Planning the Transition to Employment for Adolescents with High Functioning Autism/Asperger's Syndrome

The intervention is the Better OutcOmes & Successful Transitions for Autism (BOOST-A). The BOOST-A is an online protocol that will guide adolescents with high functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome (HFA/AS) to plan their transition from school to employment. This will be done with the adolescent's 'transition team', which includes their parents/carers, relevant school staff, and any other professionals involved in their transition planning. The protocol has a strengths and interests based assessment, which will provide guidance on potential job pathways for the adolescent. It also assists with goal setting to promote engagement in activities to increase the likelihood that the adolescent will be successful in obtaining employment post-school. The protocol was developed based on a literature review of best-practice in transition planning, as well as a survey and interviews of adolescents with HFA/AS, their parents/carers and professionals about the ideal transition planning process. The protocol involves a number of phases: Phase 1 and 2: Preparation and Assessment. Duration is 1-2 hours. Completed online with the adolescent and the parent. Phase 3: Goal setting. Done with the team at a meeting that would run for about 1 hour. Phase 4: Review. Done with the team at a recurring meeting that will run for 0.5-1 hour. Time frame: Overall duration of intervention: Roughly 3-4 years (from Year 9 to Year 12). The current RCT will monitor 1 year of this process. Phase 1 & 2: Over a period of 2 weeks. Phase 3: Within 1 month of completing Phase 1 & 2 (by Week 6). Phase 4: The meetings are held once a term, or every 3 months, for the period of roughly 3 years. Strategies used to monitor adherence to the intervention include monitoring participant's usage of the online program (which stored data in a central database). Participants will also be asked to report on how often they've used the protocol and with whom.