A nationwide survey of disability support personnel regarding transition and services for postsecondary students with autism spectrum disorder

摘要

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the perceptions (through surveyuddata) of Disability Support Services (DSS) personnel regarding the transition process forudstudents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from secondary to postsecondaryudinstitutions. Participants from 408 postsecondary institutions completed the survey withud60.4% from public and 39.5% from private institutions, and 66.8% from 4-year andud33.2% from 2-year institutions. The majority of participants considered ASD to be a lifelonguddisorder. Only 52.7% of participants accept a diagnosis from a school psychologist,udand 73.3% indicated that high school reports range from not useful to somewhat useful inuddetermining eligibility. The majority of participants (66.2%) indicated that reports mustudbe more recent than 3-years old to qualify for services. Furthermore, this study attemptedudto determine the availability of mental health services, social skills services, academicudsupports, and activities of daily living services for students with ASD. Comparisons wereudmade between public versus private institutions, 2-year versus 4-year institutions, andudacross the Northeast, West, Midwest and Southern regions of the United States.udSignificantly more 4-year and public institutions conducted mental health services at aududcounseling center. More 4-year institutions were likely to provide social skills services.udPrivate institutions were more likely to provide job coaching and peer-mentorshipudservices as social skills services. There were no significant differences between theudoverall numbers of social skills, academic, and activities of daily living services offeredudbetween the various regions in the United States. These results provide informationudregarding the perceptions of ASD by DSS personnel and the availability of services forudstudents with ASD across the United States.