child support past 18 for mentally challenged daughter

[jscarol]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida

My daughter has been diagnosed with severe ADHD as well as possible asperger's synsdrome/bi-polar, social anxiety/challenged, etc.

She is 18 years old, never had a job, has no friends and not much motivation. She will be graduating from high school in May 2005.

Her father pays child support presently and informed me last night that he is terminating this when she graduates from high school.

I know the Florida law....18 years old or graduation from high school. What happens when the child is mentally/emotionally/socially challenged. She has the maturity of a 10 year old. Can he just terminate supporting a child like that???

I have no money for an attorney. Is there another way to challenge this?

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Yes you can and should petition the court to continue child support because of your child's special educaiton needs, however there are a number of other things you will have to do in addition to child support, such as apply for SSDI/SSI work with DD services in your state. Does your child have a case manager? Special needs trust? Aspergers is not well understood and no set treatment for it. Children don't grow out of it and eventually decline in functioning in mid life. It is important to develop a structures and supportive living and occupational system, so in addition to education, unterstand they may never earn a degree or do anything with it, a good match of skills to employment is important, but usually will require supervision. I suggest you also look into supervised living arrangements outside the home as it is better early on rather than waiting and easier to access services.

Here is an organization in FL that you may call and get more specific advice on services and how to access the system for the best interest of your child.


ASPEN - Asperger Syndrome Education Network of America, Inc.
ASPEN of America, Inc. is a NATIONAL organization based in Florida committed to providing support, education and advocacy for those with AS and related disorders. This group also has a HelpLine, (904) 745-6741.

Let us know how things go. It would be better to have an attorney, perhaps you can reuqest a Guardian ad Litem GAL for your daughter to represent her best interest.

 

[nextwife]

There are fields of discipline in which persons with asperger's are able to function successfully. It is not automatic that a person with a spectrum of disorders may not be able to have success in the correct "niche". Obviously, non-social disciplines are the most appropriate. My daughter's psychiatrist pointed out that fields like computer science are disproportionately filled with asperger's sufferers.

Some interesting sites regarding famous persons who were belived to have suffered from asperger's:

http://myautis.com/famousaspies.html

Historical famous people

Jane Austen, 1775-1817, English novelist, author of Pride and Prejudice

Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, German/Viennese composer

Alexander Graham Bell, 1847-1922, Scottish/Canadian/American inventor of the telephone

Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896, Austrian composer

Henry Cavendish, 1731-1810, English/French scientist, discovered the composition of air and water

Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886, US poet

Thomas Edison, 1847-1931, US inventor

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German/American theoretical physicist

Henry Ford, 1863-1947, US industrialist

Oliver Heaviside, 1850-1925, English physicist

Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, US politician

Carl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychoanalyst

Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, Czech writer

Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944, Russian/French painter

H P Lovecraft, 1890-1937, US writer

Gustav Mahler, 1860-1911, Czech/Austrian composer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791, Austrian composer

Isaac Newton, 1642-1727, English mathematician and physicist

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher

Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British logician

George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish playwright, writer of Pygmalion, critic and Socialist

Richard Strauss, 1864-1949, German composer

Nikola Tesla, 1856-1943, Serbian/American scientist, engineer, inventor of electric motors

Henry Thoreau, 1817-1862, US writer

Alan Turing, 1912-1954, English mathematician, computer scientist and cryptographer

Mark Twain, 1835-1910, US humorist

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter

Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Viennese/English logician and philosopher

Historical people prominent in the late twentieth century (died after 1975)

Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, Russian/US writer on science and of science fiction

Hans Asperger, 1906-1980, Austrian paediatric doctor after whom Asperger's Syndrom is named

John Denver, 1943-1997, US musician

Glenn Gould, 1932-1982, Canadian pianist

Jim Henson, 1936-1990, creator of the Muppets, US puppeteer, writer, producer, director, composer

Alfred Hitchcock, 1899-1980, English/American film director

Howard Hughes, 1905-1976, US billionaire

Andy Kaufman, 1949-1984, US comedian, subject of the film Man on the Moon

L S Lowry, 1887-1976, English painter of "matchstick men"

Charles Schulz, 1922-2000, US cartoonist and creator of Peanuts and Charlie Brown

Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, US artist

Contemporary famous people

Woody Allen, 1935-, US comedian, actor, writer, director, producer, jazz clarinettist

Bob Dylan, 1941-, US singer-songwriter

Joseph Erber (No Sites In English Found), 1985-, young English composer/musician who has Asperger's Syndrome and subject of a BBC TV documentary.

Bobby Fischer, 1943-, US chess champion

Bill Gates, 1955-, US global monopolist

Al Gore, 1948-, former US Vice President and presidential candidate

David Helfgott, 1947-, Australian pianist, subject of the film Shine

Garrison Keillor, 1942-, US writer, humorist and host of Prairie Home Companion

Kevin Mitnick, 1963-, US "hacker"

John Nash, 1928-, US mathematician (portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind)

Keith Olbermann, 1959-, US sportscaster

Michael Palin, 1943-, English comedian and presenter

Oliver Sacks, 1933-, UK/US neurologist, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

James Taylor, 1948-, US singer/songwriter

Here are some additional resources:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/aspergers.htm

Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931282560/thehoagiesgifted/


Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton may have suffered from a type of autism, according to experts.

Researchers at Cambridge and Oxford universities believe both scientists displayed signs of Asperger's syndrome.
http://www.higgs.tribe.btinternet.co.uk/aspergers/asp_famous.htm