What Happens Next for Your Young Adult Clients With Autism?

For a young adult with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the social and behavioral intricacies of getting a job can be daunting. And once they find a job and successfully navigate the interview process, staying employed can present new challenges. Negative work experiences range from lack of tolerance, problems with social interactions—co-workers often don’t recognize social norms as challenges for their peers with ASD—and limited time to learn new tasks. These issues can lead to short employment stints for people with autism. Adults with ASD need help with the multiple skills required for job hunting and workplace success, such as creating resumes, navigating the job-application process, interviewing, interpersonal problem-solving, transitioning independently to new tasks and/or routines, examining work errors, asking for help when needed, and forming realistic job expectations. Compared to other young adults with disabilities, those with ASD have the lowest rate of employment. So how can speech-language pathologists help? We can incorporate a variety of evidence-based practices into sessions that can assist our clients with ASD in finding, getting and succeeding at a new job. Mock interviews: Use practice interviews to help clients understand what to expect during a real job interview. Consider videotaping the mock interview. You and your client can review the interview and discuss body language and on-topic responses. Remember, video modeling is an evidence-based prac...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Advocacy Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Language Disorders social skils Source Type: blogs