Job help and info needed
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| Tue, 05-23-2006 - 12:44pm |
My best friend's son is 17 years old and has Asperger's Syndrome. He is a junior in high school, he has 2 IEP's and is associated with our AEA. He is having the worst possible time finding a job on his own, he has had a couple of interviews, but no call backs.
He has his own car and he is very dependable. My friend is very concerned that her son will not find a job due to his Asperger's Syndrome. What is out there for these kids as far as help? Is there any kind of assistance that they can receive if they would never find a job? My friend says that the high school counslours know that he has this syndrome, but they have not made any move to try and help him find a job or give him the tools to find one himself.
I guess we would welcome any kind of advice, I'm sure my friend would like that.
Thank you.

Hi,
My kids are still young, so I have not had to cross that bridge yet.
However, there should be resources available through local or federal goverment to help your friend's son. I think there may be tax breaks for employers who hire individuals with disabilities, so his disability may put him at a possible advantage in some areas. These agencies at least will have resources available to help him to find work. They may have ideas on how to position him and approach potential employers. The big difficulty is probably the interview process. Most people do not understand Aspergers syndrome, and will not "get" him. Having an agency facilitate should help significantly.
check out this site
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/
Also try the US and State Department of labor (the federal site is is dol.gov), or Dept of education (ed.gov)-special ed sections should have information on school--> work transition. The state resources may be more useful, as they will have more area-specific information. You should be able to find them online.
Also search on Americans with disabilities act (ADA) and check out local disability advocacy groups in your area. There are some other groups who are not directly related but may be able to help such as the The National Mental Health Association (NMHA). They have spent years advocating on behalf of people with invisible differences, so even though he is not mentally ill, they might have some good information to help him him.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
They are supposed to address that in his IEP. Go over to the IEP, 504, and special education board here on ivillage. Steph had a post there about transition services under the News section. And you can also re-post your question there.
Samantha
I know what is available locally, but I don't know what is state and what is federal.
Asperger's kids need to learn job skills and the social skills of gaining a job. here we have for kids with special needs who are more able something called "workability". It is more of a internship type thing where an employer agrees to take on a person with a disability and train them in the job. The workability coach provides coaching as neccessary, etc. Then at the end of the term they have that on thier resume. Sometimes the company that took them as an intern or workability person will take them as full time employment.
Call your local autism society and see what is available as far as job coaching in your area of even if they know what government agencies to contact.
BTW if he is on an IEP (special education plan) by the age of 16 he should have had a transition plan in place. That may be the 2nd IEP you talked about, which should have addressed how to prepare him for the work world. If they are not then his parents need to get that on his transition plan. How do they plan to prepare him for work or college or both? Has he been signed up for workability or what ever they have there available.
Have her call an IEP meeting and see what they are doing as far as transition planning. I am not completely up on it but at this point his entire IEP aught to be geared around preparing him for his adult life. That means jobskills, filling out applications, getting the neccessary forms filled out for any support services he may need, applying for jobs or college, etc. If they are not helping him in the area of job skills have her ask to have that added to his transition plan.
Good luck,
Renee