LaPoint Shannon Crowley, Kim So Yoon, Bottema-Beutel Kristen
Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 100 Renee Lynne Court, