Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Articles like this can be depressing. The statistics from the survey of young adults with disabilities don't offer much hope for jobs and independent living. Actually, there were two studies as reported on by HealthDay reporter Brenda Goodman. The first report focused on employment.

Researchers found that only about half of those with autism had ever held a job since high school, and only about a third were currently working. Even worse, young adults on the autism spectrum were less likely to be getting a paycheck than people the same age who had other kinds of disabilities. 

The second study focused on living arrangements. Researchers found that only 17 percent of young adults with autism, who were between 21 and 25 years old, had ever lived on their own. 

By comparison, 66 percent of kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia had lived by themselves, as had 62 percent of those who were emotionally disturbed, a category that includes anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder andeating disorders. Even those labeled as intellectually disabled, meaning they had a low IQ and slower mental processing, were about twice as likely to have lived on their own as young adults with autism

There Is Hope

If you dig deeper into the article, you'll find the situation is not hopeless.  Study author Paul Shattuck, an associate professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, in Philadelphia points out that getting these children involved in social activities, extracurricular activities and community service increases their chances for employment. 

Alan Hilfer, director of psychology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York thinks the study is right on target. He says kids with autism require intensive tutoring, coaching and mentoring to help them find and keep jobs.

In other words, services and treatment are the key to the future for 1.5 million children on the spectrum. They are rapidly approaching adulthood.

I'll be up front. I work for FOCUS Center for Autism. We offer treatment that includes coaching and mentoring. It also includes training in social skills and milieu therapy. "The milieu or “life space” is a planned treatment environment that is constantly supporting, nourishing and reinforcing a child’s ability to learn and grow. It is a “social incubator” if you will, in which every day events and interpersonal interactions are used as clinical opportunities for learning."  We're one of the few in Connecticut offering treatment on a daily basis. There needs to be much more so these young adults can be engaged and productive.