Project Description:
ASSIST (Advocating for SupportS to Improve Service Transition) is a 12-week parent training program that helps parents advocate for services for their young adult on the autism spectrum. The main goal of this project is to improve the transition to adulthood for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The ASSIST project will enroll 180 families and follow them over 3 years to measure this nationally-relevant programs effectiveness. Because we have modified program content to make it applicable to service systems across the nation, we are rigorously testing the ASSIST program in three states with different service systems (Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin). We are including the perspective of young adult with ASD in the data collection, and we are examining how the ASSIST program influences youth outcomes. Finally, we are exploring barriers to participation and factors that make it more challenging for families to receive the services they need.
We believe that ASSIST participation will improve parents' advocacy ability, leading to higher rates of employment, education, social participation, and service access for youth with ASD. We will test this hypothesis by randomly assigning parents of transition-aged youth with ASD (ages 16-26) to either an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group attends the in-person training sessions for 12 weeks, while the control group receives course materials in the mail. However, the control group will still have the opportunity to take the in-person training program at a later date, so all participants will be able to join the group some may just have to wait a bit longer than others. We will collect follow-up data from families every 6 months for 3 years. This study will result in a new intervention to improve outcomes for youth with ASD that can be implemented across the country.
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities
