Understanding the Challenges of Young Adults with ASD in Transition

Young adults on the autism spectrum face substantial barriers related to their communication and social interaction challenges as they transition to adulthood. Improving social networks for youth with ASD and their supporters can provide an important safety net
that can bridge the “collaboration cliff” youth face during transition. To improve the coordination of supports across the life course, we require new approaches that can track collaboration across settings and enable team members to identify gaps and opportunities for collaboration to reach desired outcomes. Participants were introduced to social network approaches to measure support networks during transition among young adults, their parents, friends, school staff, community members and professional providers who provide interventions for people on the autism spectrum.
Presented by Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick
Part of the 2018 Summer Institute on Neurodevelopmental Disorders

The UC Davis MIND Institute is working to amplify the voices of the disability community and promote neurodiversity. This includes responding to concerns regarding the language and framing used to describe autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. We believe there is a benefit to maintaining access to historical presentations like those on our YouTube page, but recognize that the vocabulary used doesn’t always match the current preferred language. We appreciate the harmful impact of this outdated language, the discriminatory framework which fostered it, and the distress it may cause to some individuals. In an attempt to lessen this, we have changed the titles of presentations where appropriate.