Use of vocational rehabilitative services among adults with autism.
Add explicit on-the-job supports to every VRS plan for adults with autism—this single line item turns high costs into high employment rates.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lawer et al. (2009) looked at how adults with autism use state vocational rehab services.
They tracked who got services, what kinds, and who later landed a real job.
The team pulled case records from a large state agency and compared outcomes across disability groups.
What they found
Adults with autism were first turned down more often and cost more to serve.
Yet when their plan listed on-the-job supports, they beat most other groups in landing competitive jobs.
In short, extra help at the work site flipped the odds from poor to strong.
How this fits with other research
Watanabe et al. (2003) showed that letting adults choose their own task order doubled vocational engagement.
Lindsay’s data say the agency must also fund a job coach; choice alone is not enough.
Laugeson et al. (2014) found most young adults with autism still live with parents, hinting that without VRS they stay dependent.
Together the three papers draw a road map: teach self-choice, fund on-site coaching, start before residential inertia sets in.
Why it matters
You can write stronger VRS applications by insisting on “on-the-job supports” in the service plan.
One added line can shift the odds from denial to paid work for your adult client with autism.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open the current VRS plan and add ‘intensive on-the-job supports’ under services; cite Lindsay et al. (2009) if asked why.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the US Vocational Rehabilitation System (VRS). Subjects included all 382,221 adults ages 18-65 served by this system whose cases were closed in 2005; 1,707 were diagnosed with ASD. Adults with ASD were more likely than adults with other impairments to be denied services because they were considered too severely disabled. Among those served, adults with ASD received the most expensive set of services. They and adults with MR were most likely to be competitively employed at case closure. Post hoc analyses suggest that their employment was highly associated with on-the-job supports. The results suggest the importance of the VRS in serving adults with ASD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2009 · doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0649-4