[Autistic patients in sheltered workshop for the handicapped]

Adults with autistic syndrome are at risk of exclusion not only from the general labour market but also from sheltered employment, i.e. the workshops for the disabled. The present study was aimed at eliciting the causes of potential exclusion as well as conditions for successful vocational rehabilitation. An inquiry into the services provided to, and individual development of, 40 employees in 12 workshops revealed that only part of the subjects seemed firmly settled in the workshops. A large number is judged negatively not only due to poor productive performance but on account of behavioural peculiarities typical of autism, with some of them having been referred back to the workshop's entry training sections, thus loosing their entitlement to social insurance coverage. It was found in this study that the behaviour of autistic employees frequently resulted from adverse conditions of the workshop environment. Major improvements in this population's vocational rehabilitation outlook could be achieved by extended service provision and training at entry; reduced group size; formulation of individual service plans; providing relief as well as supervision to workshop staff; internal differentiation of workshop production sectors according to therapeutic criteria; careful selection of suitable tasks; as well as autistic employee enhancement through social-educational services.