ARTICLE REVIEW – Parent Perceptions of the Anticipated Needs and Expectations for Support for their College-Bound Students with Asperger’s

Scientific research is critical to obtaining objective and verifiable evidence that can be used for decision making and improving methods of practice, but is often inaccessible to individuals who don’t live in the world of academia. Research is often inaccessible for two reasons:

1. Most people don’t have access to the huge online databases of e-journals that are available to university members and research centers
2. Like lawyers and lawyerese, researchers are trained to think and write in a way that that can seem like a foreign language to an outsider

The focus of this article, (and future article reviews on this blog) is to break down relevant research into understandable components. Following is a summary and critique of an article recently published in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, followed by a brief explanation of how this research might translate to real-life.

Article Summary

Background:

The authors of this article, Morrison, Sansosti, and Hadley, open with a description of Asperger’s disorder and the challenges individuals with this disorder face when transitioning from high school to college. Primarily, the available supports are very different:

• In high school –
• Student supports are guided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• Supports include Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and a variety of academic supports
• In college –
• Student supports are guided by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Supports focus on nondiscrimination and may be geared towards those with learning disabilities and not appropriate for those on the autism spectrum

According to the authors, the purpose of this study is: To explore parent perceptions regarding the supports/accommodations and self-advocacy skills needed by college students with Asperger’s.

What They Did:

The authors gathered a group of participants, parents of college-bound children with Asperger’s, to answer questions about:

• What supports or accommodations they thought their children would need from the college
• What self-advocacy skills they would need to develop in order to be successful.

The focus group consisted of four mothers of sons, between the ages of 8 and 16 years old, on the autism spectrum. The group met for 1½ hours. The group facilitator prompted the group with six predetermined questions that focused on developing competence, managing emotions, and developing autonomy, (that is, independence). The group’s discussion was recorded and later transcripts were created an analyzed. Reoccurring themes were identified.

What They Found:

The parents in the focus group believed the following supports and accommodations would be helpful for their children:

• Matching students with accommodating professors
• Identifying a professional in the college’s Student Services Program who would serve as an advocate for the student
• Identifying alternate routes such as spending the first two years in a community college setting or living at home as opposed to the dorms

Parents also recognized the need for their children to develop self-advocacy skills:

• Students need to disclose their disability in order to obtain appropriate supports
• Students would continue to need parent involvement and support in daily living skills, such as:
• Laundry
• Money management
• Scheduling doctor’s appointments
• Staying out of trouble

Critique

An obvious weakness of this study is that only the mothers were interviewed regarding the students’ needs; other family members, the teachers or counselors who work with the student daily, and the students themselves, did not contribute. This provides a very limited point of view. While it is a starting place, it is definitely not a comprehensive or definite list of supports needed for all college students with ASD. The authors do mention that “it may be useful to explore the perceptions of college-bound students with AS regarding the supports and accommodations they find to be most useful” (p. 84).

AHEADD

AHEADD recognizes that every student is different, and therefore tailors supports to meet the unique needs of each student. AHEADD provides professional staff and peer mentors who serve as liaisons, personal advocates, and coaches for college students. AHEADD’s mission and goals clearly match up with several supports and accommodations identified by the parents in the focus group.