Careers, Work and Employment

Requires completed Foundation Training to purchase. 

This resource was developed by Talking Mats in U.K. through several projects in different settings including with long-term unemployed, school settings, and in career settings.  Testing for the final resource was carried out with Autism East Midlands, Sutherland School, as part of their support to pupils transitioning from school.

It provides a visual framework to help enable conversations around future employment choices and preferences.  It consists of 3 topics;

Readiness for Work –  this topic helps explore the thinker’s readiness for work in terms of their health and well being and includes options such as; travelling, coping with sensory environments, support networks.

Skills – this topic allows the thinker to consider their capability to work.  It deals with concrete skills such as talking on the phone and working with numbers, and more abstract abilities such as taking initiative and being enterprising.

Preferences – this topic explores how important different types of work are to a person, for example being self-employed, being part of a big company, working indoors and working outdoors.  It helps the thinker see how their beliefs and values might fit in the workplace.