It has been a LONG journey, but our twenty year old dyslexic son has finally obtained his GED (high school equivalency diploma) AND more importantly, he has now matured into a really nice young man. VERY long story.....but WOW...with a good ending...THANK GOODNESS!!

In any case, his way has not been the usual scholastic one, but he is now ready to start his adult preparation. For this reason, we are brainstorming. It would be really cool, if we could help him find a job, which matches his skills, and offers him the chance to experience success, whilst building a basis for the future. So, I am wondering if any of you have ideas, or suggestions? For example GEO Thermal....something with a future....

Important facts:
1. Swiss and American Citizen
2. English mother tongue
3. Basic German (vocal, needs to improve)
4. Natural with his hands; building, repairing, 3/D)
5. Not qualified for usual Swiss apprenticeship say...yet..)
6. Driver's license
7. Good attitude, but would benefit from having a mentor.

THANKS everyone....
"It takes a village to raise a child".

I was just wondering why you think he's not read for an apprenticeship. Have you discussed this with educators, or is it your own opinion? An apprenticeship in a hands-on type of profession sounds like a good start to me, for example a carpentry apprenticeship, or maybe metallurgy, mechanics or gardening. That would still allow him to branch out into something else later if he feels inclined, but still give him a solid profession to fall back to if he doesn't.

The problem is that in Switzerland if you don't have an apprenticeship or a higher education, you don't have very much room to develop or much choice in jobs, so as a minimum it would be good to find an apprenticehip where they can take his special needs into consideration.

Would LOVE for him to do an apprenticeship, and have spoken to the Berufberater from our Kanton. Unfortunately, until his German improves, he is not qualified. It is a "teufelskrise) (vicious cycle)....

We did send him on a "schnuppewoche" with a Zimmermann (residential carpentry). It was so wonderful, as he got up each morning with enthusiasm, but his German was not good enough. He actually did a year long course, in residential carpentry, in the US, so he has a good basis. But, the communication was a problem.

It won't work to send him to Language School, as he is very dyslexic and the traditional learning won't work. Believe me. He is smart, and does learn, but needs someone to speak to him, and have a little patience. He is so strong and very smart when it comes to logistical thinking.

We'd like to help guide him, with good ideas. Therefore my posting...as I figure the EFers have a world of experience to help.

You mentioned, that all of you came a long way.

What are his interests and his talents?

I don't say this because of your special situation, but would ask these questions for any child.

Hi,

You might find it useful to contact http://www.fondation-ipt.ch/. They are an organisation that help people who have been out of work and suffer from an illness / disability. They provide training and have programmes that help people to identify career paths and they also teach skills that are useful in getting back into work. They might be able to help your son? To apply you have to fill in a form, and then it needs signing by a social worker, RAV counsellor or doctor. And the person has to be ready to work at at least 50%.

The IPT branches in French-speaking Switzerland also have a programme specifically aimed at helping young people get their first job. I don't know if there is a similar scheme in German speaking Switzerland.

You could also look here to see if you can help your son identify possible careers.

I don't know if you're aware of these people.


http://www.vierlinden.ch/site/ze/index.html


It could be that they're more geared up for the handicapped, which obviously your son isn't, but from what I've heard of them they are extremely skilled and patient and have helped a lot of young people with special problems transition into normal life.

I guess that the average people who come to them have problems far more serious than your son, so putting him there probably wouldn't help him directly, but maybe they know of someone. They work hand in hand with people who offer apprenticeships and mentoring for those with special needs so maybe they know of somebody. Just an idea.

You might want to contact this organization:

http://www.verband-dyslexie.ch

They might draw your attention to the right direction.

THANKS, everyone. Believe me, it has been a long story, which could occupy a few pages, of this thread. However, suffice it to say, we haven't given up, and we are so thankful to feel hopeful.

Well, hindsight is often 20/20, which is the case of our son. I wish ...really wish, we had sent him to public Swiss school, but we chose international schools, which was......not the best choice.

Just the same, he survived adolescence, and has developed into a charming and polite young man. He just needs a chance to learn a job skill and speak German with good and patient people, whilst growing up and integrating.

