Supervising autistic individuals

[UmbrellaTree90]

Hello,

I have an employee who happens to be an autistic individual. I have never had the pleasure of supervising an autistic individual until recently. I am having difficulty communicating and delegating tasks to this individual. I have given this individual specific tasks with specific guidelines. I feel I have been very concise and direct about what is to be done and what is expected, however, this individual does not follow the guidelines and directions I have communicated. Just when I think this individual finally understands what is expected and demonstrates his understanding of what he has been told, the individual goes back to not following the directions given to him. This individual also focuses on certain topics that are not relevant to the work he has to do, and my efforts to redirect his focus to topics related to the tasks he must complete have not been successful. I want to give this individual freedom to perform the tasks given to him in a way that works well for him, but I don't know if I can do that any longer. I have been struggling with this for almost two months. I feel like for the work to be done the way it needs to be done, I will have to take complete control. I don't want to have to do that. I am hoping you all can give me some valuable advice and ideas for how to work with this individual so the work can be done properly and so that this individual will have the best work experience that will set him up for success. Thank you in advance!

 

[Harrison]

Might be useful if you can post the directions in the order you are giving them, and the syntax you're using.

 

[Suzanne]

Most admirable of you to give him a chance!!!

The thing is that you say you give direct orders, but do you? If you could give us an example of what you say, it would be of great help.

My husband says to me now: I would like you to do this now or in 5 or so minutes, rather than: would you do such a such and to be honest, if I do not want to do it, I say so! But I work better when he says: please do this.

Perhaps what is happening is he has performed the task you asked of him specifically and then resumes what he was doing? Rather than checking to see if anything else needs to be done.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

Hello,

I have an employee who happens to be an autistic individual. I have never had the pleasure of supervising an autistic individual until recently. I am having difficulty communicating and delegating tasks to this individual. I have given this individual specific tasks with specific guidelines. I feel I have been very concise and direct about what is to be done and what is expected, however, this individual does not follow the guidelines and directions I have communicated. Just when I think this individual finally understands what is expected and demonstrates his understanding of what he has been told, the individual goes back to not following the directions given to him. This individual also focuses on certain topics that are not relevant to the work he has to do, and my efforts to redirect his focus to topics related to the tasks he must complete have not been successful. I want to give this individual freedom to perform the tasks given to him in a way that works well for him, but I don't know if I can do that any longer. I have been struggling with this for almost two months. I feel like for the work to be done the way it needs to be done, I will have to take complete control. I don't want to have to do that. I am hoping you all can give me some valuable advice and ideas for how to work with this individual so the work can be done properly and so that this individual will have the best work experience that will set him up for success. Thank you in advance!

Are you communicating verbally with everything at once? This often overwhelms. There are two strategies that can help:

1. Ask how you can communicate so that you're understood. Does he need it in writing so that there's a clear list? Do you always say why the thing is important to you or do you only say what to do? "Why" is very important for context.

2. What else is going on in his work environment that competes for attention? Is he getting too many other interrupts that he can't ignore, either because of info overload or because of distractions?

3. How can this person measure what he's doing against these expectations? How do you want him to do this?

Thank you for asking your question. I am particularly interested in questions like yours, and I can feel your frustration. It says so much about you that you're reaching out to understand.

 

[watersprite]

I reiterate A4H's first suggestion of you communicating instructions in writing. And, if the tasks are not sequentially repeating then give a list only for a day or 1/2 a day. The next day's or 1/2 day's instruction should be on a new, separate paper. That is what helps me, I do not know if that would help others.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

Hello,

I have an employee who happens to be an autistic individual. I have never had the pleasure of supervising an autistic individual until recently. I am having difficulty communicating and delegating tasks to this individual...I have been struggling with this for almost two months. I feel like for the work to be done the way it needs to be done, I will have to take complete control. I don't want to have to do that. I am hoping you all can give me some valuable advice and ideas for how to work with this individual so the work can be done properly and so that this individual will have the best work experience that will set him up for success. Thank you in advance!

How's it going? (Hope email notifications are set up.)

