Adulthood Begins in Preschool: Meaningful Curriculum in Support of Increased Independence for Individuals with Autism

Abstract

A meaningful curriculum is one that is individualized, inclusive of the individual’s unique needs and interests, and focused on building independence in current and future environments. A meaningful curriculum addresses an individual’s needs and prioritizes instructional programs based on what is, potentially, most important to their lives and not simply a somewhat arbitrary list of isolated skills. A meaningful curriculum is one that puts as much emphasis on skill acquisition outside of the classroom as it does on skill acquisition within the classroom or school. Unfortunately, the use of meaningful curricula to educate autistic students would seem to be something of a rarity, which may help to explain the consistently poor outcomes that individuals with autism and related disorders experience in adulthood. In this article, the authors make recommendations that may help practitioners to mitigate these outcomes by providing instruction in curricula that place a focus on adaptive behavior skills, the intersection of the individual, respectful intervention, and an emphasis on these important topics beginning in preschool, and increasing in importance and complexity across the lifespan.

Improving goals written for individuals with autism: Preliminary results on assessing meaningfulness and relevance to adulthood

“…2 2 Access to the tool in its entirety is available upon request from the authors; or see Gerhardt & Bahry, 2024 for more comprehensive guidelines on its implementation. The authors are available to assist with replication and extension of this work. …”