Individual education programs are quite common for children who have additional needs or have a condition such as autism. These often involve making transition plans for what happens when a child turns 16 and can leave education. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA has recently carried out a survey about post-16 transition plans for children with autism. As NDIS providers on the Gold Coast, it’s always interesting to see how other authorities in different countries look after their young people. So, we were sad to see that one of the findings of the study was a distinct failure.
The Study
Three states took part in the study, and 322 teenagers’ individual education plans and transition proposals were audited. The good news was that almost all of them contained information about education after high school and employment possibilities, which are stipulated under the special education law from the federal government. Unfortunately, just 41% of the files that they looked at contained any goals dealing with living arrangements post-high school age.
Not a Requirement
This doesn’t break any agreements because they’re not actually required to set out living arrangements as part of transition goals, but it does help the young person if these are included. Writing about the report, one of the auditors Michelle Hughes, who works as an epidemiologist for the CDCs National Centre of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said, “Although postsecondary living arrangement goals are not required components of transition planning, a minority of young adults with ASD live independently without supports. Thus, planning for the anticipated living situation post-high school is important to consider for those with ASD during transition planning.”
But More Could Be Done
They concluded that there was a lot of interstate variety in the information included. Generally, if a young person had intellectual disabilities alongside autism, it was more likely that accommodation and living arrangement plans had been included. However, this does not negate the challenges faced by high-functioning Asperger’s and autism, so the fact that these goals were missing from their IEP plans is not good. Without challenges and goals, they could potentially struggle to get to grips with sorting living arrangements for themselves. It must be noted that autism alone is often the reason for an IEP. Therefore, the same goals and principles should be followed, no matter what comorbidity conditions are or are not present.
Lack of Support in Other Areas
The survey also showed that more therapy, including adapted physical education, speech therapy, and occupational therapy was, again, only offered to those who had a comorbid intellectual disability. There is nothing to suggest that autism as a single diagnosis should exclude these children from full access to all of the therapies on offer. Working with children and young people on a daily basis, we feel it’s important that each child and young person is given access to every conceivable service that may help them to live an independent life.