The move from school to work environment or postsecondary education brings with it many changes. For people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the transition is especially demanding and challenging. However, many individuals who do not have additional cognitive impairments are able to succeed well in adult life. Unfortunately, they tend to do so despite the lack of adequate provision (Howlin, 2004). Underlying hardships of all adolescents and young adults with ASD is the triad of impairments which refers to difficulties with social interaction, social communication, and imagination (Cook et al., 2000; Phetrasuwan et al., 2009). The above may mean that even the simplest personal interactions are fraught with hazards. The initial stage of author’s research involved a systematic investigation and critique of literature on this life course period with a specific focus on young adults with ASD. Findings led to narrowing down literature research to several key areas of the process. Four broad themes of education, employment, community living, and community integration emerged as crucial parts of success in adulthood (Hendricks & Wehman, 2009; Wehman, 2006). A more universal definition of transition to adulthood referring to general population of young adults ages eighteen to thirty-four from nine industrialised countries is given by Gauthier and Furstenberg. They claim that "The transition from school to work, the transition to independent living and the transition to parenthood all result in major challenges in lifestyles, responsibilities, and autonomy...", adding that "Overwhelmingly, the transition to adulthood has (...) been studied from the perspective of 'objective' demographic markers (such as entry into marriage and parenthood)" (Gauthier & Furstenberg, 2002). This conceptual categorization was used to structure the general literature on transition and create a thoeretical framework for fieldwork. Literature research conducted within the four key areas of the transition showed deficiency in investigation of "how much progress can be made along the continuum, as little is known about the prognosis or long-term outcomes" for adults with ASD (Hurlbutt & Chalmers, 2002). Even relatively recent publications highlight the strong need to research how these adults cope with everyday existence, how they feel autism has affected their lives, and what they think is relevant for parents and professionals to know about being an adult with ASD (Hendricks & Wehman, 2009; Higgins et al., 2008; Howlin et al., 2004). Therefore, the overall aim of the research is to investigate how the process of transition to adulthood proceeds for people with ASD. Moreover, the study specifically sets out to answer the following questions: 1. How do young people with ASD perceive the transition to adulthood? 2. What are service providers’ perceptions of the process? 3. What are service providers’ views of factors that would help young adults with ASD in the transition from school to work or postsecondary education? 4. What possible implementations could be introduced to help young people with ASD in their transition to adulthood?

Qualitative methods are particularly well suited for author’s research as it is designed to explore questions in the services which relate to the meaning of experiences and to deciphering the complexity of human behaviour (Darlington & Scott, 2002). Author’s research scheduled interviews conducted amongst several service providers employed by educational institutions across UK. Further stages of research involve case studies of young adults with ASD in transition and semi-structured interviews with their closest ones. However, unresponsiveness to people or lack of eye-contact are just some of the inabilities amongst a range of social abnormalities in ASD (Baron-Cohen & Bolton, 1993). Working with respondents who find it difficult to relate socially to people presents a challenge for the author as qualitative research, more than any other, is a talking one. Undertaking it thus requires using a flexible interview framework and accepting respondents’ experiences as valid despite any verbal or articulation difficulties.

The minority of adults achieve relatively high levels of independence, but most remain very dependent on their families or other support services. Few live alone, have close friends, or permanent employment. Communication is generally impaired, and stereotyped behaviours or interests frequently persist into adulthood (Howlin et al., 2004). Although it is now clear that outcome for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder has improved over recent years, many remain highly dependent on others for support. Despite advances in knowledge on autism, it remains a lifelong, pervasive disorder which can greatly affect day-to-day functioning (Billstedt & Gillberg, 2005). Author’s research into ways of ameliorating these difficulties aims to show that it is crucial that the needs of people on the spectrum continued to be recognised and provided for as they move into adulthood and older age. Therefore, more advanced research on that topic is needed in order for the interventions to adequately respond to and be fully implemented in the everyday existences of adults with ASD.