The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

This workshop explains that self-determination and self-advocacy radically increase abilities. Explore failure, least-to-most prompts, embedded motivation, interest-based programs, and authentic relationships as fundamental best practices. A multi-disciplinary team discusses insights from practice and clinical roundtables. Participants learn that clinicians, parents and peers can do more by doing less. This workshop will increase understanding regarding how to effectively support young adults on the spectrum in various settings in ways that maximize their ability to achieve their goals. The capacity to work through problems, deal with and learn from failure, and self-advocate are incredibly important skills. These skills can be taught within inclusive settings only through appropriate supports and prompt levels, which should be considered best practices. However, these concepts are typically not considered when programs for youth and young adults on the autism spectrum are developed. This presentation will explore how to incorporate these best practices into programs and services for adolescents and young adults with autism, and will examine how training for clinicians, parents, and peers can yield important results for young adults on the autism spectrum.

Further, incorporating training models for individuals that interact with and support adults on the autism spectrum is also vitally important. This presentation will explore various methods that have been successful at the Hussman Center for Adults with Autism and will highlight practices in the highly innovative programs delivered to young adults on the spectrum. Interactive discussions regarding the rationale for these approaches will also illuminate the issues inherent in programmatic models for young adults with autism and provide opportunities for participants to learn about how to institute these practices in their own programs, communities and homes.

Finally, attendees will be able to draw upon lessons from clinical roundtables that occurred at the Hussman Center for Adults with Autism in which issues about young adults on the spectrum were considered from a multidisciplinary perspective that most importantly included advocates on the autism spectrum. The roundtables explored case studies to glean information about what is helpful, effective, and respectful of the individual on the spectrum, while providing vital support for that individual to achieve their goals.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will learn the importance of failure as a teaching tool and how to embed motivation into clinical, educational and community settings to enhance the drive to succeed of young adults on the autism spectrum within a rights-based framework
2. Participants will learn how to facilitate authentic relationships between young adults on the autism spectrum and their parents and peers that will increase the social understanding of young adults on the spectrum while maintaining their dignity, their right to self-determine and their ability to self-advocate
3. Participants will learn about ongoing multi-disciplinary clinical round-tables facilitated by the Hussman Center for Adults with Autism where case studies were analyzed from rights-based perspective allowing for the development of ideas about how to best support young adults on the spectrum while upholding their integrity and right to self-determine

Learning Objectives: