Knowing what an employer wants to hear can make all the difference during a job interview.
For
adults with an autism-spectrum disorder, those answers can be harder to
come by. And without work, they face the prospect of a much less
independent life.
But early evidence
suggests some job-training programs geared for these individuals appear
to improve interview skills and self-confidence.
Much
of the focus on autism, a developmental disorder characterized by
social deficits and repetitive behavior, has centered on the diagnosis
and treatment of young children. But for parents and experts, the
question of what happens when these patients grow older and age out of
social services looms large. More than half of adults with autism in the
U.S. are unemployed, according to studies.
Parts of the job-seeking process can be
missed or misinterpreted by people with autism. They may not engage in
small talk to ingratiate themselves to colleagues or employers.
Networking can make them anxious. Many need to hear that they should
write a cover letter even if a job description only asks for a résumé,
says
Lydia Brown,
a former project assistant at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network
and an Arabic and Islamic Studies student at Georgetown University.
Scientists
from Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Yale universities are studying
whether interview skills can be improved through a computer-based
program that uses a virtual-reality interviewer dubbed Molly.
On
screen, Molly is a young but professional-looking brunette whose voice
comes from an actress who recorded 2,000 questions and answers related
to job interviews.
Technologically, she
is based on sophisticated person-simulation software originally designed
to train FBI agents to interrogate witnesses, says
Dale Olsen,
who developed the initial technology in 1995 when he was a
scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. He
is now the chief executive of a Columbia, Md.-based company called
Simmersion, which sells training systems using the technology.
The trainees start by filling out an
application processed by the program to determine the most appropriate
questions for applicants. For instance, if people have gaps in their
work history, Molly may ask applicants to explain them.
In
addition, Molly can be programmed to three levels, from nice to
brusque. Trainees learn to navigate these situations by choosing from a
set of responses to each question. After each selection, they hear
feedback about how well they answered.
The
feedback is intended to help trainees build rapport with an
interviewer. For instance, when asked if they have experience, some
trainees initially may respond "no," without realizing that such a
response may hurt them. Gradually, they may learn a more effective
response, like, "No, but I'm a fast learner."
In
the study, 26 adults ages 18 to 31 were assigned either to work with
Molly on up to 20 trials over a 10-hour period, or to their usual
treatment. They all were also interviewed by researchers at the
beginning and end of the study.
The data showed that those who worked with
Molly reported better self-confidence and better performance scores in
the mock interviews over time. A preliminary data analysis, still
unpublished, suggests that those who received training with Molly were
more likely to get competitive positions than those who didn't, says
Matthew Smith,
research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at Northwestern. He is also first author on the study, which
was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Kat Wyand,
25, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism,
when she was 16, and told by teachers and therapists that her deficits
with social skills would prevent her from getting a job. Ms. Wyand was
devastated. She went on to get a bachelor's degree in audio arts and
acoustics at Columbia College in Chicago, but had trouble finding work.
She says she sent out a number of applications but received few
interviews and doesn't know why.
When
she heard about the study at Northwestern, she immediately got in touch.
She says she learned what to say to start an interview, and to condense
her answers, since she had a tendency to ramble. However, with the
computer program, she says she wasn't able to get feedback on her body
position or tone of voice, which is something she has trouble with.
Since
then, she has found a part-time job as a bookkeeper at an art gallery
where she had been volunteering. Now she is considering teaching guitar,
something she previously wouldn't have considered.
"I've
lifted myself from the depression, but it's taken years," Ms. Wyand
says. "Now I'm feeling hopeful that I actually have talents that I can
use and get employed."
Other programs
with research evidence behind them include JobTIPS, a Web-based service
that includes videos, printable guides and assessments. In a randomized
study, 22 teens between 16 and 19 years old completed the training,
while another group didn't. Those who went through JobTIPS exhibited
more effective interview skills after the training, according to the
paper published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in
2013.
Other programs take a more
traditional, internship-based approach to job training. At Virginia
Commonwealth University,
Paul Wehman
has been running a trial since 2009. It assigns six to eight
high-school students with autism each year to a nine-month internship
program at area hospitals, with others getting treatment as usual in
school.
Trying to take advantage of some of
the skills of people with autism, such as attention to detail,
internships have included ambulatory surgery rotations where students
sterilize surgical equipment. Students have also worked in the pharmacy,
where they fill bottles of medication.
Two
years after the internships, of the 20 who were employed after
graduation, 17 are still at the job, two were terminated and one moved
away, Dr. Wehman says.
Marsha Mailick,
director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center,
which helps teens with autism move into adulthood, says that she
supports any program that increases the likelihood of employment. But
interview training hasn't been demonstrated as the most effective
strategy, she says.
She suggests that
parents network and think creatively to help their children obtain, as
soon as possible, jobs that give gratification and occupy many hours a
week. A job is "therapeutic," she says.
