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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1392672

Toward Workforce Integration: Enhancements in Adaptive Behaviors and Social Communication Skills among Autistic Young Adults Following Vocational Training Course

Provisionally accepted
Yael Lousky Yael Lousky 1*Efrat Selanikyo Efrat Selanikyo 2Gila Tubul- Lavy Gila Tubul- Lavy 2Esther Ben-Itzchak Esther Ben-Itzchak 1
  • 1 Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
  • 2 Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Tel Aviv District, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Cognitively able autistic adults demonstrate low rates of employment due to social and vocational challenges. The current study aimed to examine changes in various areas among autistic young adults who participated in the 'Roim Rachok' ('Looking Ahead' in Hebrew) Training Course (RRTC).The course prepares young autistic adults for integration into military service as vocational soldiers.The study included 49 autistic participants who completed the RRTC in one of three vocational fields: Digital (n = 19), Technical (n = 9), andVisual (n = 21). Evaluations at the beginning and end of the course included adaptive behavior (Adaptive Behavior Assessment Scale 2 nd Edition [ABAS-II]), autism symptom severity (Social Responsiveness Scale 2nd Edition [SRS-II]), and communication skills (Faux Pas; Empathy Quotient [EQ]; Friendship Quality Scale; Conversation task based on Yale in vivo Pragmatic Protocol [YiPP]).Results: The results revealed a significant Time effect for the self-reported ABAS-II conceptual, social, and practical subdomains, EQ empathy quotient subdomain, Faux Pas, and SRS-II social communication interaction scores. Accordingly, participants reported increasing their adaptive skills, emotional empathy, and the ability to detect and interpret awkward statements, and decreased in their social communication interaction symptoms, following the RRTC. No significant Time x Group interaction was found for any of the examined measures, meaning similar trends were observed in all three vocational groups. Conclusion: Following the RRTC, participants reported significant improvements in areas essential for their future integration as soldiers in the military and as employees in the vocational world. Implications of the study findings are discussed.

    Keywords: autism, young adults, Employment, vocation, social communication, Adaptive Behavior

    Received: 29 Feb 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lousky, Selanikyo, Tubul- Lavy and Ben-Itzchak. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yael Lousky, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.