Level Up: Employment Skills Simulation Lab

06/03/2024

Lab alumnus Ed-Dee G. Williams recently published an article "unpacking the prevalence: A warning against overstating the recently narrowed gap for Black autistic youth" — Read it on
ResearchGate at https://bit.ly/4aLfDTo or https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.3168

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence rate of Black 8-year-olds identified as autistic has increased to be more even with the rate of White youth. Although ident...

05/13/2024

So exciting to see all the amazing work Kari is doing!

PhD Candidate Kari Sherwood gave a presentation on "Embracing Neurodivergence in Public Service" at last week's Michigan Department of Civil Rights public forum. The virtual event was attended by hundreds of public service professionals from across the state.

05/02/2024

Level Up Lab PhD Candidate, Kari Sherwood, presented her poster "Prevalence of Autistic Microaggressions in the Workplace" at the 2024 Illinois Center for Transition and Work Symposium at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign last week.

04/18/2024

The Level Up Lab celebrates Lady Funcke Munoz (she,her,ella), MSW Candidate 2024 and Graduate Research Assistant at the Lab in being recognized as the recipient of the Latinx Research Week 2024 Familismo Award! This award is “a testament to individuals who embody the values of love, respect, ethics of care and community”. Lady also presented on two topics during the research week of interdisciplinary events. Visit https://bit.ly/LRW2024 to learn more about the topics!

Help us also congratulate Lady on future awards being presented to her next week on 4/22/24! Visit https://bit.ly/DEI_IA_2024 to learn more about the event and register!

Image Description: Photo of Lady in the center of the graphic with a dark blue background and glitter accenting the top and bottom of the page. The words "congratulations to Lady Funcke Munoz (she/her/ella) Master of Social Work Candidate" in white underneath the photo of her. The words "Latinx Research Week 2024 Presenter & Award Recipient" to the right of her photo written in black, inside of a gold certificate stamp. A gold banner at the top of her photo with the words "Level Up Lab Spotlights" written in dark blue. The U-M Level Up Lab logo at the bottom left of the page.

04/01/2024

Download and share informational graphics, videos, and podcasts to help raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder.

01/04/2024

Congratulations to Level Up Lab Director, Professor Matthew Smith PhD.!!! We are very proud of his recent appointment as the Associate Dean for Research with the School of Social Work!

Learn more about all the great work Matthew Smith is a part of at http://bit.ly/MattSmithUMich

Image Description: Black background with the words "congratulations on your appointment" in uppercase and white at the top and center of the image. The Level Up Lab logo at the top left and a photo image of Professor Smith PhD. in a gold circled frame below it. A golden seal to the right of the frame with the words "Associate Dean for Research" written in uppercase and black within it. The words "congratulations to level up lab Director, professor Matthew Smith PhD. on his appointment as the school of Social Work's Associate Dean for Research!" written in white at the bottom of the page.

11/07/2023

The lab is excited to announce our NEW publication in Frontiers that speaks to the reliability and validity of our Mock Interview Rating Scale assessment that was adapted for autistic transition age youth (A-MIRS). We present evidence that the A-MIRS can be used in research and within community-based services as an assessment of job interview skill. Click the link to read the full article!

APA citation: Smith, M. J., Sherwood, K., Genova, H., Ross, B., DaWalt, L., Bishop, L., Telfer, D., Brown, C., Sanchez, B., and Kallen, M. A. (2023). Psychometric properties of the mock interview rating scale for autistic transition-age youth. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1235056

BackgroundEmployment is a major contributor to quality of life. However, autistic people are often unemployed and underemployed. One potential barrier to employment is the job interview. However, the availability of psychometrically-evaluated assessments of job interviewing skills is limited for aut...

10/31/2023

As the 2023 National Disability Employment Awareness Month comes to a close, we want to share with you some previous study findings that have informed our current projects aimed at advancing and increasing .

Image Description: A white background with a black and white image of a feminine person working on their laptop in their kitchen. A blue banner with the Lab's logo to the left and the words 'Virtual Interview Training' in white and 'Primary Trial Findings' in yellow to the right. Below the banner, the words 'What Providers Thought' in black and a paragraph below that also in black with the words 'feasible & highly acceptable' in yellow text with a dark blue outline. Underneath the paragraph is a yellow banner with dark blue text with links for the findings. Two blue boxes overlap the photo on the right of the page with a bar graph in a light blue box on the left and a dark blue box with white and yellow alternating text to the right of it. Below them, two similar boxes in reversed order with a doughnut chart instead of a bar graph.

10/16/2023

If you want to learn more about the additional protections the State of Michigan has to protect against workplace discrimination visit https://bit.ly/MiWorkProtection or https://bit.ly/PWDCRA for specific legislature protections for people with disabilities in the workplace

The Michigan Legislature Website is a free service of the Legislative Internet Technology Team in cooperation with the Michigan Legislative Council, the Michigan House of Representatives, and the Michigan Senate.

10/10/2023

Congratulations to Level Up Lab Ph.D. candidate, Kari Sherwood for being named a 2023-24 Mary Malcomson Raphael Scholar by CEW+ at U-M for the second time!! This program honors the academic performance & potential of women whose education has been interrupted or who serve as primary caregivers.

We are so lucky to have you on our team!! Learn more about the program and this year’s recipients at https://bit.ly/CEW23ks, Kari is on page 118!

Image Description: A black background with blue glitter at the top and gold glitter on the bottom. A photo of Kari in a blue frame positioned above a yellow box with text that reads 'Congratulations Kari Sherwood MS, MEd, MSW, Ph.D. Candidate’ written in blue. A Level Up Lab logo at the top left with the University of Michigan yellow ‘M’ on top of the words written in white that say, ‘School of Social Work, Level Up Lab, University of Michigan’ arranged in three rows.

10/09/2023

https://bit.ly/2023NDEAM

“A disability inclusive workforce is a strong workforce” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). Watch the video to learn more about or View article at https://bit.ly/NDEAM50.

Each October, during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, or “NDEAM,” we celebrate the contributions of workers with disabilities. Reflecting the ...

10/02/2023

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month ( ), and this year marks the 50th anniversary for the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act) is “the first federal legislation to address access and equity for people with disabilities” (U.S. Department of Labor, https://bit.ly/RehabAct2023). This year's theme of 'Advancing Access and Equity' echo's our mission & ongoing work. To learn more go to https://bit.ly/NDEAMtheme.

Image Description: A dark blue background with a yellow border on the bottom and the words, ‘National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)’, written in white. Below that are the words, ‘October 2023’, also written in white with two yellow, horizontal lines on each side. Written below that in quotations are the words “Advancing Access and Equity” in yellow. To the right of the words is a graphic in a yellow frame and dark blue background of six humans from various backgrounds. Below the graphic is the Level up lab’s logo. The logo includes the University of Michigan's yellow ‘M’ logo on the left with the words ‘School of Social Work, Level up Lab, University of Michigan’ arranged on top of one another in three rows written in white to the right of the ‘M’. A vertical line separates the 'M' & words.