Quality of Life for People with Autism: Raising the Standard for Evaluating Successful Outcomes.

Quality of Life (QoL) is a critical measure of treatment outcome for people with mental and physical health concerns. However, little research has been conducted toward evaluating outcomes in autism by utilizing real-world measures, such as employability, self-sufficiency, and social support to gauge treatment success, despite longitudinal research that indicates poor outcomes for people with autism. Utilizing QoL indicators as the standard for developing treatments and evaluating outcomes in autism is advantageous. After a brief description of the domains and indicators comprising QoL, this paper reviews the literature describing the course of autism, followed by an examination of indicators which contribute to QoL for people with autism in particular. In conclusion, a model for utilizing QoL indicators to measure and evaluate outcome for people with autism will be proposed.