Building Essential Skills Together: Developing Employment and Skill Building Opportunities for Adults of All Abilities

Abstract

The purpose of this doctoral capstone project was to address the gap in vocational and life skill services for Autistic young adults during their transition to adulthood. At the Building Essential Skills Together nonprofit organization, there is a goal to address this need and offer inclusive supported employment and life skill programs to adults of all abilities. Participants in these programs included two Autistic young adults on the Building Essential Skills Together team. Both young adults participated in food truck and cleaning/maintenance supported employment opportunities, completed weekly concession skill building experiences, and hosted a virtual trivia night using their interests. One young adult also participated in a 5-week life skills program led by the doctoral capstone student. This project utilized visual scripts, modeling, and prompting techniques during supported employment and skill building opportunities, and vocational and life skills assessments were established for future evaluation and tracking purposes. The Assessment of Functional Living Skills (AFLS)- Vocational Protocol was modified for the nonprofit’s food truck and cleaning/maintenance supported employment opportunities, and a non-standardized skills inventory was created for the life skills curriculum from the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (4th ed.). Development and implementation of supported employment and life skills materials during this project were guided by the Ecological Human Performance Model and Strengths-Based Frame of Reference for Autistic Individuals. Site feedback was obtained through electronic surveys at the conclusion of the project and indicated that project materials and implementation promoted inclusivity, independence, confidence, growth, and meaning for team members, as well as a foundation for the nonprofit programs.