Abstract
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face unique challenges transitioning from high school to college and receive insufficient support to help them navigate this transition. Through a participatory collaboration with incoming and current autistic college students, we developed, implemented, and evaluated two intensive week-long summer programs to help autistic students transition into and succeed in college. This process included: (1) developing an initial summer transition program curriculum guided by recommendations from autistic college students in our ongoing mentorship program, (2) conducting an initial feasibility assessment of the curriculum [Summer Transition Program 1 (STP1)], (3) revising our initial curriculum, guided by feedback from autistic students, to develop a curriculum manual, and (4) pilot-testing the manualized curriculum through a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test assessment of a second summer program [Summer Transition Program 2 (STP2)]. In STP2, two autistic college students assumed a leadership role and acted as “mentors” and ten incoming and current autistic college students participated in the program as “mentees.” Results from the STP2 pilot-test suggested benefits of participatory transition programming for fostering self-advocacy and social skills among mentees. Autistic and non-autistic mentors (but not mentees) described practicing advanced forms of self-advocacy, specifically leadership, through their mentorship roles. Autistic and non-autistic mentors also described shared (e.g., empathy) and unique (an intuitive understanding of autism vs. an intuitive understanding of social interaction) skills that they contributed to the program. This research provides preliminary support for the feasibility and utility of a participatory approach in which autistic college students are integral to the development and implementation of programming to help less experienced autistic students develop the self-advocacy skills they will need to succeed in college.
Highlights
As increasing numbers of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) enter college, they face unique challenges that impact their ability to succeed in college, including difficulties self-advocating, self-regulating, forging and maintaining social relationships, and taking care of daily needs amidst competing time demands (Vanbergeijk et al, 2008; Elias and White, 2017; White et al, 2017)
Is Participation in a Transition Program Associated with Enhanced Self-Advocacy Skills (Including Improved Knowledge about ASD and Disability Identity), Enhanced Academic Self-Efficacy and/or Reduced Self-Reported ASD Symptoms? No changes in standardized measures from pre-test to posttest were observed
An autistic student with a cooccurring intellectual disability said “I learned about my rights as a person with disabilities and... that there’s nothing wrong with having a disability and that there’s others out there with a disability and there’s always people willing to help with whatever you need
Summary
As increasing numbers of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) enter college, they face unique challenges that impact their ability to succeed in college, including difficulties self-advocating, self-regulating, forging and maintaining social relationships, and taking care of daily needs amidst competing time demands (Vanbergeijk et al, 2008; Elias and White, 2017; White et al, 2017). High school curricula often focus on narrowly defined academic skills (e.g., grade point average) and fail to sufficiently address difficulties associated with autism, such as self-advocacy and social difficulties, that can impact academic functioning, and adaptation more generally, in college (Anderson and Butt, 2017). College is often the first time that autistic individuals are accountable for knowing their rights, securing necessary accommodations, assuming a leadership role by educating others about their disability, and developing the self-knowledge and communication skills needed to accomplish these tasks (Test et al, 2005; Pillay and Bhat, 2012; Van Hees et al, 2015; White et al, 2017)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
