Final Week 2 Flashcards
ASD and Employment Assumptions
ASD quality of life measurements comparable to NTs
Job satisfaction correlates with life satisfaction
Self efficiency correlates with work outcome
ASD individuals are capable of employment and want to work
Advantages of ASD employment: a chance to do what they want, social components, and money (not as significant)
Employment Numbers
Canada: 300,000 adults working with ASD
Worldwide: 50-60 million adults have ASD
Many people employed aren’t officially diagnosed/don’t know they’re autistic
Employment Numbers Studies
Scott (2015) labour force participation rates:
•Neurotypicals: 83%, Those with any disabilities: 54%, ASD: 34%
Howarda (DSM 4):
•25% of ASD were employed
Roux:
•ASD: least likely to be employed out of all special ed
•ID 4x, emotional disturbance 7x, learning disability 12x, and speech/language impairment 7x
The National Longitudinal Transition Study:
•45.2% of youth with ASD had paid job (71% normals)
Possible Employment Outcomes
Unemployed (no job)
Underemployed (employed but doesn’t meet skill sets)
Malemployed (wrong job)
Barriers to Employment
People with ASD need:
•Family support
•Agencies available (life coaches)
•Community (employers wanting to take the risk)
•Workplace (keeping them on the job)
Benefits: social, economic (Ganz: average lifetime cost: $3,200,000 – adult care and lost productivity)
Internal Challenges with ASD and Employment
Finding work, interviews, On-the-job skills, behaviours, social skills, and comorbidities
Finding Work
- Navigating want-adds (craigslist)
* Executive functioning needed for: writing resumes, sending to employers, following up (ToM)
Job Interview
- Presentation (hygiene, dress)
- On time (executive functioning)
- Open ended questions/thinking on your feet
- Social graces: eye contact, smile, firm hand shake, etc
On-the-job Skills
- Executive functioning skills (knowing how to ask for direction)
- Balancing/prioritizing workload (knowing where to start)
- Complex sets of instruction
- Expectation of generalization (floor specialist at mcdonalds)
Behaviours
Hendricks: behaviours are more problematic to employers than job-task related issues because of their: •Inflexible routines (floor specialist) •Ritualistic behaviours •Tantrums/aggression •Sensory issues
Social Skills
Hendricks: one of the most significant barriers to successful employment
•Rude/no filter
•Poor social communication
•Poor negotiation skills/challenge with compromise
•Failure to understand instructions
Comorbidities
When they want to start work, mental health issues can come up: anxiety, depression, ADHD, and ID
External Challenges
Workplace protocols, disability attitudes
Workplace protocols
Tardiness protocol, overtime, health and safety, rules, honesty (assessment making him an alcoholic)
Disability attitudes
- Employer understanding?
* Fixed way of doing business (not willing to adapt)
Types of Jobs
ASD Friendly: •Pattern recognition/repetitive •Income not tied to production/sales •Less emphasis on deadlines/rushing ASD Challenging: •Income tied to social skills (sales) needing ToM •Reliant on generalization •Reliant on deadlines/rushing
Types of Employment
Competitive employment, self-employment, supported employment, customized employment, social enterprise
Competitive Employment
- ‘Regular’ job
* Doesn’t necessarily require support (but can)
Self-Employment
- Start-ups
- Contract work
- Ex: art work, programming websites
Supported Employment
UN: person with disabilities has the right to work on an equal basis with others
•Supported employment: paid work in integrated work settings with support for individuals with disabilities
*Phases: assessment, job finding/analysis/matching/ redesign, intro to workplace, training on the job, support outside the workplace and ongoing support
Customized Employment
Provides a set of services prior to employment designed to fit the employer and job seeker’s needs
•Goal: avoid barriers created by job descriptions through voluntary negotiations
Social Enterprise
Non-Prof organization that generates income while promoting positive social, cultural, and environmental outcomes (may or may not be payed)
Making a Case for ASD in the Workplace
- Employers: learn about ASD and how it brings positivity and new skill sets to workplace
- ASD ratings: less flexible, pay more attention to detail, complete work on time, and have better work ethic
Anderson: A Systematic Review of Interventions for Adults with ASD to Promote Employment
- ABA
- Behavioural Skills Training (prompting, reinforcement, feedback) showed strong impacts
- Video-Based Intervention (VBI): an emerging intervention showing potential
Baker: Supported Employment, Comprehensive Cognitive Enhancement, and Social Skills Intervention (SUCCESS)
- Cognitive/social challenges lead to poor employment outcomes
- Taught skills (executive functioning, social) lead to more than doubled employment rates
Specialisterne
Danish for “the specialists”
•Danish company (2008)
•Specialist People Foundation (2009): goal to employ 1,000,000 people with ASD globally (not achieved yet)
•Partnered with SAP (software company) to help get 1% (65,000) of their goal workforce (2013)
•Testsite in Vancouver
Other Employers
Israeli Army (unit 9900 deciphering satellite images), Microsoft, Walgreens, Focus Professionals, Meticulon
Adults Who Missed Diagnosis
Kanner (1943): “autistic disturbances of affective contact”
•First wave up to 75 years old that were never diagnosed
DSM-III (1980): first generation to have title of autism (IA)
•Second wave all over 38 years old
DSM-IV (1994): Intro to Aspergers
•Third wave now 24 years old
ASD in Adulthood Assumptions
Prior versions of DSM/ICD
•More likely to be intellectually delayed, male, and has lower incidence rates
Current
•should be 1/68, M-F ratio should be less than 5-1, cognitive functioning should be above ID level
Brugha: Epidemiology of ASD in Adults in England
•Stratified random sampling with questionnaire (20 questions)
•ADOS-4: 618/7,461 had probable scores
•Incidence rates: approx 1%
•Significant demographic findings:
*Male: 18/1,000 Female 2/1,000
*More likely to be single and less likely to own real estate
Lai & Baron-Cohen
Average male has more ASD symptoms than average female
Challenges with ASD Adult Assessment
- Parents may not be able to provide developmental history
- Normative behaviours change overtime (Kanner’s version of play different than current play)
- More isolation lead to less social comparison
- Lifelong social pressures may lead to more camouflage behaviours (trained eye contact)
- ASD symptoms can be overshadowed by co-occuring conditions (epilepsy)
- May be triggered by setback phenomenon
Late vs Early Diagnosis
Early: more likely to get accurate support, accommodations, and acceptance of ASD
Late: diagnostic confusion and missed opportunities leading to:
•High rates of co-occuring mental challenges
•Increased cost of social challenges
•Higher likelihood of health conditions (epilepsy)
