A Guide for Transition to Adulthood

Updated in 2021, OAR’s Life Journey Through Autism: A Guide for Transition to Adulthood (2nd ed.) provides an overview of the transition to adulthood process. Packed with evidence-based tips, resource recommendations, informational handouts, and activities, the guide includes information about how to:

Initiate the transition planning process and engage your child, their family and friends, the school’s professional staff, and representatives from adult service systems as members of your child’s transition team.

Prepare for the changes in available supports and legal protections that accompany the transition to adulthood.

Center the transition plan around the interests and strengths of your child.

Equip your child with the self-determination skills they need to advocate for themselves, problem-solve, set goals, and develop a plan for their own future.

Prepare your child to navigate higher education, employment, independent living, and other relevant aspects of adulthood.

A Guide for Transition to Adulthood is available as an interactive, fillable PDF download and as a physical guidebook with detachable activities. 

You can find more information and download or order (free) the guide here. 

Archived Video Presentation - My College Life: Students with Intellectual Disability Share Their Lived Experiences

 My College Life: Students with Intellectual Disability Share Their Lived Experiences

Students with intellectual disability are increasingly identifying college as a goal, but far too few have actually had the option. It’s been nearly 20 years since the first inclusive college programs began and still, just 2% of school-age students with intellectual disability are attending college. It’s time to change that! The “Think Higher. Think College.” Public Awareness campaign was created to educate and inform families, students, teachers, school administrators, transition and vocational rehabilitation professionals, and higher education faculty and staff about what’s possible for students with intellectual disability. Join this AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disabilities) webinar to hear from a panel of college students about their experiences; watch the “Think Higher. Think College.” Campaign video; and get access to new resources for students, families, and educators, plus campaign tools to spread the word about college access for students with intellectual disability

You can view the archived webinar here. 

Services for Young Adults with Disabilities - Regardless of Waiver

Register here.

Mapping the futures of autistic children

Yet researchers have assembled a rich body of data about how autistic people do over time and can provide certain kinds of nuanced projections. The work points to several broad life trajectories for autistic children — rough sketches of how a child’s adolescence and adulthood may unfold. The data also point to subtle, early behavioral markers of future growth or difficulties in specific areas, as well as genetic variants that affect the arc of a child’s trajectory. Some of the research could help clinicians gauge an autistic child’s risk of having mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression as well. 

Such forecasts can give families a general idea of how to plan for the years ahead. “No matter what the outcome is going to be, that unknown is really challenging for families,” says Anne Arnett, a child psychologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “When you can take away the unknown, or at least give them some idea of what to expect over time, that can be an intervention in and of itself to help families prepare.” The predictions can also point clinicians to therapies that enable children to build on their strengths as they try to ease the children’s difficulties. “There’s a lot of variability in brain growth, and it’s really worth pursuing early interventions to try to support that brain growth,” Arnett says.

Read more here at Spectrum. 

A Guide to Interacting with Police for Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities

 The University of Cincinnati UCEDD has developed a new brochure on: A Guide to Interacting with Police for Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities. 

People with intellectual, cognitive or developmental disabilities get involved as both victims and suspects/offenders with law enforcement and with the criminal justice system. The police are ready to help in many different ways to help us feel safe.

View the guide here, https://www.ucucedd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PWD-and-the-police-FA-WEB.pdf

I Have Tourette's and He's on the Autism Spectrum. Here's How We Have Sex

When people with neurodevelopmental disorders that affect their social communication capabilities—like Paul and Grace, an older couple who, respectively, have Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette’s syndrome and some related problems with focus and impulse control—talk about their their sex lives, it can make outsiders (even doctors and family members) feel uncomfortable. Many such people assume that the communication issues conditions like these pose should desexualize those with them—that they simply wouldn’t or shouldn’t pursue physical intimacy.

But this is not necessarily a reflection of people with these or similar conditions’ sexualities. Most have the same sexual needs and relationship capabilities as neurotypical individuals. People with autism and similar disorders may just struggle with forming and maintaining relationships without early, ongoing, and tailed education on, and support in exploring these topics.

Read more here at Vice. 

Webinar - Family-Centered Planning and ASD

08/19/2020, 1 PM Eastern Time (U.S.)

