employment, employer training

As part of our continued segment on Employment, today we bring you a sample of ASTEP’s (Asperger Syndrome Training & Employment Partnership) training offerings for Employers. Seeking employment is a crucial topic for those with Aspergers and High Functioning Autism. Let’s look at the critical tools, tips, and training for both employers hiring potential employees with Aspergers, and for thoseContinue Reading

Jobs need to be chosen that make use of the strengths of people with Autism or Asperger’s syndrome. Both high and low functioning people have very poor short-term working memory, but they often have a better long-term memory than most neurotypicals. I have great difficulty with tasks that put high demands on short-term working memory. I cannot handle multiple tasksContinue Reading

If you were given the chance to work at a job you were interested in for a few hours to assess your skills and abilities, and to decide if you are comfortable and really enjoy it before starting the application process would you do it? This is called a work assessment, and it is imperative to future success. Vocational rehabilitation offices offerContinue Reading

Interview

by: Dave Gentry Never forget to pump a handshake three times- not one, and definitely not five.Seen from an autistic perspective, the social, shared, and flexible attributes of the modern shared office can be intimidating. As work and life spill into each other, they clash with coping mechanisms for autism spectrum disorder, in which high-level functioning depends on adherence to routine,Continue Reading

Smile

One of the most important job skills every employee, including those on the autism spectrum, must learn is how to greet a customer properly. If employees learn this valuable skill, they will be way ahead of the pack. Their employer will notice and customers will become life-long evangelists. Many employees (and business owners!) fail miserably at this simple task, turningContinue Reading

My job is to bring people together—to create an environment where the employee can maximize their potential and an employer can utilize that potential. As an employment specialist for Compass Resource Group one of my first steps in trying to uncover their potential is to assess the soft and hard skills of the individual. In my experience this seems toContinue Reading

Employment, Social Security

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is such a recent diagnostic category in the U.S. that most of the individuals who carry it are children or adolescents. We are only now developing a fund of experience that can anticipate and meet schoolchildren’s needs; we know even less about the typical vocational functioning and other needs of adults with AS. Since most children withContinue Reading

Interview

Q: How should one go about communicating to an interviewer a brief summary of the world of Asperger’s Syndrome? This is a really great question. There is a saying that goes: if you’ve met one person with Aspergers . . . you’ve met one person with Aspergers. I believe this statement is also true of how we communicate Asperger’s syndrome inContinue Reading