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The Importance of Integrating Choice Into the Lives of Adolescents and Adults Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract: The ability to make meaningful choices is a fundamental right, yet individuals with autism often experience limited opportunities for choice in daily life. This live presentation examines the ethical importance of integrating choice into programming while balancing habilitation goals that promote long-term independence.
The ability to make choices is a right most of us take for granted. The opportunity to choose among different activities, such as reading a book or exercising, has traditionally been a right reserved for those who are “neurotypical”. Unfortunately, individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often have limited opportunities to make choices in their daily lives. While practitioners have an ethical obligation to encourage choice-making in this population, we are also tasked with addressing important habilitation goals that will increase their independence in the future. Ethical issues often arise when providing opportunities to make choices conflicts with our obligation to teach important (yet non-preferred) skills. For instance, autistic students/clients may make impulsive choices (i.e., selecting smaller-sooner rewards over larger-delayed rewards) or may choose not to complete important tasks, even if the acquired skills would lead to beneficial outcomes in the long term (e.g., brushing their teeth, exercising). These issues become even more pronounced as this population ages and becomes more challenging to intervene with. The purpose of the current presentation is to describe the importance of integrating choice into programming. In addition, the presentation will describe some of the factors that influence choice-making in individuals with ASD and share some strategies that may afford these individuals opportunities to make choices while addressing important habilitation goals.
Learning Objectives: After attending this event participants will be able to:
- Identify reasons why it is ethical practice to ensure that adults and adolescents with autism or related disorders have ample opportunities to make choices.
- Identify the variables that affect choice-making in ASD populations.
- Identify examples and non-examples of individuals diagnosed with ASD may engage in temporal discounting when given choices.
- Select strategies for influencing choice through the use of economic manipulations.