Brief Report: A Job-Based Social Skills Program (JOBSS) for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
A short, staff-run JOBSS class lifted social thinking and helped nearly half of autistic adults find work in six months.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Saré et al. (2020) tested a 15-week group class called JOBSS.
Adults with autism spectrum disorder met once a week to practice job-related social skills.
Half joined the class right away. The other half waited and served as the control group.
Caregivers filled out a short survey about social thinking before and after the program.
The team also tracked who got a paid job within six months.
What they found
The JOBSS group scored higher on caregiver-reported social cognition than the wait-list group.
Six months later, 45 % of JOBSS adults had landed paid work versus 0 % of controls.
The program took only 15 hours total and needed no parent coaching.
How this fits with other research
Johnson et al. (2009) and Nickerson et al. (2015) showed parent-assisted social skills classes help autistic teens.
JOBSS keeps the same teaching style but drops the parent requirement for adults.
W Vernon et al. (2018) and Płatos et al. (2022) also ran teen groups and saw big social gains.
Their results line up with JOBSS, showing the method works across ages.
Jarrold et al. (1994) tested 12 sessions of dating skills in adults with intellectual disability.
Like JOBSS, social knowledge rose, yet JOBSS adds the job piece and uses an ASD sample.
Why it matters
You can run JOBSS in a small conference room with two staff and a manual.
No parents, no homework, just 15 one-hour lessons.
If you serve adults with ASD, add JOBSS to your transition plan.
Track caregiver ratings and job placement at six months to see if it works for your crew.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open the JOBSS manual, schedule Lesson 1, and invite three clients to practice workplace greetings.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have low employment rates; even those who are employed have low wages and limited hours. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Job-Based Social Skills (JOBSS) curriculum, a manualized, 15-week, group-delivered intervention for adults with ASD. The intervention aimed to increase social-pragmatic skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment. Twenty-two adults were randomly assigned to either JOBSS intervention or wait-list control groups. Results showed significant improvement in social cognition, as reported by caregivers, among JOBSS group participants compared to wait-list control participants. Forty-five percent of intervention participants gained employment in the six months following participation. This curriculum has potential to improve social skills of adults with ASD, thereby increasing successful employment.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04482-8