His skills are manual, sport (a natural) , drawing, building, (could put together IKEA blindfolded) communication ( English), organization ( he is the BEST to prepare for a camping trip...) He does NOT like to read, and writes poorly (dyslexia), so classroom is not his thing. He is generous and kind hearted. He loves animals (cried like a baby when we recently put our Golden Retriever down) , and has fallen in love. Nice kid, really, but has had a lifetime of obstacles.

I will look up all your suggestions...Thank you very much.

Silly me, it made my eyes watering reading how much love you exude when you speak about your son

Hope you find the answers you are looking for.

Has the Berufsberater told you/him about the "Lehre mit Berufsattest"? It's like a shorter apprenticehsip (2 years), oriented towards hands-on learning with reduced school (1 day per week) which is specially adapted for each person. This way, your son would still get a officially recognised training.

Basic information here (German): http://www.berufsberatung.ch/dyn/1211.aspx

A selection of differents types of training (German):
http://www.berufe-easy.ch/

Finally, from what you've told us: Forstarbeiter ("assistant-forester") or Holzbauarbeiter ("assistant-capenter") could be sth. for your son (German):http://www.die-chance.ch/info-materi...gartenbau.html

I am dyslexic, what's important you son must find something he really enjoys doing, he has to choose for himself.
I took up photography & became a cameraman.

I have just shared your responses with my husband, as I knew EF would be a good resource. Thank you.

Someday, I may write a book. When I see schoolboys running on a sports field, I must look away, as I feel such failure, as a parent. It hurts to know he has missed such normal things of life. Yet, all things are relative, and we are so fortunate. More importantly, he has fallen in love, and feels hope for life. THANK the universe, and THANK this darling young lady.

Now, on to planning...Will check out all your suggestions!!!

Some thoughts....

Firstly, I just wanted to chime in and say that my mum and sister are both dyslexic. They have developed verbal skills to compensate for the struggle with written work, and it takes them about 4x longer to do anything involving reading/writing than anyone else...

In the swiss context, it's extremely hard to get further without that apprenticeship, and he is absolutely going to struggle with the language. Online learning won't be good, because it's so focused on written work...

If his long term plan is to stay in Switzerland, then getting as much language immersion (oral language) is going to be very important. And I'd agree, doing a regular apprenticeship will be extremely challenging without the language skills.

A friend of mine has very severe dyslexia and vision problems as well, and he's turned into a computer nerd who uses a voice system to run his computer - how techno-interested is your son ? If he's not 100% cool with computers, I'd consider a course to build his computer skills.

If he's really sporty, do they pay kids to do sport classes, summer programmes or can he do a swimming teaching certificate and get some job at the local pool ? First Aid and doing a life-guards certificate ? Some sort of short courses that relate to his interests....and at the same time, get as much work experience as possible ?

Me too, though less than a lot of people (a friend had much more difficulty).

Unfamiliar highway signs are when I notice it the most, and occasionally reading a book to realise the last page (or several) made no sense at all, and have to re-read. My mother became a reading specialist because of this.

Tom

I'm dyslexic too... Just didn't find out till I was in my 50's. There are lots of different ways dyslexia can express itself. I have funny reading patterns and put weird spaces in paragraphs. But I have a good memory.. Or did.. Oddly I write well (not handwriting of course).

I second the voice recognition stuff. There are all sorts of text to speech and speech to text applications. He might enjoy audio books.

Sounds like your son is creative, has great spatial abilities. He probably is a visual thinker.

Foreign languages are hard for me, too.

Please don't beat yourself up for past decisions, you did what what seemed right at the time and hindsight is a wonderful thing. I don't think there are many parents that don't look back sometimes and think I wish . . . . and it sounds like he has turned out just fine

As he loves animals, have you thought about volunteer work at a local animal shelter, might be a good way for him to learn some german in a more informal manner and with a practical basis. Or something I used to do as a teenager back in the UK was to help disabled children go horse riding and swimming, I don't know if there is anything similar here but no doubt other EF'ers will, it was a fantastic experience for me.

For career ideas, if he like the more intricate work, a jeweller might be interesting for him.

Hope he finds something that really works for him.

Oh no, don't say that. I can see from what you write that you do care about him, and care a lot. So please don't blame yourself. Running around on a sports field is good for some but not for all. With your continued love and support I am sure he will find the right way.