate interests that can become the foundation for hobbies or even careers. It's a good idea to consider your child's interests when thinking about goals.
  • While it's natural for parents to want their children to overcome or outgrow their autism, the reality is that autism is a lifelong diagnosis. Many autistic people develop strong skills in different areas, but they will still be autistic and will have at least some of the traits associated with the ASD diagnosis.
  • Autistic people are often happy in settings and situations that would be unpleasant for neurotypical people. Many autistic people, for example, value routine and sameness, while many neurotypical people enjoy novelty. They are content with basic jobs, while their neurotypical peers long for greater challenges. These preferences are reasonable and should be considered when setting goals.

Perhaps most importantly, as a parent, you probably spend a great deal of time advocating for and thinking on behalf of your child. When it comes to setting goals, though, it's your child's strengths, interests, abilities, and preferences that should count the most.

10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Panerai S, Tasca D, Ferri R, Genitori D'Arrigo V, Elia M. Executive functions and adaptive behaviour in Autism Spectrum Disorders with and without intellectual disabilityPsychiatry J. 2014;2014:941809. doi:10.1155/2014/941809

  2. Navot N, Jorgenson AG, Webb SJ. Maternal experience raising girls with autism spectrum disorder: a qualitative studyChild Care Health Dev. 2017;43(4):536–545. doi:10.1111/cch.12470

  3. Smith LE, Greenberg JS, Mailick MR. The family context of autism spectrum disorders: influence on the behavioral phenotype and quality of lifeChild Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2014;23(1):143–155. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2013.08.006

  4. NIH Genetics Home Reference. Autism Spectrum Disorder.

  5. Yoo H. Genetics of Autism Spectrum Disorder: current status and possible clinical applicationsExp Neurobiol. 2015;24(4):257–272. doi:10.5607/en.2015.24.4.257

  6. Chen SF, Chien YL, Wu CT, Shang CY, Wu YY, Gau SS. Deficits in executive functions among youths with autism spectrum disorders: an age-stratified analysisPsychol Med. 2016;46(8):1625–1638. doi:10.1017/S0033291715002238

  7. Anthony LG, Kenworthy L, Yerys BE, et al. Interests in high-functioning autism are more intense, interfering, and idiosyncratic than those in neurotypical developmentDev Psychopathol. 2013;25(3):643–652. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000072

  8. Crespi BJ. Autism as a disorder of high intelligenceFront Neurosci. 2016;10:300. doi:10.3389/fnins.2016.00300

  9. Sinha P, Kjelgaard MM, Gandhi TK, et al. Autism as a disorder of predictionProc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014;111(42):15220–15225. doi:10.1073/pnas.1416797111

  10. Beighton C, Wills J. Are parents identifying positive aspects to parenting their child with an intellectual disability or are they just coping? A qualitative explorationJ Intellect Disabil. 2017;21(4):325–345. doi:10.1177/1744629516656073

Lisa Jo Rudy

By Lisa Jo Rudy
Lisa Jo Rudy, MDiv, is a writer, advocate, author, and consultant specializing in the field of autism.