Transition Services for Adults with ASD? Input please!

Post Reply New Topic

Hi. Not sure if this is the right forum for this or not, but I'm hoping for some input for a proposal I'm putting together at work.

In the state where I live, there are transition services for students with disabilities who are 'aging out' of the public school system. The services are designed to help them with vocational training, finding housing, job-hunting, independent living skills, making a smooth transition into college life, etc. (Basically, anything the student might need to transition into living on their own). These services are only available for people up to the age of 21, though.

In my AS support group, I hear from a lot of adults who were dx'd with ASD later in life and never got the chance to get these services when they were younger, but could benefit from them now. I've had a few friends actually say to me, "I have no idea what I'm going to do when my parents die." But, they are too old to qualify and there aren't any similar programs for their age group.

So, a co-worker and I are putting together a proposal for senior management at our agency to start offering adult transition services on a trial basis, with the intention of making it an ongoing service if the trial goes well. I'd really like to be able to help people who are currently falling through the cracks and would welcome any input or suggestions.

Has anyone ever received transition services as an adult or teen? What was helpful about it? What wasn't? If you haven't gotten these services, do you wish they were available to you? Etc, etc. Thanks!

OMG I wish there was a program like that where I live. After high school I felt hopeless. I only got DXed at 20 and my doctor pretty much has nothing for me where I live. I'm still not ready for college or moving out and I do go to a tutoring program but it doesn't teach me how to live on my own. The only program where they teach you life skills is in the local mental hospital and it's hard to get in there when you don't have addictions, psychosis, or mania. I did have sever clinical depression for a while but once I got the DX that cleared up fast. I'm also scared of the stigma I'd get if I went there.

My state (PA) has an Adult Autism Waiver, for which I am going through the arduous application process. It offers 18 different services for adults, from vocational training to housing assistance, people to take you into the community to assistive technology. You have to meet both financial and functional eligibility ("moderately" affected by ASD) to qualify, which I have done, and now need my doctor to fill out forms. I can't tell you how helpful the services are because I haven't gotten them yet, but I believe they will allow me to move out of my parents' house and live in my own apartment, which would be fantastic.

The Kelberman Center for Autism in Upstate New York, located in the Mohawk River Valley between Albany and Syracuse has many excellent programs and services for BOTH children and adults. It also, provides residential housing for adults over age 21, including community residences and supportive apartments to assist adults in living independently. There are also, day treatment programs, social activities and a jobs program with job coaches providing assistance when needed.

If you would like to learn more about this excellent facility and their programs and services, check out their website...simply Google...Kelberman Center for Autism.

Best of luck to you!

Some of friends from my gaming group that I was apart of from 16-20 went to Toronto to game with some Canadian D&D players we met at our local game store. While hitting the stores and a mall I encountered some homeless guy who I gave all my change too when I was getting ready to go back to the states. He told me his story how he could never do anything right and was weirded out by people. He said he had a good life until his parents died and he could not keep their house or find a descent paying job so here he was on the street. My friends were teasing me the whole entire trip about me not going to college and ending up like that guy. I still think about that homeless guy and worry that I could end up like him. What really gets me is that I can never find a good paying job and I am only a decade younger than that homeless guy was when I met him.

I live in PA and my agency provides Service Coordination for the AAW, so I'm somewhat familiar with it and am glad the State finally started offering it. My idea for the transition services was to help people who do not qualify for the waiver or who do not need all the services the waiver provides. Good luck with getting into the waiver; hope it works out well for you. But, if it doesn't or you don't feel like you're getting the right services for you, don't be afraid to advocate for your yourself and talk with your Service Coordinator.

I don't understand just what you're proposing to 'transition' these people to.

You have a tendency to speak in bureaucratic gibberish. Plain English, please. No alphabet soup.




Were it not for Social Security Disability, I would have been that guy by now.

That's a great idea!

Has anyone ever received transition services as an adult or teen?
Yes, after I graduated college and was having trouble finding a job.

What was helpful about it?
The most helpful thing was when they gave me one of those career tests and then actually found places for me to interview at, set up the interviews and went to them with me. (And now they're staying with me until I'm actually secure in one or more jobs.) I really appreciate that they're walking me ALL THE WAY through it, it's helping so much.

What wasn't?
I can't even remember what they were doing before.. it seemed like a lot of conceptual and counseling stuff. It didn't help because I know what my problems are and I kind of know what I should maybe do, but it's the actual DOING that I get stuck on, because the situation is never what I expect (or what people tell you to expect) and there are so many little things that totally trip me up.
ACTUAL SOLID ACTION is the best thing these places can provide. (Because I'm SO willing to work, as soon as someone tells me what I should actually be doing.)

Like I'd said, the services are intended to help people get what they need to transition into living on their own. For example, for some people this might mean transitioning from living with a parent or in a group home, into living in their own apartment and finding employment to support themselves.

Because people's needs and goals are different, the services and steps involved vary from person to person. (That's why people sometimes also use the term 'person-centered planning' when talking about transition planning). Common transition services might include vocational training, job interview skills training, learning how to create a budget, help finding housing, etc.

Hope that sounded less like bureaucratic gibberish.

I don't really know what to think about Idaho's services for adults with autistic disorders.

I live in a western state (Idaho). As you all know, Idaho is one of the most Republican (giving about 60 to 70 percent of the vote to Republican presidential candidates). Besides that, most of the state government is controlled by Republicans, and they have a healthy "supermajority" in both branches of the state legislature. A major part of the Republican platform is minimal government, and low taxes.

In practical terms, that means services are very limited as far as what my state is willing to help out with. Idaho does have a Vocational Rehabilitation program (funded by a state-federal partnership). I am enrolled in this service. However, the service is extremely limited as far as what it is willing to do to help out. I get some tuition assistance from Idaho, but it is limited to about 1600 dollars. Because I moved here last year from Montana to attend a university in this city, I was on out-of-state rates for my first two semesters (about 700 per semester).

Montana VR was slightly more helpful, as they paid for everything up to in-state-tuition, and luckily for me, they decided to keep me on the rolls since Idaho was less willing to cough up money.

But money and attending college is not my only problem. I would like to live on my own, but this state really has no provisions for assisting people like me with this task.

Actually, it sounds like Idaho is paying for a whole lot more than you would be able to get through PA's Office of Vocational Rehab (OVR), due to all the budget cuts we've had here. I wasn't dx'd with AS until after I'd graduated from college, but I did work with PA's OVR for help with finding a new job when it looked like the company I was working for at the time was going to go out-of-business. OVR was my first experience dealing with 'The System' because I'd never been eligible for services before then. My experience was so bad that it was one of the things that inspired me to make a career change and work in disability services.

Basically, my case worker knew very little about AS and since he was a few months away from retirement, wasn't motivated to learn. He expressed suprise at how 'high-functioning' I seemed and didn't think there was much he could do to help me, then passed me along to someone else who seemed to have the same attitude. Yet, despite seeming to be 'high-functioning,' it took me about 7 months to find a new job because I'd always screw up the interviews somehow, by avoiding eye contact or God only knows what else. (And that was back when the job market was much better!)

A lot of these government programs are so overloaded and understaffed that they take a cookie-cutter approach to delivering services. I think my agency, as an independent nonprofit, may be able to do better, but I'm still unsure of how to get such a program funded. Someone in senior management suggested having people pay on a private basis, until company can evaluate whether or not they want to continue the service, then going for grant funding at a later date.

But, honestly, how is someone who is unemployed or homeless going to pay out-of-pocket for services? I guess I'd better start playing the lottery, if I really want to be able to help people.