News and Knowledge

Event Title: Identifying critical skills to promote more positive outcomes in the Transition to Adulthood for young adults with ASD
Presenter: Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., OAR Scientific Council chairman
Date: April 3, 2018 at 2pm ET
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OAR is proud to announce that it will launch a new, quarterly webinar series in April.  The first free webinar will be held on April 3 at 2 p.m. ET, featuring Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., OAR Scientific Council chairman and executive director of the EPIC School in Paramus, N.J. Dr. Gerhardt’s topic is identifying critical skills to promote more positive outcomes in the transition to adulthood for young adults with ASD. He will provide a brief overview of some of the challenges to the provision of effective transition programming, discuss the importance of focusing instruction and intervention outside of the classroom, and provide recommendations for moving forward.

For many individuals on the autism spectru m, graduation from high school is also a time of “aging out” of entitlement services guaranteed under IDEA.  Unfortunately, research indicates that most graduates with autism will have “a difficult time following high school for almost any outcome you choose – working, continuing school, living independently, socializing and participating in the community, and staying healthy and safe. To complicate matters, many such youth begin their journey into adulthood by stepping off a services cliff.”  (Roux, et al, 2015, p. 8).  

Part of this might be understood as resulting from the limited availability of appropriate services in adulthood. But some of the responsibility can be attributed to the limited or, at times, simply inadequate, transition programming provided by schools.

In addition to being the founding chairman of the Scientific Council of OAR, Dr. Gerhardt serves on numerous professional advisory boards including the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. Dr. Gerhardt has more than 35 years of experience using applied behavior analysis principles in support of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in educational, employment, residential, and community settings.

OAR is currently developing the full 2018 webinar schedule, which will feature other members of the Scientific Council. OAR’s webinar events will be archived and accessible at www.researchautism.org. Anyone interested in attending this first webinar is encouraged to participate during the live event, when Dr. Gerhardt will be available to answer questions.

If you have any questions or comments about this event or if you would like to request specific webinar topics, please contact us at programs@researchautism.org or call 703-243-9762.