Autism Symposium

With a focus on the transition process to independent living and also an improved quality of life for adolescents and adults with an autism spectrum disorder, UJA-Federation of New York organized, in collaboration with the Hilibrand Foundation, an all-day autism symposium May 11, Promoting Inclusion: Best Practices for Education, Vocation, and Socialization.

Roberta Leiner, managing director of UJA-Federation’s Caring Commission, welcomed an audience of 150 educators, service providers, and parents to the symposium. “We find ourselves in incredibly challenging economic times, but . . . UJA-Federation remains dedicated to supporting special-needs families and the communities who provide support,” Leiner said.

The need for increased support for young adults transitioning to adulthood is reaching a critical point, said Rina Pianko, chair of the Caring Commission’s Autism Subcommittee. “The upcoming wave of young adults who have benefited from young-childhood programs now need higher education, independent living skills, and meaningful vocations,” Pianko noted.

“Lack of empirical data is the number one challenge facing those interested in adolescents and adults with autism,” said keynote speaker Peter Gerhardt, president of Organization for Autism Research, a nonprofit agency that funds autism research, and chair of the OAR Scientific Council.

Gerhardt noted the dearth of information, saying that “in 1990, the number of published articles [on adolescents and adults with autism] was 4; in 2007, it was 45.” He also spoke of the lack of specialists to work in the field. “No one goes to college to work with adults with autism—kids with autism, yes; adults, no. . . . So it’s no surprise that adult outcomes are not strong.”

Gerhardt spoke of the need to develop skills that matter for adults with autism, such as being able to do better jobs. “The majority of adults had chores through residential programs,” he said, rather than employment. “We need to raise the bar, . . . and we can do that through applied behavior analysis, which helps [adults and adolescents] learn behavior in the context that really impacts a person’s life . . . not practice purchasing skills with a fake cashier; we need to go into the community, in a real store.”

Gerhardt also stressed the importance of keeping the intensity of instruction for adults and adolescents at the same pace as that during early intervention. A 5-year old child with ASD, he said, “requires 1,000 trials of identification to consistently identify all 64 colors in a Crayola box.”

Gerhardt compared this to a 15-year-old with ASD, who has the goal of buying lunch at a fast-food restaurant. “A teen probably is presented with one trial per week,” he said. “At this pace, . . . it will require over 20 years of instruction to equal the number of learning opportunities necessary to acquire a simple skill,” like recognizing colors.

The creative use of technology can help adolescents and young adults learn essential social skills, like riding a bus independently or shopping in a store, Gerhardt said. While training a person with ASD to shop alone or ride a bus, an instructor can use “Bluetooth technology, [which] allows prompting from an instructor at a greater distance,” Gerhardt said, referring to a type of earpiece used for mobile phones. “It reduces levels of physical prompting and gestures—and that reduces stigma and promotes greater levels of social acceptance in the community.”

Gerhardt spoke of the need to improve the quality of life by offering choice, control, and competence. He gave the example of travel training, enabling an adult or teen to ride a bus or train alone, an independent behavior that would allow an individual to get to and from a job. “If we don’t teach it now, it won’t get any easier,” he said.

A panel discussion followed Gerhardt’s remarks, with a group of leaders in the field who work with young adults with ASD who are transitioning to attending college, independent-living programs, or the workplace.
The afternoon program featured psychologist Jed Baker, director of the Social Skills Training Project, who highlighted a peer sensitivity training program that was successful with middle school students in New Jersey’s Millburn Township Public Schools. The schools had been struggling with kids bullying kids with Asperger’s syndrome, he said.

“The peer buddy program used neurotypical kids to help accept kids with Asperger’s,” Baker explained. “They acted like escorts to help the [Asperger’s] kids through the halls or let a teacher know if they were being bullied.”
It taught the other kids to be assistants, and “working as an assistant . . . and being a good person is now seen as being cool,” Baker said

For more information about UJA-Federation’s work related to autism and other special needs, contact Alex Roth-Kahn, planning manager in the Caring Commission.