Many kids with autism have a difficult time finding a job after graduation.
We all want our child or clients to be as independent as possible into adulthood and
part of that is being able to find a job and, but what can we do to help, uh, kids who are
teens transitioning to adulthood to find the independence after graduation..
Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, online course
creator and bestselling author of The Verbal Behavior Approach.
Each week I provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism around so if you haven't
subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do that now.
Today, I'm interviewing an attorney and an author, Gary Mayerson who gives advice on
how to better prepare our children with autism for life following graduation.
To hear the whole podcast interview, you can go to marybarbera.com/43, or click the card
on the screen now.
So you are writing a second book that will be out soon called The Autism's Declaration
of Independence.
So tell us about that book.
How is that different than your first book and why are you writing it?
Autism's Declaration of Independence focuses on basically the ramp up, how to get the best
possible outcome for your child upon the transition to adulthood.
I think that so much of our focus as whether, as clinicians or as educators is, we're looking
at the child that year.
We're focusing way too much on that particular school year, as opposed to taking the long
view and making a plan or a series of plans that will put that child into the best possible
place of self sufficiency and independence when that child graduates from the public
school system.
So I think that, you know, I, and I've seen this hundreds of times now.
We're families doing all they can, the school district is doing what they think is right
and then the child graduates to unemployment, necessarily having to live with their parents
as opposed to, and that could be a great choice for students too but not by default, and having
a housing crisis.
And everybody's saying, well, they graduated.
Well, what did they graduate to?
So the case is part of what they've said and part of what Congress has said is they're
really focusing on the outcome.
We're looking at what is the outcome as the proof of whether the programming and everything
that was happening in school was effective.
So, the book is about how to shape your child's educational program with, through the assessment
process, through using experts through accessing the pro, the programming and the supports
that are available in the public school system, so that the child is able to graduate to something
that's meaningful and fulfilling for them upon the transition to adulthood.
So, so much of what we see today is that you will see conference after conference about
transition.
That's, that's the issue today.
It's no longer, it's no, we've already bought into.
We know that ABA is, uh, demonstrably effective.
We don't have to keep reinventing that wheel over and over again, as we did 15 or 20 years
ago, now it's accepted.
The surgeon general has said that it's an effective, uh, method.
Um, the New York state department of health has a three or four volume set was published
in the 1990s, that said it was an effective method.
So.
We don't have to reinvent or fight those, some of those battles again, you know, well,
we do have to, we do have to keep sharpening our pencil a little bit so that we have better
outcomes for students with autism, whether they are, and I hate this terminology, high
functioning, low functioning.
I don't care about any of that.
Wherever the child is, the Supreme court use of the word potential means that that child
has a potential.
We need to be using that potential to determine what's an appropriate and meaningful program
for that child.
And we should look at the outcome of how independent we were able to get that student, how self
sufficient, we're able to get that student as a measure of our success, because ultimately,
you know, we all know how much it costs to sustain a person with autism who has to live
in a group home or in some other similar facility.
It's millions of dollars over a lifetime.
Millions of dollars.
And if you're going to invest the money, invest in independence and invest in self sufficiency,
that's sustainable.
And today we're seeing a lot, many more students with autism.
I'm not just talking about Asperger's, but with “regular autism” going onto a college
experience, going on to a vocational experience.
One of the, one of the other hats that I wear is I'm the board chair of a not-for-profit
called Job Path, which is located in New York City.
And Job Path does what the public school system has pretty much failed to do, which is provide
the appropriate great vocational training, assessment and services so that the student,
even if they don't go onto college, has some kind of skill.
So these are not just jobs.
There are, some of the jobs are, you know, scanning or shredding jobs in offices, but
many of them are working in a, in a restaurant, uh, preparing food.
Um, working in an office, putting files together.
So, so today's, uh, autism graduate has a future to look forward to in many cases that
just didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago.
So I think job development is a, is a gigantic issue when you're talking about an unemployment
rate and we can argue about whether it's 80%, 85 or 90 or 95%, but it's way high it's too
high.