Research demonstrates the effectiveness of Family-Centered Transition Planning in increasing student and parent expectations for adult life, student career decision-making, and student participation in employment and post-secondary education. Tune in to learn the latest sustainable processes for implementing a Family-Centered Transition Planning model for youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Register here with the Autism Research Institute

Webinar - Debunking the Myths of Supported Decision-Making and Guardianship

Tuesday, September 8, 2020
		2:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
		1 hour 15 minutes Being able to make your own decisions about your own life is one of the most important rights that people have. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have the same right to make decisions about their lives as people without disabilities. However, their ability to make their own decisions is often questioned by teachers, doctors, family members, and others. Research has shown that individuals with reduced self-determination have diminished quality of life outcomes and are less likely to live and be integrated into their community. Guardianship can be an obstacle to the development of self-determination skills. However, people with I/DD are at an increased risk of being placed under guardianship, and guardianship is frequently still the only option presented and utilized by families and supporters of people with I/DD. This webinar will describe guardianship and less restrictive decision-making alternatives, as well as help debunk some of the myths about guardianship and supported decision-making that persist. Register here with The Arc.

Archived Webinar - Working with Autistic Individuals Across the Lifespan: Current Perspectives

This session is an overview on current understanding of autism across the lifespan from a research perspective and linking theory with clinical practice to evaluate existing frameworks for working with autistic people across different life transitions.

View the recording at INSAR.

Archived Webinar - APPS TO HELP YOUNG ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES LEARN ABOUT AND MANAGE THEIR MONEY

View the recording here at the PACER Center. 

Webinar - Tools for Success: Technology to Support Young Adults with Disabilities at College and on the Job

Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 — 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CST

Location: Online Web Streaming

This workshop will feature a wide range of technology to support youth with disabilities at college and on the job. Demonstrations will include tools and apps for executive function, computer access, reading, writing, and notetaking.

Register here at the PACER Center. 

Archived Webinar - Transition to Adulthood

Stephen Shore, Ed.D. shares insights about growing up with autism, navigating school, and finding his role in education and advocacy.

View the recording here. 

Archived Webinar - The Ins and Outs of Dating

Learn strategies for individuals on the autism spectrum interested in the ins and outs of dating.

You can view the webinar recording here at the Autism Research Institute. 

New Study Points to Grim Outcomes for Adults with Autism

A new study out of South Carolina following 187 people diagnosed with autistic disorder found their long-term outcomes to be overwhelmingly negative. A team under Roger Stevenson of the Greenwood Genetic Center published the paper, “Autistic Disorder: A 20 Year Chronicle,” in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in June.

The subjects were followed over a course of 20 years. They had been enrolled in the study during a three-year period from early 1995 to early 1998, and were between the ages of 1 and 21 at that starting point. All were receiving services for autism from the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. The subjects included 153 males and 34 females, representing a 4.5:1 male–female ratio. Sixty-six percent had white ancestry, 32% black ancestry and 2% other ancestry, numbers that parallel the population in South Carolina. Of the enrollees, 84% had co-occurring intellectual disability. The average IQ in the cohort was 49. Twenty years later, at the average age of 27, the investigators ascertained their outcomes.

The outcome data was grim, showing pervasive inability to live independently, hold a job, or manage money. Few became independent, with 99% unable to live independently. Of those, 70% lived at home with relatives, 21% lived in disability homes in the community, and 8% in residential facilities.

Read more here from the National Council on Severe Autism.

Archived - Aging Out: Autism In Montana

Each year, more children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, but the framework of care drastically changes for them after adolescence. The tidal wave of children transitioning into adulthood leaves many families on a search for help and structure. 

Follow Montana families as they recognize their fears and explore their options for the future.

Watch the show here.

How can I teach telephone skills at home?

Good ideas here at thet Association for Science in Autism Treatment. 

14 ways schools can better support girls with autism

1. Giving them opportunities to socialize as part of a small group with common interests.
2. Teach them coping strategies and support them with any bullying they may face as a result of their different way of thinking and acting.
3. Read more here. 

The best $500 I ever spent: My autism diagnosis

My rule-following autistic brain wouldn’t allow me to think of myself as really autistic until someone officially diagnosed me as such.

Read more here. 

Archived Webinar - Living on Your Own Series : Part3: Taking Care of Meal Planning - Technology for Grocery Shopping, Cooking, and More

This third workshop in the ‘Living on Your Own’ 3-part series demonstrates apps and devices for meal planning, making a grocery list, and following cooking instructions to help adults with disabilities live more independently.

View the archived webinar here.

Autism Behind the Wheel: Teaching Teens and Young Adults with ASD to Drive

CONTENTS

• 1.Can Autistic People Drive Safely?
• 2.Determining Readiness To Drive
• 3.Permit Test
• 4.Learning To Drive

See the resource here.