The-Perspectives-of-Students-with-Autism-on-an-Employment-Soft-Skills-Training-Program_-Expectations-Experiences-and-Recommendations-1

○ Greater cooperation and assertiveness η2 = .04 ● Project SEARCH Plus ASD Supports Wehman et al., 2014; 2017: ○ Student with ASD in their last year of high school, in comprehensive job

Jonathan Tsen*, M.S., Brian Cerny*, B.A., Julia Thomas*, M.S., Eun-Jeong (EJ) Lee*, Ph.D., Connie Sung†, Ph.D., Gloria Lee†, Ph.D., Nicole Ditchman*, Ph.D

*Illinois Institute of Technology

†Michigan State University

We would like to thank several people who have contributed to this project:

Dani Ayeh, M.A., CRC, Brenna Breshears, M.A., CRC, Kristin Houck, M.S., CRC, Heekyung Lee, M.A., Alicia

Strain, M.Ed., LLPC, CRC (RAs) Amy Nasamran, Ph.D., Blair Dammerman, M.A., CRC, Amanda Boyd, M.S., CRC,

Christine Rheintgen, M.A., and Jane Forrest, M.A (Staff)

Martin Volker, Ph.D (Co-PI)

All the participating schools, teachers, students and families

This study was funded by

The Department of Defense Autism Research Program

Introduction: ASD Quick Review

● Autism Spectrum Disorder

○ 1 in 54 children living with ASD in 2016 (CDC, 2020), a growth from 1 in 68 in 2013 (CDC, 2014)

○ Youth with ASD: 11% of all students with disabilities in ‘18-’19, compared to 8.4% in 2013 (NCES, 2020; IDEA Public Data and Resources, 2013)

○ Marked social difficulty, repetitive patterns of behavior, restricted interests or activities, potential for sensory sensitivities, deficits in social communication and impaired social interactions (DSM 5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

○ Poor preparation for work-related environment

Introduction: Young Adults with ASD and Work

● Poor post-school employment (Baldwin et al., 2014; Shattuck et al., 2012)

○ During the first two years after high school: Over 50% of persons with ASD (PwASD)

receive no employment or further education (Shattuck et al., 2012)

○ 58% of young adults (early 20’s) with ASD were employed (Roux et al., 2015)

● Success and retention depends on social or “soft” skills (Hochwarter et al., 2004; Robles, 2012)

○ Placing PwASD at a disadvantage (Howlin & Moss, 2012; Hagner & Cooney, 2003; Muller et al., 2003; Sperry & Mesibov, 2005; Bolman, 2008; Hurbutt & Chalmers, 2004; Scott et al., 2017).

○ Young adults with ASD report that they perceive themselves as “socially awkward” to their coworkers and employers → significant workplace obstacle (Giarelli et al., 2013)

○ Soft skills are critical for finding, maintaining, and advancing in the workforce (Dew & Alan, 2007; Holmes, 2007; Lee & Carter, 2012)

Introduction: Few Existing Soft Skills Interventions for Young Adults with ASD

● Working at Gaining Employment Skills (WAGES; Murray & Doren, 2013)

○ Adolescents with disabilities (n =222) in the urban high school setting

■ 69% with learning disability and 7% with ASD

○ RCT: Intervention classroom had greater vocational outcome expectations and empathy, but small effect size (partial η2 = 02)

○ Greater cooperation and assertiveness (η2 = 04)

● Project SEARCH Plus ASD Supports (Wehman et al., 2014; 2017):

○ Student with ASD in their last year of high school, in comprehensive job training program

○ RCT; Intervention group: integrated internship participation, daily learning activities

(on-the-site technical job skills and social communication behaviors “soft” skills)

○ Better employment outcomes (87% employed) at 12-months after graduation than those

in the control group (11%)

● Urgent need for practical, effective strategies to increase social and

adaptive functioning for young adults with ASD within the workplace

● Purpose:

○ To qualitatively examine the experiences of high school students with ASD who participated

in the Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training (ASSET) program, a 10-week manualized school-based curriculum to increase work-related social skills (Quantitative data will be discussed in forthcoming papers)

Methods

Design:

● 19 transition-age youth (14-22y/o) with ASD living in either of two

midwestern states who participated in the 10-week Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training Program

○ Manualized, school-based curriculum

○ Focus on increasing work-related social skills

○ All participants completed the ASSET program

○ Pre- and post-program interviews on program expectations & experiences

● Qualitative content analysis

○ Synthesize responses to open-ended questions

○ Allows for subjective interpretation of text content/transcript data through systematic classification process of coding and theme identification (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).

