social emotional wellness for transition age youth with asd

Social Emotional Wellness for

Transition Age Youth with ASD

with Anne Roux, Dr. Kimberly Smalley & Maurice Snell

About Our Guests

Anne Roux

MPH, MA

Kimberly Smalley

PhD BCBA-D

Maurice Snell

Development Coordinator, Easter Seals

During this webinar you will:

● Learn about the social-emotional challenges faced by young adults with ASD

● Hear first hand from a young adult with ASD about the challenges he experienced transitioning into adulthood

● Learn best practice tips for promoting social emotional wellness for young people with ASD as they transition into adulthood

Agenda

● Taking the Temperature: What

the research tells us about social

emotional wellness for transition age

youth with ASD

● Services, Supports, Success: Best practices for promoting social

emotional wellness among youth with

ASD

● Personal Perspectives: First-hand

perspectives from our guests on social

emotional wellness

● Q&A: A chance to asks our guests your

questions

Taking the Temperature

What the research tells us about social emotional

wellness for transition age youth with ASD

What is the most compelling fact that has emerged from your research?

● 60-70% of youth and young adults with autism have at least 1 co-occurring health or mental health condition

● ¾ of youth are taking at least 1 medication on regular basis for a health or mental health condition

● what we don’t know is how mental health conditions impact individuals with autism




What are you seeing in your practice arena in terms of co-occurring challenges?

● lots of people have a co-occurring mental health condition diagnosis, some b/c they have the condition, some because they need a medication

● need to determine that which is autism related, inclusion related, skill set related, and that which is medical

● as families, educators, people with autism, and clinicians, we are often talking about the same condition/skill set (or lack thereof), but from very different perspectives




How are mental health and developmental disability addressed together?

● Where you are in the country makes a huge difference as to coordinated services

● California has the regional system, which in some cases pulls together a multidisciplinary team together via telehealth

● Sometimes adults with autism who are receiving disability support have difficult getting mental health supports too

● People don’t feel like they have a unified system like the IEP to detail supports




What we talk about when we talk about the services cliff.

● There is a dramatic decline in services once people leave the education system and enter adult services

● Many people do not even qualify for adult services

● about 4 of 10 adults are not connected after high school (no job, no school etc.) for 6/8 years outside of school

● Of those disconnected 4, about ¼ have never had any services after high school

● What the research tells us about social emotional


Services, Supports, Success

Best practices for promoting social emotional

wellness among youth with ASD

● Leaving school with a job or community is

still the best predictor of success

● Having a place to go, people they are

connected with, services committed to

maintaining that community makes the

difference for people with autism

● Not having a community or connections

before leaving school can often lead to

isolation after school

● Paying attention to the skills people with

need for successful transition, and

addressing gaps before leaving school

has lead to success.

What supports have lead to success?






● Employment during school

● Extracurricular activities can play a

positive role

● Intentional Planning

○ View transition as something that

begins at birth

● Supportive families

● Coordinated services

○ bringing systems together and

figuring our barriers in systems

● Having opportunities in the community

for students to transition to

What has the research shown will lead to success?






● A supportive family

● A supportive school environment (Easter

Seals)

● Easter Seals provided opportunities in

school and a place to transition to after

school

What contributed to your successful transition?

What supports did you access in college?

● Learning assistance program, which

helped with planning and tutoring






● Success teaching a group of boys self-

advocacy and self determination

● We don’t always get around to teaching

the discrete details that go with making

adult decisions

● Breaking the components of self-

determination into small task analysis has

helped us teach these people the skills

they need to make adult decisions

● Using rapid fluency

Do you have a success story, and what supports lead to that success?






● Success teaching a group of boys self-

advocacy and self determination

● We don’t always get around to teaching

the discrete details that go with making

adult decisions

● Breaking the components of self-

determination into small task analysis has

helped us teach these people the skills

they need to make adult decisions

● Using rapid fluency

● We sometimes forget to assume

competence of individuals

● We are fighting the myth that autism

goes away in adulthood

Do you have a success story, and what supports lead to that success?






● Within a year of graduation, ¼ of young

adults are completely disconnected from

their communities

● Lack of connectedness can have an

impact on mental health

● Planning ahead for how we get people

connected before leaving school can

make a big difference in transition

What do you think youth with ASD and their families need to do to ensure social emotional wellness?






● Joining ROTC● Joining marching band● Developing relationships with

peers and teachers through these programs

● Spending time with a supportive family

How did you develop a sense of connectedness when you were in high school and beyond?






● Help students identify shared interests and facilitate opportunities for connectedness

● Empower youth with ASD to be responsible for what they can do to make themselves comfortable in the world

How do you facilitate successful transition for those who do not have supportive communities?






● Look to the general population for what connectedness/ disconnectedness looks like in the general population and look at strategies that are working

● Look for youth leadership opportunities- faith communities can be a good place for this

How do you promote connectedness amongst youth with ASD.

● What the research tells us about social

emotional wellness for transition age youth

with ASD

Personal Perspectives

First-hand perspectives from our guests on social

emotional wellness

● It must be very individualized- people

have similar but also very different

challenges

● Supporting individuals in understanding

their own needs and being able to

articulate these needs

● We need to focus on integrated solutions

that promote social emotional wellness,

from employment and connectedness to

independent living

● Be patient- giving people (and

yourselves) the time they need to

develop

What is the most important thing to know about social emotional wellness and youth with ASD:

● What the research tells us about social

emotional wellness for transition age youth

with ASD

Thank you.To learn more about Rethink, visit our website

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www.rethinkfirst.com

social emotional wellness for transition age youth with asd

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