JobTips: An Employment Preparation Program for Adolescents and Young Adults with

描述（由申请人提供）： 自闭症是一种复杂的神经系统疾病，影响着这个国家的150万人。虽然自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的服务得到了联邦授权的支持，但随着这些儿童过渡到成年和独立生活，自立的需要对个人和社会都至关重要。在美国，支持ASD患者的费用估计为每年350亿美元，对每个社区的卫生服务和财政需求产生重大而长期的影响。成年自闭症患者在工作环境中遇到的困难有据可查，并导致要求研究提供支持的更有效方法。JobTips是一个就业计划，使用视频，学习软件和虚拟世界实践的新颖组合，帮助患有ASD的青少年和年轻人了解不同工作的要求和设置，学习如何申请和面试工作，并掌握维持就业所需的社交互动。JobTips将我们的技术专长与两个首屈一指的自闭症研究中心相结合，即位于北卡罗来纳州查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州医学院精神病学系的TEACCH项目（自闭症和相关沟通障碍儿童的治疗和教育）和位于佐治亚州亚特兰大的埃默里大学的马库斯自闭症中心（MAC）。TEACCH和MAC将参与JobTips的所有组成部分，从最初的程序设计到测试。将根据两个标准公认的测量量表，通过对所学就业技能进行前后评估，并通过将新技能转移到真实的世界环境中，对诊断为ASD的青少年和年轻人确定方案的功效。最终的计划将在互联网上免费提供，任何人都可以不受限制地使用，为自闭症患者提供令人信服的有效服务，并为全球社区创造就业支持网络。该项目将提供一个激励和有效的新的就业干预方案，称为工作提示，以帮助青少年和年轻的自闭症成年人评估工作要求，并学习必要的适当技能，以获得和保持就业。互联网服务将加强和扩大对家庭、学校和偏远地区的支持服务。除了提供一种创新的干预工具外，通过该项目进行的研究还将促进关于使用多媒体工具治疗社交和学习障碍的科学知识，并促进对自闭症患者行为干预策略的更好理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is a complex neurological disorder that affects 1.5 million individuals in this country. While services for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are supported by federal mandates, as these children transition into adulthood and independent living, the need to become self supporting becomes critical both for the individual and for society. The cost to support individuals with ASD, an estimated $35 billion yearly in America, has major and long term impact on the health services and financial needs of every community. The difficulties encountered by adults with autism in work environments are well documented and have resulted in calls to examine more effective ways of providing supports. JobTips is an employment program that uses novel combinations of videos, learning software, and virtual world practice to help adolescents and young adults with ASD understand the requirements and settings for different jobs, learn how to apply and interview for a job, and master the social interactions necessary to maintain employment. JobTips combines our technical expertise with two premier autism research centers, the TEACCH program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University Of North Carolina School Of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC and the Marcus Autism Center (MAC) at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. TEACCH and MAC will be involved in all components of JobTips, from initial program design through testing. Program efficacy will be established with adolescents and young adults who have been diagnosed with ASD through pre/post assessment of employment skills learned and through transference of new skills to real world situations based on two standard accepted measurement scales. The final program will be delivered free over the Internet for use by anyone without restriction, providing a compelling and effective service to individuals with autism and creating employment support networks for communities worldwide. This project would provide a motivating and effective new employment intervention program called JobTips to help adolescents and young adults with autism evaluate job requirements and learn appropriate skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment. Internet delivery will enhance and extend support services to the home, school, and remote locations. In addition to contributing an innovative intervention tool, the research conducted through this project will advance scientific knowledge regarding the use of multimedia tools for treatment in social and learning disorders and promote greater understanding of behavior intervention strategies for individuals with autism.