The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

According to the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education (2002), disabled adults have a 70% unemployment rate.  In addition, the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (2003) reported that only 15% of young people with autism are employed for at least a year. In a meta-analysis of studies about young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), Howlin (2000) reported that only 5-44% were in paid employment. In comparing a small sample of young adults with and without AS, only half of those with AS were employed, while 85% of the others were employed (Jennes-Coussens, Magill-Evans, & Koning, 2006).

Adults with AS are often high functioning cognitively. Their attention to detail is very good; they can maintain a high level of accuracy and are consistently good performers on repetitive tasks. They often have excellent technical skills and a good knowledge of facts and figures. They tend to be reliable, persistent, perfectionistic, easily able to identify errors, accurate, attentive to detail, honest and logical (Atwood, 2007).

A defining deficit of individuals with AS is an inability to interact socially with other people (Higgins, Koch, Baughfman, & Vierstra, 2008). This problem, along with other challenging behaviors, including labeling and communicating feelings and interpreting the non-verbal behavior of others (Nesbitt, 2000), makes it difficult for these individuals to apply for, obtain and sustain employment in the community. As a result, people with AS tend to hold low-status jobs that end prematurely due to social difficulties. The lack of suitable work often leads to experiences of frustration, low self-esteem, and a cycle of anxiety and depression related to employment (Howlin, 2000). 

The project described in this presentation is directed at addressing those difficulties and teaching young adults with AS how to function successfully in the working world. It was funded totally by the Department of Labor and Training.

Description of Project

An intensive 12-month job training program was developed for 12 young adults with AS (11 males and 1 female). These individuals ranged in age from 18-29. All had completed high school; two had graduated from college, one had an associates degree, and three had taken some college courses. All had had some job experience. Participants met for six hours per day, three days per week. One student dropped out of the program after the first week.

The Job Club curriculum is divided into three parts. In the first part, classroom instruction focused on five primary topics: social skills (ways to work positively with employers and fellow employees through negotiation, relationship building and socially appropriate exchanges); self-control skills (ways to deal effectively with criticism, anger and rejection); ways to deal effectively with idiosyncratic behavior problems; independent living skills (e.g., banking, personal care, appropriate attire, managing medications); and the essentials of getting and keeping a job (including filling out applications, effective interviewing, giving and receiving feedback, punctuality, interactions with peers and supervisors, problem-solving tactics, making transitions, and organizing and prioritizing tasks). Procedures used in this phase of the program included role playing, video modeling, desensitization and relaxation when faced with stressful situations, positive imagery and computer-assisted interactive video programs. There was also a strong focus on learning to write a resume and interviewing appropriately for jobs.

Part two of the program provided the contextual testing ground for the skills learned in the classes, and occurred concurrently with the classroom instruction. The students first participated in two team-building exercises: writing a song in a music class and designing a comic book in an art class. Next, the participants rotated through three job sites for three weeks each. These job sites consisted of a cafeteria, a greenhouse and computer training. The students were graded on their performance at each site. Appropriate job behavior training occurred intensively in the context of these jobs.  

Part three of the program began at month four when the students investigated job sites in the community to learn about the variety of opportunities existing within large organizations, such as a shopping mall, hospital, yacht restoration school and university. They also sampled community organizations (e.g., one-stop programs) to learn about resources available to them. They made use of the computer for job searches and wrote numerous letters of application. Their interests, strengths and weaknesses were formally evaluated on an individual basis, a process that formed the structure for recommending specific areas of employment for each person. 

When a job was found, the participants continued to attend classes twice a week at the Job Club to discuss problems with their jobs and their fellow employees. Employers provided performance feedback, which was incorporated into these classes as well. 

Results

The Social Skills Assessment Measure, developed for this project, was completed by course instructors after the participants’ first full week of classes and each of the following four months. The results of one-way repeated measure ANOVA indicated significant differences for the overall average social skills scores (p<.003), the social characteristics scores (p<.034), the conversational skills scores (p<.005), and the social protocols and behavior scores (p<.001). Nine participants showed increased communication skills, six showed a higher ability to socialize in a group, and five showed improved social protocols and behaviors. These improvements correlate to the various social skills addressed in class. 

