Why mentally retarded adults lose their jobs: Social competence as a factor in work adjustment

Brief report: Competitive employment of adults with autism

“…Factors affecting their success or failure appear to be similar to those affecting adults with other developmental disabilities; namely, characteristics of the individual, the amount of family and work system support, and job characteristics (Greenspan & Shoultz, 1981;Hill, Wehman, Hill, & Goodall, 1986). Individual characteristics related to job success were the attainment of appropriate communication and interpersonal skills across a variety of settings and with a variety of people, and the ability to either control their ritualistic, rigid, and self-stimulatory behaviors or to integrate them into their job.…”

A Clinic-Based Assessment for Evaluating Job-Related Social Skills in Adolescents and Adults with Autism

“…The dependent variables targeted in this study were based on the results of studies that evaluated on-the-job behavior of employees with developmental disabilities (Butterworth & Strauch, 1994;Cheney & Foss, 1984;Greenspan & Shoultz, 1981), surveys of employers (e.g., Foss & Peterson, 1981;Ju, Zhang, & Pacha, 2012;McConaughy, Stowitschek, Salzberg, & Peatross, 1989;Salzberg, Agran, & Lignugaris-Kraft, 1986), commercially available assessment and curriculum guides (e.g., Montague & Lund, 2009;Partington & Mueller, 2015), and anecdotal information gathered from participants referred for our services regarding the reasons that they had been unsuccessful in keeping a job. We selected a variety of job-related social skills that included (a) making confirming statements when given a task, (b) asking for help with a task, (c) asking for help with missing or more materials, (d) responding to corrective feedback, and (e) notifying the supervisor of task completion.…”

“…Studies on the employment difficulties of individuals with intellectual disabilities and surveys of individuals with ASD about their job experiences suggest that interpersonal skills, particularly those involving interactions with coworkers and supervisors, are critical to job success (Baldwin, Costley, & Warren, 2014;Cheney & Foss, 1984;Greenspan & Shoultz, 1981;Herbert & Ishikawa, 1991;Hurlbutt & Chalmers, 2004;Müller, Schuler, Burton, & Yates, 2003). Effective functioning on the job requires a variety of social skills, including how to respond appropriately to corrective feedback and how to ask for help when needed.…”

A further comparison of external control and problem‐solving interventions to teach social skills to adults with intellectual disabilities

“…For example, a lack of social competence has been cited as a major reason for job separation with this population (Greenspan & Shoultz, 1981). Indeed several studies have examined community adjustment of adults with intellectual disabilities and have shown that these individuals can become socially isolated over time (Thurlow, Bruininks, & Lange, 1989;Johnson, McGrew, Bloomberg, Bruininks, & Lin, 1996).…”