1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Andy, a father to a son with ASD and ADHD, takes a strategic view of independence, rather like a business plan. &amp;nbsp;Because he does this, he and his wife have a clear vision of what they hope their son will be able to do age 21. If their plan needs a little longer to be achieved, Andy is ok with this. &amp;nbsp;He says, 'Being a kid is just a 15 year period of their lives, but they are going to be adults for 50 years.' &amp;nbsp;It doesn't matter if his son takes more time to achieve the same independence as his siblings. But by focusing on where we want our children to be at 21, it's a much longer plan. &amp;nbsp;It relieves some of the frustrations we all feel by being in a hurry for our children to reach the same milestones as quickly as other children. &amp;nbsp;Small steps with low expectations but with long term goals with high expectations is a balanced &amp;nbsp;approach that we could all maybe learn from. &amp;nbsp; For resources to support you on your journey visit redgiraffesolutions.com. The Expanding Worlds Podcast https://journeyskills.libsyn.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5488365/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/5488365