The Role of School-Based Supports in Predicting Employment Outcomes for Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

PURPOSE: Employment is an important occupation in adult life. Through employment, individuals can become financially independent and gain a sense of purpose through contributing to family and society. Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally have poor employment outcomes (Shattuck et al., 2012). Occupational therapists (OTs) are well positioned to contribute to services provision in this emerging area of practice. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA, 2017) identified the need for research to improve the employment outcomes and quality of life for young adults with ASD. The purpose of this study was to identify how school supports, including transition services and employment supports, are associated with employment outcomes for young adults with ASD. This analysis contributes to knowledge in occupational therapy by identifying important factors to consider when providing transition services.

DESIGN: We conducted a secondary analysis using the dataset from National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS-2; Institute of Education Sciences n.d.), which is a 10-year longitudinal study capturing the experiences of transition-age youth with disabilities who received special education services. We conducted structural equation modeling (SEM) to identify the role of school services in predicting employment outcomes for students under the autism disability category.

METHOD: From the NLTS-2 data set, we selected 567 young adults who remained in the study at the final wave. Data included student’s functional performance, self-determination, academic abilities, parents’ participation in school activities and school supports from school documents and surveys completed by parents, youth and teachers. Parents and youth reported on employment outcomes at the final wave. To identify the associations among student factors, parent factors, school services and employment outcomes, we conducted SEM to develop a model that explained the associations among latent variables and employment outcomes.

RESULTS: The model with the best fit included four mediators (school supports, student’s functional performance, self-determination, and academic abilities) of the association between two exogenous variables (parents’ participation, and family background) and the dependent variable (employment outcomes). The level and type of school supports (as indicated by transition and vocational-related services) was the most important mediator between parents’ participation and employment outcomes. In addition, school supports was significantly negatively correlated with the other two mediators (students’ functional performance and academic abilities), which suggests that students who have higher functional performance and academic abilities may receive fewer school supports to assist them with the transition. Finally, parent’s participation significantly predicted all mediators (academic abilities, functional performance, self-determination, and school supports).

CONCLUSION: The findings from this analysis have implications for expanding the roles of school-based OTs to assist youth with ASD in the transition to employment. We identified school supports as the most important mediator predicting employment outcomes for youth with ASD. However, youth with ASD who have comparatively higher functional performance and academic abilities received less transition and employment services at school. Finally, parent’s participation in youth’s education not only predicted higher youth’s academic abilities and daily functioning, but also increased the possibility of accessing school supports. OTs can help youth and their parents advocate for needed school supports and provide transition services to optimize their employment outcomes.

References

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) (2017). Research Opportunities in the Area of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(2). doi: 10.5014/

Newman, L., Wagner, M., Knokey, A.-M., Marder, C., Nagle, K., Shaver, D., Wei, X., with Cameto, R., Contreras, E., Ferguson, K., Greene, S., and Schwarting, M. (2011). The Post-High School Outcomes of Young Adults with Disabilities up to 8 Years After High School. A Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) (NCSER 2011-3005). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Available at www.nlts2.org/reports/

Shattuck, P. T., Narendorf, S. C., Cooper, B., Sterzing, P. R., Wagner, M., & Taylor, J. L. (2012). Postsecondary education and employment among youth with an autism spectrum disorder. Pediatrics, 129(6), 1042-1049. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2864