An individual-supported program to enhance placement in a sheltered work environment of autistic individuals mostly with intellectual disability: a prospective observational case series in an Italian community service.
Year-long, thrice-weekly sheltered art workshops can raise work hours and self-help skills in adults with autism plus intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Maggio et al. (2023) ran a year-long program at three Italian day centers. Adults with autism and intellectual disability came three times a week to sheltered art workshops. Each person had their own support plan. Staff tracked how many hours they worked and how well they handled daily tasks.
The team wrote up every case. No control group. Just real-life data from a community service that already existed.
What they found
People stayed in the workshop longer as the year went on. They also needed less help with things like packing tools or asking for a break. Families said the gains carried over at home.
How this fits with other research
The results line up with Veneruso et al. (2022). That team ran a pasta-making group for teens and young adults with autism. Both Italian studies show craft work can boost daily living skills.
Doughty et al. (2010) did something different. They tweaked three competitive jobs for adults with severe autism. Simple changes—shorter wait times, extra praise—cut stereotypy and raised work output. Maggio adds time: a whole year of sheltered work instead of brief fixes.
Perez et al. (2015) found Project SEARCH plus supported employment gave higher wages than supported employment alone. Their adults worked in regular businesses. Maggio’s adults stayed in a protected setting. The two studies do not clash; they serve different support needs.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with both autism and ID, sheltered workshops can still move the needle. Run art or craft sessions three days a week. Write a quick support plan for each client. Track two things: time on task and daily-living prompts. After a month you will see if the shop is helping.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder. The profile of functioning in autistic people is very heterogeneous, and it is necessary to take into account individual characteristics to better support integration in the workplace. However, unemployment rates are higher for autistic people than for other types of disabilities. We present a prospective case series to explore the feasibility and efficacy of an individual-supported program to enhance placement in a sheltered work environment delivered by an Italian community day care center. Autistic subjects, aged from 12 to 31 years, participated in an individual-supported program regarding employment in sheltered art workshops, integrated into the regular activity of a semi-residential center three times a week for 1 year. Their feasibility retention rate and time worked per session were registered; moreover, working methods efficacy and self-organization improvement were tracked by the Likert-based rating system. Secondary outcome measures span functional levels, challenge behaviors, and sensory problems. All the individuals presented a good adaptation to the environment, with a significant increase in time worked per session. After 1 year, the intervention allowed an increase in tasks completed in an assigned complex job and an improvement in self-organization within the work schedule in a group of subjects consisting mainly of severe-to-moderate levels of autism severity (86.6%). Finally, we observed a significant increase in independent functioning areas of the TEACCH transitional assessment profile. Challenge behaviors and sensory problems were also recorded. This case series supports the idea that individual-supported programs for placement in sheltered job environments delivered by community day care centers could be feasible and effective for ASD with higher levels of severity and co-occurring intellectual disability. Further targeted studies based on community models and accessible methods need to be planned to define the effectiveness of the intervention and promote improved practice at the community level with a better social impact.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2023 · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1225236