4a-2 Etiology, Treatment, and Services for People with Autism: Adolescent to Young Adulthood Including Transition and Career Readiness

2023

Evidence-based Practices in Academic, Social and Adaptive Functioning Including Transition and Career Readiness Dr. Lindstrom, who came to UC Davis in 2017 as Dean of the School of Education and a CEDD faculty member, conducts research focusing on college and career readiness for students with ASD and DD. Her research is based in community partnership and focuses on underserved populations of girls with autism and individuals living in poverty. Dr. Marjorie Solomon, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Oates Endowed Chair in Life Span Development in Autism, is the Research Director of the MIND Institute Social Skills training group program, which provides services to children and adolescents ages 8-18 with ASD, their parents, and their siblings. When COVID-19 caused a cessation in clinical services at the MIND, the Social Skills team implemented creative online sessions to enable the teens to meet and interact. The parent component of the project also moved online. In the past year, the Social Skills program received a large donation which will enable us to offer services to families who cannot afford the groups. Dr. Solomon also is one of the developers of a curriculum to help adults with ASD, ages 19-37, as they transition to adulthood. This parent component of this program is run by Steve Ruder. This curriculum was tested in a research project that enrolled about 40 young adults with ASD. The goals of the program, Acquiring Coping Career Executive Functioning and Social Skills (ACCESS), are to teach participants and their parents, skills to promote coping in times of stress related to social and vocational functioning, community engagement, and self-care (independent living, recreation, and mental and physical health). The UC Davis Behavioral Health Center of Excellence funded this project. The promising results of this study were published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Former group members with ASD have played a role in running the groups which are now offered as a clinical service and are ongoing. During the pandemic, these groups also were offered online.

Performing Research or Evaluation

Health-Related Activities, Quality of Life

Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Community Trainees / Short term trainees, Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN, Legislators/Policy Makers, General Public

Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas

Another State, Single-County, Mulit-County, State, Regional, National, International

N/A