Alpern, C.S., and Zager, D. (2007).  Addressing communication needs of young adults with autism in a college-based inclusion program.  Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 42(4), 428-436.

• lots of articles about the communication needs to kids with autism - very few on adolescents and adults
• present article - review of the literature on communication and adults, and a case study of a model college-based program
• Speech and language functioning
  • HFA - substantial improvement with age (Seltzer, et al., 2003) 
  • maturity - functional speech, less pronoun issues
  • possible that access to intensive intervention as children led to improvements
  • impairment still a hallmark of the disorder and can affect other areas as well
    • stereotyped utterances
    • inappropriate questions
    • non-verbal communication
    •  eye contact
  • adolescent conversation - rapid and often abstract
    • kids with ASD can get lost in the conversation
    • perspective taking also an issue
  • even in HFA and AS  - these problems are often an issue
  • problems with communication in vocational settings as well
    • idioms
    • double meanings
    • body language
    • irrelevant comments
    • knowing when to ask questions
    • speech and prosody - the most overlooked
    • Shirberg et al (2001)
  • high pitched voices and discourse difficulties decreased conversational competence
  • language functioning affects the formation of friendships
    • Orsmund, Krauss and Seltzer (2004)
    • affects of language on friendships increases with age - linguistics become more complex
    • Carter & Hughes (2005)
      • inferential and figurative language
    • supported by other studies
    • mild differences seem to also influence - people have very little tolerance for differences in speech and prosody
  • Muller, Schuler, Burton & Yates (2003)
    • language issues = poor job performance (done with individuals with AS)
    • often fired for being too blunt or asking too many questions
      • perspective taking
      • prosody
      • nonverbal communication
      • figurative and nonliteral language
  • SLPs are needed in high school as well as elementary school
    • services are often eliminated during transition
    • standard language tests often fail kids with HFA and AS - syntax rather than pragmatics
  • Assessment guidelines
    • conversational skills
    • narrative skills
    • metalinguistic skills
    • acadmics - motives and actions of characters in a story
    • hidden curriculum
    • nonverbal communication
      • gestures
      • facial expressions
      • eye gaze
      • sarcasm
      • nonliteral meanings
    • speech, voice and prosody
  • Intervention guidelines (based upon the ASHA guidelines)
    • Joint attention
    • social reciprocity
    • language and cognitive skills
      • intonation patterns
      • recognizing emotional states
      • syntax
      • background information
    • behavioral and emotional regulation
      • planning
      • negotiating and collaborating
  • Shriberg et al. (2001) suggests that rate and loudness be addressed first
  • later goals
    • stress patterns
    • Theory of mind training
  • work related skills (Schall et al., 2006)
    • requesting more mork
    • requresting help
    • requesting clarification of conflicting instructions
    • talking with co-workers
    • register
    • respect when talking
      • when talking with teachers as opposed to peers:
        • turn taking
        • logics
        • clarification ability
• Intervention programs - Carter & Hughes, 2005
  • support-based interventions coupled with skill-based intervetnions
    • arranging the environment
    • multiple oppotunities for practice - often occur infrequently in the natural environment
      • doesn't happen in high school
      • more emphasis on academics
      • more of a lecture format
      • classes change throughout the day
    • need skill instruction to help understand what to do when the opportunities arise
  • methods - dependent upon the skills
  • time and resources might be substantial
  • shared and collaborative effort between general education and special education (Eskow & Fisher, 2005)
  • other identified factors
    • motivation
    • metacognitive ability
    • parental involvement - very important (Lindstrom, Doren, Metheny, Johnson, & Zane 2007)
    • time invested
• Services in postsecondary settings
  • many of the skills are similar to those needed in childhood and adolescence in postsecondary - however, some are employment-based
    • instruction should be in naturalistic settings - increases the probability of generalization and maintenance
    • laws do not provide for where to provide services beyond LRE
  • college-based programs - services with age-appropriate peers
    • flexible scheduling
    • lots of vocational sites within the community
    • can use public school funds to provide college services to kids 18-21
• Campus-based inclusion class
  • speech services provided by preservice speech pathologists under the direction of an SLP
  • assessments - artificially deflated BL - could be the perspective-taking issue?
  • Taught Theory of Mind through role-play and other social skills interventions
    • 8-week intervention program showed gains for all but one student
    • ToM does not reliably generalize
    • supported employment programs - usually don't make this a priority
  • train workers to understand the difficulties with HFA and AS as well as job training might be helpful?