School to Work / Work placement / Vocational Employment / Voluntary Work

Volunteer and paid work in the teenage years can help teenagers figure out whether their interests can be turned into longer-term employment goals.

“One of the things that made my transition successful was that I slowly transitioned from full-time school by slowly weaning myself away from the structured world of school.” Grandin, 2016

• Help the teenager identify their interests, many at this age are better at seeing what they cannot do, rather than what they are accomplished at. Completing a TEACHH Transition Assessment Profile (T-TAP) assessment may be beneficial for many.

“Experience with adolescents in the autism spectrum has shown that it is too late to plan for their adult lives when they phase out of school attendance between 18 and 21 years of age. Instead, it is in the best interest of individuals, schools, and communities to begin planning and teaching toward this transition during early adolescence or even earlier. Educators now recommend that transition services and planning be incorporated into the curriculum during elementary and middle school (Repetto & Correa, 1996).” (http://www.proedinc.com/Downloads/11981Intro.pdf)

Training in administering the T-TAP is available from Middletown Centre for Autism and the Special Education Support Service (SESS)

See this video by Temple Grandin (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgAWfuSwxo

• Employment
• Volunteering