Adaptive Behavior of College Students With Autism

Abstract

As an increasing number of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) matriculate on college campuses, all stakeholders should be prepared to meet their needs. Despite a body of literature describing adaptive behavior deficits of those with ASD, there is a paucity of research examining these skills among those who are college-ready. The present study investigated the adaptive behavior of a diverse group ( N = 27) of incoming college students with ASD and examined to what extent these skills could predict initial academic success. Despite average intelligence and good academic indicators, deficits in communication, socialization, and daily living skills were found. No models, even those which included intelligence quotient (IQ) and SAT scores, were predictive of first-semester or first-year grade point average (GPA). Importantly, freshman-to-sophomore retention appeared higher than the university average. Findings suggest that practitioners and families should consider adaptive behavior in addition to intellectual and academic capabilities when considering postsecondary opportunities and available supports.

Novel Framework for Autism Spectrum Disorder Identification and Tailored Education With Effective Data Mining and Ensemble Learning Techniques

“…In this study, label encoding was applied to specific columns (Sr. No. [13][14][15][16][17] within the dataset, transforming categorical features into numeric representations. This preprocessing step was executed with the objective of enhancing the compatibility of the data with a variety of ML algorithms.…”

“…Children with ASD experience challenges in social interaction, particularly in nonverbal aspects like maintaining eye contact and imitating facial expressions. Students with ASD do not attain similar academic achievements when compared to their peers [14]. Article 26 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right to education for all individuals [15].…”

An autistic student at a Polish university – diagnosis and support

“…Cai and Richdale (2016) come to similar conclusions, pointing to the lack of research exploring students' educational experiences and needs of students during the learning process in higher education. The research designed by the Polish research team from the NCU in Toruń in the project called "Diverse minds -studying with ASD" lls this gap (Accardo et al, 2019;Ledford et al, 2021;Viesel et al, 2021). The team implementing the project consists of persons working at NCU and UG.…”