Episode Details

What happens when a profoundly autistic young adult reaches the end of school-based services?

For Mike Carr and his family, that question became a reality as their son, Michael, approached age 22. Finding appropriate adult services proved more difficult than expected, especially when programs struggled to accommodate complex support needs.

In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike shares the family's journey from searching for an adult program to creating a home-based support model of their own.

Their experience eventually led to a unique collaboration with University of Texas professors and students from special education, speech, nursing, and kinesiology. The students gained hands-on experience while Michael received individualized support, and the team used data to track progress, identify challenges, and adjust their approach.

Mike also discusses the ongoing challenges of caregiver staffing, what happened when funding became unsustainable, and why collecting meaningful data became one of the most valuable lessons from the experience.

This episode offers a real-world look at profound autism, the transition from school to adulthood, adult autism services, caregiver staffing, communication support, behavior, interdisciplinary care, and the challenges families face when traditional programs aren't designed for complex needs.

In this episode:

• Aging out of school services
• Finding adult services for profound autism
• Building a home-based support program
• The caregiver staffing challenge
• Working with university students and professionals
• Using data to measure progress and identify problems
• Training caregivers for complex situations
• Interdisciplinary autism support
• Funding challenges in long-term care
• Lessons learned from supporting an autistic adult

🎙️ About Autism Labs

Autism Labs provides practical conversations and real-world guidance for parents and caregivers supporting autistic children and adults, with a particular focus on profound autism, communication, behavior, caregiving, independence, transition, and adult services.

Website: https://www.autismlabs.com/

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