Measures needed to help autistic people transition from school to work

MAKING the transition from education to work for people with autism was raised a number of times last week in Leinster House by Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú.

The Sinn Féin TD raised the issue with Ministers Simon Harris, Roderic O’Gorman and Heather Humphreys, while also using his time on the Oireachtas committee on autism to focus on how technology could assist the transition.

In addition, Louthbased entrepreneur and educator, Lisa Marie Clinton, was one of the expert witnesses at last week’s autism committee. She is the strategy and business development director of adult transition and employment for CentralReach, an American company that offers a range of autism and intellectual disability care software and services. It serves over

130,000 professionals at home, in the community, at school and in work.

Autism Awareness Day was on Sunday April 2 and Deputy Ó Murchú was one of a number of TDs who attended the launch of World Autism Month hosted by the AsIAm group.

In Leinster House,

Deputy Ó Murchú told Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys that he welcomed the review of the disability awareness support scheme and asked her to also look at the workplace equipment adaptation grant as there had been ‘a very low uptake’.

He said: ‘We want to bring about workplaces that are disability friendly. We do not want employers to have to pay the money up-front, especially smaller employers. We have to look at engaging the Intreo workforce to engage with employers to facilitate with disabilities in the workplace’.

He also asked Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris to look at how third level institutions and further education colleges can assist with the transition from education to work for those with autism and the need for colleges to be more accessible.

At the autism committee, Deputy Ó Murchú spoke about the benefits of people with autism gaining employment following education. He said: ‘We have all seen the benefits that accrue for the person, for society, for the wider economy and obviously for their family as well. It is about being able to be all they can be.

‘Universal design also relates to wider society. It is about reasonable accommodations, whether with regard to courses, particularly in third level, or the wider piece of work that needs to be done on a framework to create workspaces that are autism-friendly, for want of a better scenario.

‘We are generally talking about adult services. There are difficulties as regards services for children, from assessments to therapies, but after that they are almost non-existent and fall off a cliff edge. If we were talking to further education institutes or colleges, we would be talking about their difficulties around not having enough personal assistants to help people and the work conditions there, which are almost from a century ago.

‘Whether State services are fit for purpose or whether people would require training is another issue. We need this sort of service and outreach service built into the education and training boards, ETBs, the Intreo offices and possibly even the local enterprise offices, rather than relying on projects out of universities’.

He said he had previously met Ms Clinton and was impressed with her work. He said: ‘At times, people need oneon-one interaction with facilitators, educators and therapists but these assistive technologies can be available to them all of the time. There is a definite win’.

Ms Clinton said: ‘We know that for children and adults with autism, there needs to be repetition. Repetition is key to learning a skill. We can provide 24-7 repetition and if we provide these prompts all of the time, people learn these skills at a much faster pace.

‘When we measured it against the traditional methods we were able to increase the acquisition of skills and of that goal at a much faster pace. That meant that the organisation could reallocate resources and serve more individuals or increase the goals it had thought it might not have been able to work on because it had to provide a level of oneto-one. We could, therefore, extend learning to teach more skills’.

Gaelscoil Dhun Dealgan Rang 4 with Muinteoir Seamus on La Dearg - ‘Show Racism the Red Card Day’. All pupils and teachers were asked to wear red last Friday to show the school stands against racism in all forms.