The Challenge

Neurodiverse individuals are employed at lower rates than their neurotypical peers; an estimated 80% of neurodiverse individuals are unemployed. The exclusion of this ever-growing subpopulation from the workforce has a profoundly negative impact on the individuals themselves, their caregivers, and society. Transition-aged youth are at the highest risk of unemployment.

Despite having employable strengths, neurodiverse individuals, such as those on the autism spectrum, struggle to identify and express their strengths on a job interview. Some individuals may struggle meeting the expectations of a potential employer. However, with training, job interview skills can be improved.

Existing Solutions

Traditionally, youth are taught job interview skills through role-play activities with teachers or job coaches without formal curriculum or lesson plans. With no standardized approach for teaching job interview skills, most teachers are making role-play interviews up “on the fly.” This can result in teachers reinventing the wheel by designing their own curriculum in the attempts to help their students. Further, because teachers are often tasked with teaching multiple students, they may not be able to help students practice interviews more than once or twice because it takes up too much time or resources.

The reality is that role-plays are ineffective at improving job interview skills and don’t significantly improve the likelihood of getting a job.

There is no standard curriculum that will empower neurodiverse individuals to get a job.

KF-STRIDE provides a standardized curriculum making it easy to use within school systems and vocational rehab settings. Teachers can take an easy, uncomplicated, online coach training course to learn how to best support their students. KF-STRIDE provides students with opportunities to repeatedly practice their skills, which can help reduce anxiety tremendously. Rather than the teacher creating content, engaging animated videos deliver lessons to students online, and homework can be done with an app. It takes guesswork out of the challenges of serving neurodiverse students and it’s backed by research from Kessler Foundation.