You know, if you're a typically developing person and you see the unemployment rate going
over 5%, you freak.
This is 80, at least 80, 85%.
It's it's, it's just unacceptable.
Wow.
But what are we going to do is, you know, the book is, and the book also has, contains,
you know, many stories from the cases we've had.
Um, some of the more interesting stories we have vignettes of, um, of what happened in
the case of the backstory.
So I think that a lot of, a lot of families might find interesting to see what happened
in these particular cases.
So the book is, it's a different approach.
Yes.
It has the practical strategies that parents can use if they’re in loggerheads with the
school district, how to go to mediation, how to send a 10 day letter, how to demand due
process.
How to settle the case.
It has all that, but it has more.
And the, the more is basically the, the forward-looking looking towards a sustainable future and,
and the transition to adulthood.
Yeah.
Which is so important.
And when you're talking about transition, the transition age, when children, when we
really are required by law to start looking at it is age 14, but even if you have a 10
year old or 12 year old, who is very impaired.
You know, instead of arguing and litigating, whether they should have this or that, we
really also need to be looking at what are they gonna do at 16?
What are they going to do at 18?
What am I going to do at 25, um, years of age?
Because, um, that should help shape the IEP.
Um, because like you said, independence is so important and it is one of the things that
I've focused on over the years.
The other thing you said is you have this, uh, Job Path nonprofit, which is awesome.
And I just want to also encourage behavior analysts and teachers listening is you don't
have to like send kids to a program.
Or even have a program already established.
You may be you, you may use ABA principles, um, to go in, like I did when I had a sixth
grader client and then I had him up through 21.
So, so at age 14 we started looking, where is this student going to be able to go.
For transition trials for work trials?
You know, I didn't have any experience, kind of like being a waitress.
It's like, you just have to start and start working with where you can volunteer, where
you can observe where you're, who's willing.
Like the guy at the local restaurant here he's like, Lucas can come in any time, you
know, with his, with his aide.
Who's not a job coach or anything.
She knows ABA.
She knows Lucas.
Like, we'll figure it out.
So some of it is just like, because there's just not enough established programs right
now to deal with the influx of kids that are going to be coming.
And so I really think your book's going to be important.
And, and this podcast is important to tell people, you know, we just need to start developing
things based on the individuals that you have and their needs and use the principles.
Like when I went into a laundry at the hospital, I'm like, show me your, your simplest job.
You know, or with Lucas, he likes to sit to do work versus stand, he's bothered by loud
noises.
Okay.
Show me where is the quietest job?
Where’s the simplest job?
Where's jobs that you could sit and just start piecing together, work trials that can give
us data.
Sure.
And parents in some instances have to be inventive and creative enough to start their own employment
situation completely from scratch.
I, um, we have a client family that lives in Kodiak Island, Alaska, the Pletnikoff family,
who's, and I say their name only because they've been very outspoken and they've used their
name.
Otherwise it would be confidential of course.
But, um, when their son was, graduated from the public school system and was looking for
employment, they came up with a fascinating idea, which is to create, you know, dog tags.
Lots of dogs on Kodiak Island, dog tags, personalized dog tags.
And, uh, and their child was able to start this business and, and basically be an entrepreneur
in an area that wouldn't necessarily have a lot of, you know, regular jobs in an office.
They don't even have really that many offices in Kodiak Island.
There's no, there's no, ready employment, other than the fishing industry, pretty much.
It’'s pretty much fishing oriented.
So, but this is a situation where the, the family got together and they use their head
and they said, you know what, what would be in demand here on Kodiak Island and, and dog
tags was, uh, something that worked for them.
So, you know, if you're a parent and you're living in a remote area, don't give up, you
may.
You can just put on your thinking cap.
You may come up with something that people need, and that will be a job for your child,
or can be.
Wherever you're watching this, I'd love it, if you would leave me a comment, give me a
thumbs up, share this video with others who may benefit.
And for more information, you can attend a free online workshop at marybarbera.com/workshop.
And I'll see you right here next week.