Barbara Bissonnette - Helping Adults with Aspergers Syndrome Get & Stay Hired

This coaching book is a must read for anyone working with clients with Aspergers Syndrome. Barbara does a wonderful job of sharing her experience and clients stories of applying for and getting hired for a job. The information she provides gives the reader very useful ways to approach the different steps of the employment process.

Mark Danaher, NCC, LPC, BCC, President,
National Career Development Association

What a fantastic resource for employers and professionals working with adults with AS! There is finally some growth of understanding and organizations for our adults, and this book is sure to become a universal reference, and a first read for students coming into the profession. Unfortunately being smart is not enough. Individuals with the designation of high-functioning continue to face significant employment challenges. Barbara Bissonnettes easy, understandable style and abundance of real life examples gives us the benefit of her extensive experience. It is material that I can use with my clients being concrete, realistic and detailed from each point of view.

Luby Aczel, Executive Director of The Specialists Guild

A remarkable book! Bissonnette lays out the latest thinking on Asperger employment and illuminates it with her personal insights and real world examples. She even corrects some of the bad advice others have been giving. It is a very practical, grounded approach. This is how autism employment needs to be done!

Dr. Scott Standifer, author of Adult Autism & Employment: A guide for
vocational rehabilitation professionals , founder of Autism Works Online
and Director of Disability Policy & Studies, University of Missouri

HELPING ADULTS WITH ASPERGERS
SYNDROME GET & STAY HIRED

by the same author

The Complete Guide to Getting a Job for People with Aspergers Syndrome

Find the Right Career and Get Hired

Barbara Bissonnette

ISBN 978 1 84905 921 3

eISBN 978 0 85700 692 9

Aspergers Syndrome Workplace Survival Guide

A Neurotypicals Secrets for Success

Barbara Bissonnette

Foreword by Yvona Fast

ISBN 978 1 84905 943 5

eISBN 978 0 85700 807 7

of related interest

How to Find Work that Works for People with Asperger Syndrome

The Ultimate Guide for Getting People with Asperger Syndrome into the Workplace (and keeping them there!)

Gail Hawkins

ISBN 978 1 84310 151 2

Business for Aspies

42 Best Practices for Using Asperger Syndrome Traits at Work Successfully

Ashley Stanford

ISBN 978 1 84905 845 2

eISBN 978 0 85700 501 4

AutiPower! Successful Living and Working with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Herman Jansen and Betty Rombout

ISBN 978 1 84905 437 9

eISBN 978 0 85700 869 5

An Asperger Leaders Guide to Entrepreneurship

Setting Up Your Own Business for Leaders with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Rosalind A. Bergemann

Foreword by Michael John Carley

ISBN 978 1 84905 509 3

eISBN 978 0 85700 978 4

HELPING ADULTS WITH
ASPERGERS SYNDROME

Get & Stay

HIRED

CAREER COACHING STRATEGIES FOR PROFESSIONALS
AND PARENTS OF ADULTS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

BARBARA BISSONNETTE

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

List on p.46 is adapted from Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom , Meltzer 2010. Copyright Guilford Press. Adapted and reprinted with permission of The Guilford Press.

First published in 2015

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Barbara Bissonnette 2015

Front cover image source: Shutterstock. The cover image is for illustrative purposes only, and any person featuring is a model.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

All pages marked with can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/978184905747/resources for personal use with this program, but may not be reproduced for any other purposes without the permission of the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 754 7

eISBN 978 1 78450 052 8

With Appreciation

To my husband Michael for his thoughtful comments and suggestions about
the content, and for his patience during the writing of this book.

To the many dedicated professionals who have shared their
expertise and resources with me over the years.

To my clients for their talent and hard work, I wish you all every success.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

MY PRACTICE AND PERSPECTIVE

My introduction to Aspergers Syndrome happened by accident. In the spring of 2006, I was finishing a graduate certificate in executive coaching at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP). Four years earlier, I had quit my job as Vice President of Marketing and Sales at a publishing company. I was consulting part-time while exploring the career of professional coaching.

There is a saying in coaching that sometimes your niche finds you. Like most who are new to the profession, finding the right client base was a process of trial and error. I was initially certified by the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) in 2003. I got my feet wet working with budding entrepreneurs and sole-proprietor business owners. My impetus for becoming a coach was a desire to give back my 20-odd years of business experience to people who could really benefit from it.

When I discovered that the MSPP was offering an executive coaching program, I eagerly applied. I set my sights on coaching executives in small- to mid-size businesses.

Thumbing through the MSPP continuing education catalog one day, I noticed a workshop about coaching people with Aspergers Syndrome. I had read snatches about Aspergers here and there, and it struck me as a very interesting subject. I gave myself permission to take a Friday off to attend the workshop.

That day, the fates seem to have intervened. Since the workshop started well after rush hour, I prepared to leave home without checking the traffic report. However, I suddenly felt compelled to go online and make sure my route would be clear.

Sure enough, the metro-Boston area was engulfed in an epic traffic jam. Nearly every major roadway was involved. Some people had been trapped in their cars for hours.

Ordinarily, I would have stayed home and avoided the 50-mile ride. But I really wanted to attend that workshop. Consulting a map, I found a circuitous route and arrived just in time for the start of the program.