Evidenced Based Practices that Promote Transition to Postsecondary Education: Listening to a Decade of Expert Voices

Increasing social integration for college students with autism spectrum disorder.

“…For both students without disabilities and students with autism, college should be an environment that promotes academic and personal skill building, future employment, increased self-confidence and integration into a community (Webb, Patterson, Syverud, & Seabrooks-Blackmore, 2008; Zafft et al, 2006). For students with disabilities, college should be a natural and inclusive environment that builds self-confidence and increases independent living skills (Hart, Grigal, & Weir, 2010).…”

“…Further, there is minimal research on the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs, and little is known about the effectiveness of support programs to serve the college student population with ASD (Grigal et al, 2001; Stodden et al, 2001). Thus many students with ASD that enter postsecondary education have limited success due to a lack of available services (Webb et al, 2008). …”

“…For example, college students on the spectrum are often challenged by finding existing social activities, lack the confidence to independently go to social events, and/or have challenges with organizational skills, all which interfere with their ability to successfully participate in social activities. As a whole, adjusting to the social pressures of postsecondary education and independent living are among the most challenging areas for college students with disabilities, particularly given the fact that the literature suggests that experiencing success at the undergraduate and graduate level requires an individual to demonstrate advanced social skills (Nevill & White, 2011; Webb et al, 2008). Thus, students with ASD typically struggle with the transition to college, not because they lack the cognitive abilities to be successful, but because they experience challenges with new social interactions in an unfamiliar place (Wenzel & Rowley, 2010).…”

Social-Emotional Predictors of Postsecondary Enrollment for Students with Disabilities: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample

“…College readiness literature, for example, has identified skills that are fundamentally social-emotional as critical for helping students prepare for college (Babbitt & White, 2002) and the transition literature has similarly identified social-emotional skills as important (Janiga & Costenbader, 2002;Sabbatino & Macrine, 2007;Webb et al, 2008). However, there is little research on whether these skills can predict SWD enrolling in postsecondary institutions.…”

“…Likewise, Sabbatino and Macrine (2007) identified social-emotional skills as critical to the efficacy of a transition program for SWD. Further, a literature review by Webb, Patterson, Syverud, and Seabrooks-Blackmore (2008) identified self-determination, academic preparation, accommodations, assistive technology, and social skills as essential to fostering transition to postsecondary education for SWD.…”