adultswithautismarelefttonavigateajarringworld.docVIP

Adults with autism are left to navigate a jarring world Spend time talking with autism researchers or with families of adolescents or adults with autism, and it doesn’t take long for the phrase “falling off a cliff” to come up. The new environments, people and expectations for independence that come with entry into adulthood can be tricky for any young person. For someone with impaired abilities to communicate and manage relationships, solve problems flexibly and regulate emotions, this period can be harrowing. And the end of adolescence means the end of federally mandated special education services — just when the need for support may be greatest. In?a study of 242 teens?transitioning to adulthood, Taylor and Marsha Mailick at Wisconsin–Madison found that young people’s autism symptoms and behaviors such as repetitive habits, withdrawal and self-harm often improved during adolescence. But progress typically slowed markedly, or even stopped, after students left high school. Paul Shattuck directs the?Life Course Outcomes program?at Drexel University’s Autism Institute in Philadelphia. He has spent much of the last five years dissecting data from a nationally representative survey of adults who received special education services during high school, including students with autism. Shattuck’s results are bleak. Within just a few years of leaving high school, almost 40 percent of the young adults in his sample were receiving no medical, mental health, case management or speech or language services, he and colleagues?reported?in?JAMA Pediatricsin 2011. In a separate study?published?in 2012 in?Pediatrics, Shattuck’s team found that more than half of young adults with autism were “completely disengaged” from any employment or post-secondary education in the two years after leaving high school. Young adults with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities or speech or language impairment were much more likely to have some engagement with work or school after high schoo