Job site supervisors also completed on-site situational assessments, developed for this project, after the first week of participation at a job site and one week after completion. Using two-tailed, paired samples t-tests, for the art class, these findings indicated significant improvement on the overall average score (p<.008), general work skills subscale (p<0.011) and worker attributes subscale (p<0.045). For the music class, these findings indicated significant improvement on the overall average score (p<.029), learning style subscale (p<0.013) and communication subscale (p<.043). Their work at the greenhouse significantly improved on the overall average score (p<.046) and the learning style subscale (p<.001). There were no statistically significant differences for the on-site situational assessment completed for the cafeteria job or the computer class.

When individual data were examined in terms of bar graphs taken from information provided by job site employers, different participants demonstrated substantial improvements. In the art class, two participants showed improved worker attributes, such as working independently and following workplace routines. In the music class, four participants increased their communication skills, and two showed improved work adjustment skills, general work skills, worker attributes, learning style and behavior. In the greenhouse, nine individuals developed a more independent learning style and four showed improved worker attributes. In the cafeteria, four participants improved their general work skills, three developed increased communication skills and two showed improved worker attributes. 

Pre- and post-test measures were taken with four self-report instruments: the Worry Scale adapted for this population (Wisocki, 2009), the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Borkovec, Robinson, Pruzinsky, & DePree, 1983), the Stress Survey Schedule (Groden, Diller, Bausman, Velicer, Norman, & Cautela, 2001), and the Social Skills Self-Evaluation (Meyer, 2001). The participants completed these scales prior to beginning the Job Club and then after four months of classroom instruction. The results of two-tailed, paired samples t-tests for this group of subjects indicated no significant differences in scores on any of these measures. 

Although the mean averages for these self-report measures were not significant, there were significant changes for some individuals on these measures. On the Worry Scale, six participants indicated a decrease in worry about finances, five worried less about world issues, and three had fewer worries about social conditions and personal concerns. Two people expressed increased worry about personal concerns. Many of these improvements correlate to issues addressed in class. The highest levels of worry were on the following questions: I won’t be able to support myself independently, my money won’t last long enough, people will think of me as unattractive, the country is facing serious economic problems, and I won’t be able to pay for the necessities of life. These were consistently the most worrisome items from pre- to post-measure; however, worry about all of these items decreased in worry scores. 

On the Stress Survey, five participants indicated a decrease in stress related to rituals, and two participants showed less stress associated with sensory and personal concerns, anticipation, change and unpleasant events. Again, many of these improvements correlate to issues addressed in class. Three individuals, however, indicated an increase in stress connected to sensory and personal concerns, and two individuals showed more stress related to change, unpleasant events, food and rituals. The most stressful items for our participants were: having personal objects or materials missing, a change in environment from comfortable to uncomfortable, a change in task to a new task with new directions, a change in environment from familiar to unfamiliar, a change in schedule or plans, and being in the vicinity of noise or disruption by others. These were consistently the most stressful items from pre- to post-measure.

On the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, five participants indicated a decrease in level of general worry, and three participants showed an increase. The highest-rated items on the scale were: I tend not to worry about things (reverse scored); when I am under pressure, I worry a lot; and I never worry about things (reverse scored). These are the characteristics that most describe the worry process for our group, and were consistently the highest-rated items from pre- to post-measure.

On the Social Skills Self-Evaluation, three participants showed increased confidence in their social skills, and one individual showed regression in skills. At pre-measure, the strongest identified skills were: I am considerate of how others feel, I am an honest person, I tell people I appreciate what they do for me, and I have a good sense of humor and know how to use it. At post-measure, however, the strongest skills changed to include: I can tell others about my absences due to illness or vacation, I show respect to others, I am an honest person, and I understand and respect the personal space of myself and others. The increase in these skills directly correlates to skills targeted in classroom instruction.

Conclusion

We believe this program will serve as a model of service delivery for the large number of people with AS who will be entering the job market now and in the future. It will help reduce the unemployment rates and increase the number of self-supporting workers, with a corresponding decrease in public expenditures in health-care and welfare. It will mainstream consumers into society and increase the general level of spending in the marketplace. Finally, it will be a positive demonstration of the effectiveness of the Americans for Disabilities Act.