New toolkit available: Helping young autistic people set self-determined goals

Posted by webcomm on Thursday, August 6, 2020 in News.

“Supporting Teens and Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum: Setting and Pursuing Self-Determined Goals” was produced through a collaborative effort of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC), its Treatment and Research Institute on Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD), and the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation.

This plain-language toolkit is designed to help parents and caregivers, teachers, siblings, service providers, and others who support teens and young adults on the autism spectrum as they set and pursue self-determined goals. Teens and adults on the autism spectrum may also find this toolkit helpful, as well as those who support individuals with a range of disabilities.

Click here for a link to the toolkit and here to download the pdf. It is free to print and share. To take part in the online course, register for a free account at triad.vkclearning.org and access the information in the “Caregiver” folder. Several other helpful autism-related resources are also available through the TRIAD site.

For a more detailed description of the project, please watch this brief video (less than 3 minutes) presented by principal investigator and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator Beth Malow, M.D., M.S., and Frist Center of Autism and Innovation director Keivan Stassun, Ph.D.

In addition, check out this blog post by Beth Malow, written about the toolkit for Transition Tennessee’s Rise to Work blog series by Janet Shouse. Shouse is an avid disability advocate and parent of a young adult on the spectrum.

Please feel free to reach out to spectrum.forLIFE@vumc.org with any questions, or contact a Frist Center staff member directly.