101 Positive Steps Toward Employment with Autism: Social Skills for the Workplace

This book is for parents and professionals who are guiding adolescents and young adult children with high functioning autism or Asperger's toward employment and independence.

Employers are looking for employees who are positive. Employers may list specific "hard" or technical skills that they want an employee to have for a particular job, but surveys show that employers most want to hire people who have positive "soft skills." Employers want to hire someone who can work in harmony with others, someone who can communicate and respond socially to customers, coworkers, and supervisors with positivity. Unfortunately for young people with high functioning autism and Asperger's, hard skills may come easily, but soft skills are much more difficult to learn and use. This book will help you focus on your child's positivity in their interactions with others, and will help you guide him or her to respond positively to the many challenges he or she faces every day.

Lisa Tew is a speech-language pathologist who has worked with individuals on the autism spectrum from preschool through young adulthood for over thirty years in a variety of settings. In recent years, Lisa has worked with middle and high school students on the autism spectrum in the public school setting while also serving as transition coordinator, helping young people with disabilities transition to post-secondary education and employment. Additionally, Lisa works outside of the school setting with parents and young adults on the autism spectrum, in coordination with vocational services, to help develop the social communication soft skills needed for independence and employment. Lisa co-authored Autism and Employment: Raising Your Child With Foundational Skills For The Future (Future Horizons, 2018). You will find Lisa's blogs and Q&A responses on a variety of topics related to employment, social communication/soft skills, and independence at the Independent Futures With Autism website, IFAutism.com.