assistive social skills and employment training (asset ...assistive social skills and employment...
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Assistive Social Skills and Employment Training (ASSET) Program for young adults with autism spectrum disorder
Keeley White, Ph.D.1, 2, Geraldine Leader, Ph.D.1, & Connie Sung, Ph.D.2 National University of Ireland, Galway1, Michigan State University2
This research was supported by funding from the charity RESPECT and the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. PCOFUND-GA-2013-608728
MSU Pilot Results The preliminary results from the U.S. revealed that 90% of a sample of 17 adolescents with ASD (without ID) demonstrated significant improvements in social skills, social self-‐efficacy, and adap8ve skills post-‐ASSET program (Sung et al., in preparaJon). Further, there were significant improvements in self-‐reported levels of anxiety symptoms. QualitaJve reports also indicated overall saJsfacJon rate was high among parJcipants. ParJcipants rated a posiJve impact of the program on their learning, social communicaJon skills, and career networking.
The ASSET Program The ASSET program is an all-‐in-‐one training and will prepare young adults with ASD with basic job-‐related social skills, and then guide them to apply the integrated skills in an internship. The job-‐related social skills training is based on the curriculum “Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering So@ Skills for Workplace Success” created by the U.S.
Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy **Prototype of the core training is currently being developed and evaluated by mulJdisciplinary researchers at MSU.
IntroducJon • AuJsm Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifespan diagnosis – the proliferaJon of ASD diagnoses in childhood has not been met with an increased interest in the lifespan development of individuals with ASD.
• Many young adults with ASD (without intellectual disability) are generally fairing poorly and leX without proper support and scaffolding in crucial outcome areas like employment.
• The high unemployment and underemployment rates highlight the need for voca8onal prepara8on and employment supports. Though, research has been very limited on the effecJveness of employment programs for young adults with ASD.
• Studies have showed that social skills in the workplace may have a strong influence on the individuals’ vocaJonal outcomes. Compared to other vocaJonal outcome predictors, such as cogniJve ability, job-‐related social skills is more malleable and can substanJally facilitate employment outcomes for individuals with ASD.
• The aim of this project is to develop, pilot, and evaluate the job-‐related social skills training program, namely ASSET. We hope to prepare and assist Irish adults with ASD (without an intellectual disability or ID) for their future employment in an efficient manner.
ParJcipants • Between 18-‐30 years of age • Have a community diagnosis of ASD (without an ID) – which will be supported with the AuJsm QuoJent QuesJonnaire – 10
• Have an IQ score above 70 using the WASI-‐II • Have basic interpersonal communicaJon skills (i.e., verbal IQ scores falling within 1 SD)
• Has no history of other neurological disorders (e.g., brain injury) • Have no history of severe and persistent mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia)
Impact of ASSET • Improve psychosocial funcJoning, independence, and employability • Provide intensive and supported pracJcal experiences (i.e., internships) • Support potenJal employers • Evaluate the effecJveness of ASSET in order to implement this novel, low-‐cost service delivery model more broadly throughout Ireland
• Bridge the research-‐to-‐pracJce gap in adult employment services • Promote the importance of job-‐related social skills training among different adult employment service agents in Ireland
• Establish a broad Interdisciplinary and internaJonal research agenda for future cross-‐cultural study
Fundamental job-‐related social skills training (10
weeks)
• CommunicaJon • PosiJve actude and enthusiasm
• Teamwork • Networking • CriJcal thinking and problem solving
• Professionalism
Internship (3 months)
• Supported internship in local business based on skills and interests + Useful repository:
Printable materials, AT video modeling,
videos
Design
Pre-‐Assessment
Waitlist Control n = 8
Job-‐Related
Social Skills Training
(10 weeks) n = 8
Internship (3 months)
Post-‐Assessment
Job-‐Related
Social Skills Training
(10 weeks)
Internship (3 months)
Post-‐Assessment
Post = Pre for WL
Procedure AXer compleJng three consultaJve focus groups, a Wait-‐list Randomized Control Trial will be employed.
Qualita8ve methods -‐ focus groups, individual interviews, and document reviews • to explore the cultural difference and understand the training needs and end-‐users’ “point of view” among adults with ASD in Ireland
• to document the progress of parJcipants taking the training
Quan8ta8ve methods -‐ psychometric measures, user raJng evaluaJon • to assess the feasibility, accessibility, and effecJveness of the training
An Itera8ve Development Process (IDP), which is a dynamic, incremental process for developing and modifying project prototypes according to new
cultural environment, will be employed.
Each 90-‐minute session will include a combinaJon of
warm-‐up acJviJes, didacJc lessons, role-‐play, peer and facilitator performance
feedback, and socializaJon