○ 2 Research Assistants and 2 Principal Investigators independently read transcripts several times to deepen familiarity with data

■ Open coding independently and then conjointly for agreement on coding, notable codes, categories, and then themes within the research framework

■ Exemplary quotes were reviewed to reflect response broad and secondary themes

Establishing Rigor in Data Analysis

● Peer debriefing

○ Meeting regularly, probe for thoughts, and reach consensus on most salient codes,

themes, and sub-themes (Cindy et al., 2011; Pandey & Patnaik, 2014)

● Reflexivity

○ Examined personal experiences, biases, and misconceptions when working with students with ASD during the ASSET program (Berger, 2013; McCabe & Holmes, 2009)

Demographics (N = 19)

● Mage = 19.21, (SD = 2.09)

○ Distributed across grades 9-13+

● Majority (>90%) of participants identified as male, and 89.5% identified as White

● In addition to ASD, other diagnoses identified such as:

○ ADHD: 57.9%

○ Anxiety: 31.6%

○ Depression: 21.1%

● Work status:

○ >90% identified as students

○ Only 2 (10.5%) students identified as working part- or full-time

● Only 1 student currently receiving VR Services through school

○ Majority (78.9%) unsure about eligibility for VR services

Results: Broad Themes

Pre-ASSET:

● Motivation and Expectations

Post-ASSET:

● Learning Experience and Impact

● Positive Aspects of ASSET

● Program Recommendations and Challenges

Broad Theme 1: Motivation & Expectations for Participating in ASSET

External/Extrinsic Factors “I didn’t really pick to be in the ASSET program in the first place My parents did, but just like decided to

go through with it because it might, might help” [Parents]

“To be honest, I, I signed up for the group because she’s [teacher] done a lot for me, and so she put in the request for me to do the ASSET program, and I’m just kinda doing it for her as like payback.”

[Teacher]

“The gift cards Once those stop, I'm out.” [Financial]

Job-Related Factors “Learning how to get a job.” [Development of Job Skills & Awareness]

“I would say that I was hoping for like anger management training and like what that looks like

on the job as like a soft skill” [Work-Related Social Skills]

Social-Interpersonal Factors “ it’s to get a chance to try on new friends.”

Uncertainty and

Ambivalence

“ I’m not sure about it.”

Broad Theme 2: Learning Experience &

Impact

Professionalism “I learned like, about how, I learned about what you should do when you’re on your way to an interview You

should arrive on time and I learned that you should turn your cell phone off during an interview because it’s, because as you know, it’s really impolite to have your, it’s really impolite to have your phone go off during the interview [ ] Especially, especially when you’re in an office”

Networking “I would say networking I learned how important that networking is, so that’s one thing”

Communication “Make sure to speak clearly Let your, let your supervisor know if advance if you’re going to be late or you’re

gonna have, or you need to have a sick day…”

Job Skills “I learned about money skills, how to get a job and how to behave on the job.”

Overall Impact “Oh, it has done good things for me.” [Positive]

“I would say slightly positive but leaning towards no impact it was more neutral, but I also had some positive experiences.” [Neutral]

“No impact at all.” [No impact]

Broad Theme 3: Positive Aspects of ASSET

Activities, materials,

and videos

“I think the location, some of the, some of the lessons and the handouts…I think the favorite lesson was the one about like the feelings, the emotions Because it was like fun to learn and fun to experience The lessons were like really fun and the handout was pretty fun.”

Incentives “I kinda liked getting the gift cards.”

Social-Interpersonal

Aspects

“I got to see my teacher and I got to meet new people”

Job Skill Learning “It did help me how to like approach a job And taught me job skills like

interviewing and stuff and emailing and, you know, learning more skills and how they’re showing how the job place is gonna be like”

Broad Theme 4: Program Recommendations

& Challenges

Time & Homework

Commitment

“Well, a lot of times I get tired after school, you know, and I bet a lot of people get tired after school, after a long day.”

“Just having like these extra homework packets that you have to bring home Mostly because I keep ending up, ending up having to like leave it for, having to leave it to the next ASSET day.”

Content & Activity

Change

Considerations

“I guess how to manage… I guess how to manage like what if you did get laid off or what if your application got rejected.”

“Dress code policies for jobs”

“I also thought it’ll give hands on experiencing doing jobs Instead, we just learned skills, not what I was hoping for [ ] at least practicing a job, like all we did was learn skills.”

Strategies to

Promote

Engagement

“To be more involved, I would say… if you feel yourself getting distracted, or feeling like you don’t want to be there, you should keep in mind the main goal of why you’re there is to get a job and to better yourself So my advice would be to never lose sight of the goal and to always kinda keep that at the forefront of your mind.”

“Maybe trade their phone numbers or email addresses.”

Peer Challenges “ some students were interrupting [facilitator] and getting upset and that kind of stuff Just feels so annoying.”

Conclusions

● This qualitative analysis elucidates the ASSET experience of young

adults with ASD in their own words

● Pre-intervention themes reflected primarily external motivations,

followed by appreciation for employment-related benefits

● Learning Experience and Impact themes suggest that participants

perceive that they gained relevant skills

● Positive Aspects were broad; participants enjoyed various components

● Program Recommendations and Challenges provide useful feedback on how to improve ASSET for future participants

Conclusions: Limitations

● Small sample size

● Historical cohort effects

○ Could not control for pandemic-related changes (e.g., virtual format shift) that occurred in March 2020

○ The intervention was designed for in-person delivery

● No direct work experience for “on-the-job” skill learning or evaluation of skills learned

Conclusions: Implications

● Early soft skills training interventions are useful for transition-age youth with ASD

● Rehabilitation service providers and school practitioners should consider perspectives of youth with ASD, or any population served, when designing and implementing interventions.

● Future ASSET programs should integrate participants’ perspectives and recommendations

● Virtual format could be a future avenue for ASSET to broaden access for those who cannot attend in-person

Contact Information: Asset.illinois@gmail.com