Following on from yesterday’s post on autism and employment about “Employable Me” we are delighted to help James Williams of the Center for Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership at Lamar University. James is looking to find people to help with a short survey so we were hoping you might help!

James writes “As a doctoral candidate at Lamar University, I am conducting a study for my dissertation to better understand the relationship between various parental factors which may impact the successful employment outcomes of adults on the Autism Spectrum The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between parental factors and the successful employment of adults, age 26 or older, diagnosed with Autism in the United States. I plan to use this information to develop higher-quality, research-based parent training programs aimed at providing parents the tools they need to help their autistic children with obtain and maintain employment. The results should be of interest and value to parents, educators, related professionals, and any other professionals who work with autistic people and their families.

I hope to have at least 88 parents from across the country participate in this study. Criteria for participation include the following:

The participants must be a parent of an adult, age 26 or older, diagnosed with Autism by a licensed professional.
The participants must also have current knowledge of their adult’s employment status.

Your responses are confidential and your name will not be associated with any research findings. In addition, no names or other identifying information will be collected in the survey. The data will be stored electronically in a secure manner.

This study has been approved by the Lamar University Institutional Review Board. You are free to decide not to participate in this study or to withdraw at any time without adversely affecting your relationship with the investigator or Lamar University. There is no compensation to participate in this study; however, benefits of participation may include a contribution to scholarly research, as well as direct benefits to the subjects through the provision of the study’s summary and recommendations regarding how parents can best support their children with Autism to obtain and maintain employment.

If, after reading the above information, you would like to participate in the study, please go to the following link to sign the electronic consent form and access the survey through Survey Monkey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PFWPASD

Thank You for Your Support of this Study and the Achievement of Better Outcomes for Adults with ASD,

James Williams, MRC, CRC

Doctoral Candidate

Center for Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership

Lamar University

JWilliams109@lamar.edu