1. Helping High School-Aged Military Dependents With Autism Gain Employment Through Project SEARCH + ASD Supports.
- Author
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Whittenburg HN, Schall CM, Wehman P, McDonough J, and DuBois T
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Autistic Disorder therapy, Child, Education, Special methods, Education, Special statistics & numerical data, Employment statistics & numerical data, Female, Humans, Male, Autistic Disorder psychology, Employment standards, Military Family statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Introduction: Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face high rates of unemployment, with unique challenges for military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD. This paper reports preliminary findings from Year One of a randomized waitlist controlled trial investigating the efficacy of the Project SEARCH + ASD Supports (PS + ASD) intervention model for military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD., Methods: Treatment group participants (n = 6) participated in internships at a military installation in the southeastern United States; waitlist group participants (n = 8) received special education transition services at their local high schools. Employment outcome data were collected at 12 months for both groups., Results: Fourteen unique internship experiences were developed across seven business partner organizations on the military installation during Year One. Five of six PS + ASD treatment group participants obtained competitive integrated employment for an overall employment rate of 83.3%. Four of the positions were federal jobs. None of the waitlist group participants obtained competitive integrated employment during the same period., Conclusions: Initial results are promising and suggest that the PS + ASD model may help to meet the transition needs of military-dependent and -connected youth with ASD and the employment needs of local military communities., (© Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2019. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)
- Published
- 2020
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