Serving Children and Adults with Autism

Lifeworks is an extraordinarily unique organization. 

There are other systems that specialize in ASD services and are replete with highly-trained and credentialed staff members—whose work is undergirded by clinical/ educational best-practice models for serving individuals on the spectrum. However, these programs are almost exclusively geared toward child and adolescent populations. Very few serve adults. 

Conversely, there are many quality providers of services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). However, very few of these specialize in autism and are faithful to a specific clinical model. Few, if any, I/DD providers employ teams of Master’s-level, licensed and certified professionals with content expertise in ASD, whose job is to drive clinical programming. Most adult I/DD organizations do not have a direct care workforce comprised of college-degreed staff.

In these ways and more Lifeworks distinguishes itself.

Lifeworks’ mission dictates that the presence of autism symptoms is an essential criterion for service qualification. There is also a need in almost all cases for there to be a recognized source of funding. Beyond that, given the diversity of services that Lifeworks provides, it is hard to pin down eligibility criteria that might be considered universal. Lifeworks aspires to help everyone it can, but must also be mindful of its finite resources and scope of expertise, lest it overextends itself to the detriment of any or all.

Following a thorough assessment of each referral, our team makes case-by-case determinations, based on factors such as, our ability to provide for safety, environmental fit, appropriateness of service type, current program mix, and alignment with stakeholders on service goals and recognized level of support needs.

The majority of services provided by Lifeworks are funded by various forms of Medicaid. However, commercial insurance, federal and state workforce dollars, private pay arrangements, and grants also represent viable funding mechanisms for certain service lines.