New Report Reveals Major Obstacles for Young Adults with Autism - West Palm Beach Autism & Education | Examiner.com

New Report Reveals Major Obstacles for Young Adults with Autism - West Palm Beach Autism & Education | Examiner.com





It is estimated that nearly a half million youth with autism
will enter adulthood over the next decade. However, most public
awareness, policy and research about autism focus on the needs of
children. 



Unfortunately, families, service providers, community leaders
and policymakers know very little about the experiences and outcomes of
youth with autism as they transition to young adulthood.




Young adults with autism are facing significant challenges as they transition to adulthood, a new report
suggests, with many on the spectrum finding themselves unemployed,
isolated, and lacking services. The "National Autism Indicators Report:
Transition into Young Adulthood" from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel
Autism Institute is a comprehensive report (available free online) that
presents new findings about a wide range of experiences and outcomes of
youth on the autism spectrum between high school and their early 20s.
The report is a collection of indicators that focuses national attention
on outcomes which are almost universally lower for those on the autism
spectrum compared to their peers with other types of disabilities and
serves as a call to action to fill the remaining large gaps in
knowledge.




Key findings include:


  • Over one-third (37 percent) of young adults with were
    disconnected during their early 20s, meaning they never got a job or
    continued education after high school. In comparison, less than eight
    percent of young adults with other types of disabilities were
    disconnected.
  • Approximately 26 percent of young adults and 28 percent of those
    unemployed and not in school received no services which could help them
    with employment, continue their education, or live more independently.
  • Just 58 percent of young adults worked for pay outside the home
    between high school and their early 20s, a rate far lower than young
    adults with other types of disabilities. Those with jobs generally
    worked part-time for relatively low wages.
  • Approximately one in four young adults were socially isolated,
    meaning they never saw or talked with friends and were never invited to
    social activities within the past year.
  • Only about one in five ended up living independently (without
    parental supervision) in the period between high school and their early
    20s.
  • Sixty percent of youth had at least two health or mental health
    conditions in addition to autism spectrum disorder. Over half of youth
    had co-occurring ADD/ADHD and anxiety issues in adolescence.
    Three-quarters of youth took at least one kind of medication on a
    regular basis for any health or mental health issue.
  • Nearly 50% of youth experienced threats and bullying during high
    school.     Over one-quarter (27 percent) of adolescents engaged in some
    type of wandering behavior in which they impulsively left a supervised
    situation, increasing their risk of becoming lost and going missing
  • Transition Planning, a key process for helping youth build skills
    and access services as they enter adulthood, was frequently delayed.
    Just 58 percent of youth had a transition plan by the federally required
    age.
The creation of effective and affordable programming
tailored to meet the needs of the 50,000 individuals with autism who
leave high school each year - each with unique strengths, interests, and
challenges - is an urgent task facing our society. It is clear that we
are not succeeding as a nation in helping autistic adults to thrive to
the best of their abilities and attain a high quality of life. It is
time for new approaches.


“This is the most comprehensive report to date describing what we
know about young adults with autism as a whole and across the various
parts of their lives. Yet, it represents only a fraction of what we need
to know. Huge gaps remain,” said Anne M. Roux, MPH,
research scientist at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute in the Life
Course Outcomes Research Program and lead author of the report. 



Although
these indicators don’t tell us why outcomes are worse for those with
autism compared to youth with other disabilities, this report is an
important first step toward addressing the gaps in what we know, as we
work to build an evidence base about how to help achieve better
outcomes.




The link to the report download page is http://drexe.lu/autismindicators.




Roux, Anne M., Shattuck, Paul T., Rast, Jessica E., Rava, Julianna
A., and Anderson, Kristy, A. National Autism Indicators Report:
Transition into Young Adulthood. Philadelphia, PA: Life Course Outcomes
Research Program, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, 2015.


Lee A. Wilkinson, PhD, NCSP, CPsychol, AFBPsS is a licensed and
nationally certified school psychologist, chartered psychologist,
registered psychologist, and certified cognitive-behavioral therapist.
Dr. Wilkinson is author of the award-winning book, A Best Practice Guide to Assessment and Intervention for Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Schools,
published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He is also editor of a recent
volume in the American Psychological Association (APA) School
Psychology Book Series, Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Evidence-Based Assessment and Intervention in Schools and author of the new book, Overcoming Anxiety and Depression on the Autism Spectrum: A Self-Help Guide Using CBT.


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