Supporting Young Adults with Autism

Atvinnuþátttaka er lykilatriði fyrir ungt fólk með þroskahömlun og þar með talið einhverfu sem á ensku er nefnt (Intellecutal and developmental disabilities (IDD). Þrátt fyrir að margt ungt fólk í Bandaríkjunum með IDD langi til að vinna eru fá tækifæri sem standa þeim til boða. Þeir sem helst fá vinnu eru þeir sem, hafa séð um heimilisstörf, hafa reynslu af foreldrahlutverki og eiga vinnusögu. Auk þess hefur sjálfsákvörðunarréttur afgerandi áhrif á atvinnuþátttöku.

Upptöku má nálgast á vef háskólans og í vefvarpi Panopto.

Supporting Participation through Self-determination and Career Development for Young Adults with Autism

For young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including autism, employment represents a key component of participation. Yet, while many young adults in the U.S. with IDD want to work, employment outcomes remain poor. Primary predictors of employment for young adults include participation in household chores, parental expectation of employment, and prior history with employment. Additionally, self-determination has been shown to be critical to employment outcomes. The Self-Determined Career Development Model (SDCDM) is an evidence-based intervention designed to promote self-determination in an employment context. The SDCDM is an individualized process that supports a job seeker to set and obtain an employment-related goal. The process is designed to be used repeatedly, so participants can set and work toward multiple goals. This presentation will introduce self-determination and discuss its relationship to participation. Additionally, we will report research findings using the SDCDM with young adults and adults with IDD. The SDCDM can have a positive impact on the participation of young adults with IDD.

Professional Background

Evan Dean, Ph.D., OTR/L, is an assistant professor in the occupational therapy programs at KU Medical Center. His focus is on supporting adults with intellectual disability living in the community. Dean joined the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2011 as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Occupational Therapy Education. Also in the same department, he worked as a research assistant on the Sensory Profile 2 Standardization Project.
Currently Dean consults with an agency that supports adults with intellectual disabilities living in the community and the Center for Independent Living in Kansas City. His clinical work focuses on supporting people with disabilities to direct and live their life.
Dean received his doctorate in therapeutic science at the University of Kansas Medical Center and his master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently the Borchardt Family Postdoctoral Fellow at the Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas.
Dean’s research focuses on contextual influences on participation and self-determination for people with disabilities. He is currently working on three research projects:

1. Describing sensory processing relationships with participation
2. Determining factors that influence participation for adults with intellectual disability
3. Determining the efficacy of employment-related interventions for adults with intellectual disability

Fyrirlesturinn verður í stofu M102 og er öllum opinn án endurgjalds.