Study of Australian School Leavers with Autism (SASLA) (15-25 years)

Historically, the adult years have been ignored in autism research, despite the fact that these years represent the greatest proportion of individuals’ lives. Hence, limited guidance exists for autistic people and their families about trajectories across the lifespan, and individuals experience high levels of unemployment, mental illness, disengagement, and significant dependency on family members.

This project will deliver a comprehensive and unique profile of Australian adults and provide them with the capacity to find a meaningful place in society. The study will form a report that identifies a number of autism specific variables, not collected anywhere in the world before. The long term aims of this project are to identify and describe the comprehensive and unique profiles of Australian autistic school leavers.

The linked research objectives are:

• To compare the data on these variables with a matched control group, in order to discriminate the unique autistic profile from other requirements
• To collect data that will support the development of tools and strategies to improve health and wellbeing for autistic school leavers
• To identify autism specific variables, with respect to Educational Vocational Assessments Protocol (EVAP) and Integrated Employment Success Tool (IEST) variables, in order to inform the development of these tools