Accessing Services for Youth With Emotional Disturbances in and After High School

Abstract

This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 to examine the rates at which youth with emotional disturbances received services during and up to 8 years after high school. Parents’ efforts to obtain services, information sources accessed, problems encountered, and the perceived sufficiency of services to meet youths’ needs are described. Findings show a drop in receipt rates for several services in the first 2 years post high school, relative to those received during high school, and a continued decrease thereafter. An increase in the reported effort to obtain services accompanied this decline in receipt rates. Implications for transition planning to build a better bridge from high school to the adult service systems are discussed and aspects of a research agenda are outlined.

A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Factors Affecting Successful Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances

“…Exploring multiple perspectives helps inform mental health professionals and youth development program practitioners of the areas where allocation of services and funding can be most valuable to transition-age youth with SED (Goodcase et al, 2021 ; Kaufman et al, 2019 ; LaPorte et al, 2014 ; Lich et al, 2017 ). The five clusters, or themes, that emerged from participant responses in our study echo the existing literature on barriers to adult mental health services (Klodnick et al, 2021 ; LaPorte et al, 2014 ; Wagner et al, 2016 ) and other challenges experienced by youth with SED in the transition to adulthood (Akinola & Dunkley, 2019 ; Marion & Paulsen, 2019 ; Walters, 2017 ; Xie et al, 2014 ). At the same time, our findings reflect literature on adolescent mental health services and positive youth development that emphasize the importance of youth experiences and participation in service evaluation and planning (Brown, 2006b ; Chauveron et al, 2021 ; Delman & Jones, 2002 ; LaPorte et al, 2014 ; Lich et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Adolescents who receive mental health services experience a steep decline in both quality and the number of services available once they turn 18 years-old and lose eligibility (Osgood et al, 2010 ; Singh, 2009 ). Within the first two years of leaving high school, youth with SED receive fewer services than when enrolled and continue to experience a decline in services thereafter (Wagner et al, 2016 ). Two important factors contributing to unsuccessful transitions between child and adult mental health services are availability and overall developmental appropriateness of adult mental health services (Davis & Munson, 2018 ; Paul et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Unfortunately, youth with severe emotional disturbances are also at risk of becoming disconnected from mental health services when they are deemed too old to participate in children’s mental health services, yet not old enough to meet the demographics of most adult mental health services (Wagner et al, 2016 ). This happens because some child and adult mental health programs are not equipped to address the specific needs (i.e., developmental, social, cultural) of the transition-age group (Davis & Munson, 2018 ).…”

Transition to adulthood of youth with disabilities: Mapping declared practices to recommended practices

“…To ensure a positive collaboration, it is important to develop knowledge of the local resources and partners, ensure that the information about these resources is easily available to youth and their families, formally include partners in the development of the intervention plan and specify roles and responsibilities of each partner involved with the student. To ensure an efficient collaboration, participants suggest identifying a transition co‐ordinator, a recommendation also make by several researchers in this field (Crompton & Bond, 2022; Jacob et al., 2022; Lillis & Kutcher, 2021; Noonan et al., 2012; Poirier et al., 2020; Scheef & Mahfouz, 2020; Wagner et al., 2016). For example, this co‐ordinator can be a school professional who has the mandate to overview the transition to adulthood plan for a student but who does not necessarily provide direct service to them.…”

Characteristics of Students With Disabilities Who Do and Do Not Receive Transition Services

“…Taylor and Henninger (2015) found that adolescents with autism with lower adaptive behavior scores and more severe autism symptoms received more services. In the post-school years as well, there appears to be a decline in receipt of services for students requiring fewer adaptive supports (Taylor & Seltzer, 2011; Wagner et al, 2016). Similarly, Baer et al (2011) found that students with high-incidence disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) had less access to post-school services than those with ID.…”