Graduate Student Eastern Illinois University Tuscola, Illinois, United States
Disclosure(s):
Grace E. Snider, n/a: No financial or non-financial relationships to disclose
Abstract: Young adults with autism spectrum disorder ASD find it difficult to be successful in college because neurodiverse individuals often lack the skills to meet societal standards of what makes a “good” student. This study investigated the influence of various barriers to college success for individuals with ASD, specifically a small group of student participants from EIU’s Students with Autism Transitional Education Program (STEP) program. Analysis included BRIEF-A t-scores, ratings on a socially based conversational task, and a self-report questionnaire to provide insight on student awareness and self-monitoring. Patterns of performance that influence the success of STEP students will be discussed.
Summary of Presentation : This presentation will discuss the various barriers to autistic individuals' college success and investigate patterns of performance and self-perception of college students with ASD. This study analyzed and compared the BRIEF-A self-report forms, rubric ratings, and self-report questionnaires of 6 male STEP students following a conversational task. The presenter will discuss the established rubric and self-report questionnaire used, qualitative observations, and the need to refine conversational tasks and rubrics to capture the subtleties present in a wide range of college students with ASD.
Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
Participants will be able to analyze performance patterns of college students with autism on socially based language sampling procedures.
Participants will be able to compare perceived and actual performance on conversational tasks to gain insight into STEP students’ awareness and self-monitoring abilities.
Participants will be able to critique the use of a rubric to capture the atypical subtleties present in the social interactions of college students with autism.