The documentary is, in part, a follow-up to the December 2008 “Easter Seals Living with Autism” study, conducted by Harris Interactive and  co-sponsored by MassMutual, that examined the hopes, fears and challenges of parents raising children with autism.

The top concerns of families living with autism, according to the study, include:

- Independence
- Financial well-being
- Quality of life
- Employment
- Housing needs
- Education
- Health
- The child’s longevity

“Autism: Coming of Age” first became available to public television stations in April of 2011. For those who missed the airing, Mass Mutual has received permission to give private screenings to groups and organizations of 25 people or more.

For information on how to request a viewing for your group or organization, click HERE.

Thumbnail image from The Health Journal.

The following video is a preview of “Autism: Coming of Age”.

With this in mind,  Autism Speaks  launched the Autism Speaks Transition Tool Kit, a unique guide and roadmap to help families on the journey from adolescence to adult life, in February 2011.

Autism Speaks gathered information and input from professionals and parents to develop the free Tool Kit.

According to the article on the Autism Speaks website (HERE), the kit “identifies opportunities and resources to develop these skills with the goal of enabling the adolescent or young adult to participate to the greatest extent possible in their own transition plan.”

Topics include:

• Transition Planning and the IEP process
• community life
• employment
• housing
• post secondary educational opportunities
• health
• internet safety
• issues surrounding sexuality
• a timeline and other organizational tools for the transition process

For more information, read the complete article here: http://www.autismspeaks.org/about-us/press-releases/autism-speaks-launches-transition-tool-kit-providing-practical-information-a

“Autism doesn’t qualitatively change when you hit adulthood. You’ve got the same issue with reading social signals, with understanding instructions,” said Scott Standifer, a clinical associate professor at the University of Missouri’s School of Health Professions.  ”We forget how important social relationships are in maintaining employment.”

Standifer’s  office provides training and consultation to State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies.

According to a fact sheet compiled by Standifer based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources, less than one-third of people with a disability aged 16 to 65 were working in 2010, compared with about two-thirds of people without a disability. And people with autism were only about half as likely to be working as people with disabilities in general (33 percent compared with 59 percent).

Families of people with autism as well as employers and co-workers can all help to make the employment experience a positive one for these individuals. Here are some tips:

• Families should start preparing for their teens’ transition into adulthood and the work force well in advance, perhaps even as much as two or three years before graduation. “People with autism are often so anchored in routines that it is important to have new, productive routines in place for them well before they hit graduation and leave school behind,” Standifer said.
• Find a job that matches their more general abilities and strengths. Although it’s hard to generalize, people with autism often do well doing gardening, simple bookkeeping, merchandising (such as folding or organizing clothes in a department store), as well as in library and school settings, said Charles Archer, CEO of the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need, in Brooklyn, N.Y., an organization that helps people with disabilities live independently.
• Take advantage of local vocational rehabilitation counselors, more of whom are cropping up all over the country, Standifer said.
• Find jobs with consistent routines. “Individuals with autism need a workplace that is structured, that’s non-judgmental, that provides ongoing training and very, very strong levels of consistency either in work and/or communication,” said Archer.
• Create accessible work environments. This might include providing written instructions for a task rather than verbal ones.

I have spent many years trying to anticipate the challenges that can stop them cold in their tracks. They are remarkably resilient and very determined. It does not help that no one believed that they had any issues while they were in elementary school or middle school. Each girl was able to act appropriately while in class. However, when they were released, they were unruly and abusive. We now know that they had been expending energy just to make it through the school day. It did not help that they were often correcting the factual errors that their teachers made during the day.

Their knowledge of history, mathematics, and English literature and grammar made it difficult for them to sit in class and hear their teachers make incorrect or inaccurate statements. AND, science class was even worse!

They are each currently enrolled in junior college. Each could probably teach several of the classes they have been forced to attend. However, their ability to use executive function skills has been a detriment in their advancement.

If you wanted to find a position that would use their talents, each child would be an asset for the companies that accepted them. They might need a mentor to assist them with the hidden curriculum of their environment.

I would love to talk more about the support group that we run in this area, and to find out what employment is available to those on the autism spectrum.

I could go on forever about this topic, but I wanted to be succinct right now.

thumbnail image from bundles of blossoms

Autism Transition Handbook is a wiki providing individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families access to the most current and comprehensive information on the transition to adulthood.

Much of the information on the site is general in nature; for example,  Transition  Overview and Guideline, Transition to Work, and Laws and Regulation are a few of the subjects covered, and include external links.

Thanks to funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, transition services specific to Pennsylvania are also included.  Information specific to other states will be added later. If you would like to help develop information for your state, please send an email to autismwiki@devereux.org.

Click HERE to visit Autism Transition Handbook

I got a home where Jacob sort of lives in the same house, yet he has his own space. Basically his apartment space is connected to the main house. I figured I could help him to learn a bit on how to be on his own, cook, laundry, everyday things, but with him still being right here. I just figured I would slowly get him independent, yet he still is in him comfortable zone of being at home.

It amazes me at all the programs and how much is was out there for Jacob through adolescent and school age, up until high school and than the resources slowly start to fade. Now it’s like hey hes an adult now so good luck.I mean the resources for how to help our autistic adult children enter into the real world, but to where they can handle it is not there.

I just hope he will find that right job some day, the one he feels comfortable at enough to make it through his day.
Jacob is a remarkable young man, and I can’t tell you how he is as a son; just a true blessing from day one. I don’t know what I would do without him. And yes it has been hard on both of us over the years, and we both have our days, but in the end that’s just what makes our relationship that much stronger and special. Sometimes it’s just hard as a mother when you just can’t fix everything.

(thumbnail photo from Joliet Junior College)