Empowering People with Autism. The Effect of an Integrated Daily Structure as Well as Improved Communication on the Lives of People with Autism

The main objective of this study is to analyze the quality of life of autistic adults in the practice of the human service. Classical models for dealing with people with autism were the initial position for developing a long-term intervention program for this client group. The aim of this intervention is to improve upon the quality of life, derived from studies of Schalock und Verdugo [1], by struc-turing their day to get orientation and by improving their skills to understand and to use basic communication structures. The program is constructed step by step. The first is to understand simple communication structures with gradual increase in complexity. The second is indepen-dently using the newly acquired knowledge to communicate and understand more complex structures. Daily observations are recorded in writing. In addition, assessment sheets are used. Each proband items were defined which were trimmed to capture for individual behavior and were scored several times a day. Our hypothesis that the quality of life of our autistic probands can be increased by enhancing them to understand communication structures and to use these structures for their own needs was confirmed by the results. Negative behavior like aggression which stands for low quality of life could also be decreased as a result. Self determination and in-clusion also increased as a result of handling more communication structures