Promoting Happiness among Adults with Autism and Other Severe Disabilities: Evidence-Based Strategies

This book describes evidence-based strategies for staff in human service agencies to promote happiness among adults with autism and other severe disabilities. It is designed for human service staff who work with adults with severe developmental disabilities and have challenges describing their personal experiences of happiness and unhappiness. Contents include how to identify valid indicators of the private experience of happiness, means of measuring and evaluating indices of happiness and unhappiness, and research-based procedures for increasing happiness and decreasing unhappiness during daily routines. Ways to increase happiness are described in practical terms amenable to typical routines in human service agencies, based on the author's 40 plus years of experience and published research on promoting happiness to enhance quality of life among adults with autism and other severe disabilities.