 

[Kari Suttle]

Are you communicating verbally with everything at once? This often overwhelms. There are two strategies that can help:

1. Ask how you can communicate so that you're understood. Does he need it in writing so that there's a clear list? Do you always say why the thing is important to you or do you only say what to do? "Why" is very important for context.

2. What else is going on in his work environment that competes for attention? Is he getting too many other interrupts that he can't ignore, either because of info overload or because of distractions?

3. How can this person measure what he's doing against these expectations? How do you want him to do this?

I have an employee who happens to be an autistic individual. I have never had the pleasure of supervising an autistic individual until recently. I am having difficulty communicating and delegating tasks to this individual.

I agree with the first quoted post. Idk if you experience this, but too much verbal information at once can be overwhelming. Anything more than a few sentences and its like you're speaking tv static not real sentences, and even then i have to repeat back what you've said to be sure i got it right and so it fully processes in my head. Cause i get a sort of deer in the headlights thing going when a supervisor speaks to me as well, lots of anxiety.
Perhaps emailing or printing out your directions, tasks, and expectations for him would help? As well as letting him know how you want the new tasks or projects prioritized in relation to current tasks he is also assigned. Would you rather him finish whatever he's working on first, or do you want this started right away? A timeline of what parts of the task or project you want finished by when would also help.

How you organize typed/written information can lead to overload as well - small paragraphs with bullets and numbers where necessary is how i best read and comprehend anything and everything on a computer screen or on notes pages. If its just a bunch of long paragraphs, that's hard to read through and glean the information needed from it. Information overload, really.

Another thing that was mentioned was his environment - idk about him or you, but for me i need total silence to be able to get anything productive done. If i can't have total silence, I like to listen to music with headphones in. If he's set up near a noisy or distracting area, that will be something to consider as well.

 

[artfull dodger]

I have my boss give me a list of what all he needs done beyond me just picking thru all the mowers that need fixed, a so called "hot list". This helps me as if he just rattles off names he needs done first I wont remember beyond the first one. My short term memory is very bad. Mike

 

[superboyian]

If a list works best for me and a lot of people, then it's very likely that it should help for him. It is very likely that he is overwhelmed with the amount of tasks that needs to be done and which priority is important.
Writing it in a simple checklist should help?

Glad you want to give him a chance, not many people on the spectrum that is in a part/full time job gets the chance in a majority of jobs. If you find other threads in Education and Employment, you should be able to get the full idea, this should hopefully give you some of the resources you need.

 

[Rhymer]

What field of work is it?

 

[paloftoon]

No response after all this time from OP? Wow! Looks like some1 trying to get quick answers and that's it
At least this thread could be helpful for others. All those accommodations can be too much energy for said individual supervising. Hopefully, that employee in need will grasp onto skills of creating the lists himself/herself or whatever she/he needs to do to stay in that job.

 

[wanderer03]

Hello,

I have an employee who happens to be an autistic individual. I have never had the pleasure of supervising an autistic individual until recently. I am having difficulty communicating and delegating tasks to this individual. I have given this individual specific tasks with specific guidelines. I feel I have been very concise and direct about what is to be done and what is expected, however, this individual does not follow the guidelines and directions I have communicated. Just when I think this individual finally understands what is expected and demonstrates his understanding of what he has been told, the individual goes back to not following the directions given to him. This individual also focuses on certain topics that are not relevant to the work he has to do, and my efforts to redirect his focus to topics related to the tasks he must complete have not been successful. I want to give this individual freedom to perform the tasks given to him in a way that works well for him, but I don't know if I can do that any longer. I have been struggling with this for almost two months. I feel like for the work to be done the way it needs to be done, I will have to take complete control. I don't want to have to do that. I am hoping you all can give me some valuable advice and ideas for how to work with this individual so the work can be done properly and so that this individual will have the best work experience that will set him up for success. Thank you in advance!

Good on you for giving this employee the chance! I've been a similar subordinate to an NT manager. The job role was a Project Manager and clearly not the right one for me because it touches on every aspect of my autism. It could very well be that this job function is not the individual's strong suit. What is the job role?