Canadian mapping of autism-specific supports for postsecondary students

A scoping review of supports on college and university campuses for autistic post-secondary students

“…Academic accommodations, typically accessed through offices for students with disabilities, have been the most frequently studied form of supports for autistic students (Brown, 2017;Ames et al, 2022). Unsurprisingly, this was the category with the highest frequency count for contributory indicators.…”

“…• Presence of supports with developing daily living skills, executive functioning skills, and organizational skills (often through peer mentor programs) (Retherford and Schreiber, 2015;Ames et al, 2016;Gustin et al, 2020) • Presence of housing accommodations (Barnhill, 2016;Anderson et al, 2018;Accardo et al, 2019b) and independent living supports (Scheef et al, 2019;Viezel et al, 2020;Ames et al, 2022) • Assistance navigating campus or transportation to and from campus (Retherford and Schreiber, 2015;Scheef et al, 2019; • Financial coaching/management (Retherford and Schreiber, 2015;Siew et al, 2017) • Assistance navigating other supports Scheef et al, 2019) • Increased self-confidence, independence, and self-determinism (Retherford and Schreiber, 2015;Thompson et al, 2018;Trevisan et al, 2021) • Lack of support with executive functioning skills, time management, organizational skills, and daily living skills (navigating transportation, food, chores, hygiene, etc.) (Accardo et al, 2019a;Lei and Russell, 2021;Sefotho and Onyishi, 2021) • Lack of housing accommodations and independent living supports (Simmeborn Fleischer et al, 2013;Cullen, 2015; • Struggles with lack of routine and lack of structure (Lei and Russell, 2021) • Stressors from living situation (Cullen, 2015;Bolourian et al, 2018) Vocational • Employment and career support from peer mentors, tutors, coaches, faculty, DSO, and mental health staff (Gunn et al, 2017;Cheriyan et al, 2021;Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021;Ames et al, 2022) • Career services and career centers (Briel and Getzel, 2014;Barnhill, 2016;…”

“…(Accardo et al, 2019a;Lei and Russell, 2021;Sefotho and Onyishi, 2021) • Lack of housing accommodations and independent living supports (Simmeborn Fleischer et al, 2013;Cullen, 2015; • Struggles with lack of routine and lack of structure (Lei and Russell, 2021) • Stressors from living situation (Cullen, 2015;Bolourian et al, 2018) Vocational • Employment and career support from peer mentors, tutors, coaches, faculty, DSO, and mental health staff (Gunn et al, 2017;Cheriyan et al, 2021;Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021;Ames et al, 2022) • Career services and career centers (Briel and Getzel, 2014;Barnhill, 2016;Cheriyan et al, 2021) • Career counseling and academic advising (Weiss and Rohland, 2015;Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021;Lucas et al, 2022) • Support with job-seeking skills (applying for jobs, resume writing, interview skills, etc.) (Retherford and Schreiber, 2015;Vincent and Fabri, 2020;Cheriyan et al, 2021;Munandar et al, 2021) • Internships or practicums (Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021) • Lists of autism-friendly employers or referral to autism related organization (Vincent et al, 2022) • Lack of employment supports, lack of awareness of existing supports, or existing supports were not helpful (Briel and Getzel, 2014;Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021) • Need for individualized, flexible, and targeted career assistance (Pesonen H. V. et al, 2021; • Lack of career guidance/training Lucas et al, 2022) • Transition to employment identified as a stressor (Van Hees et al, 2015;Bolourian et al, 2018;Ames et al, 2022) • Desire for support developing a disclosure plan for future employers…”

“…• Lack of (or inadequate) supports for transition into university, identified as a source of stress, anxiety, fear (Anderson and Butt, 2017;Shmulsky et al, 2017;McMorris et al, 2019;Ames et al, 2022) • "Culture shock" with lack of structure and overwhelming sensory environment (Van Hees et al, 2015;Vincent et al, 2017;Cage and Howes, 2020) • Need for assistance navigating to and on campus (Casement et al, 2017) • Some orientation activities were too overwhelming (Goddard and Cook, 2022) Transition out of PS:…”

“…Widman and Lopez-Reyna (2020) reviewed 21 studies focusing on supports for autistic students on PS campuses in the United States, through which they developed a classification for autism supports. Ames et al (2022) mapped the availability of autism-specific supports on Canadian PS campuses. Kuder and Accardo (2018) [8 included studies] and Anderson A. H. et al (2019) [24 included studies] conducted international systematic reviews examining studies addressing outcomes of programs and interventions that support autistic PS students.…”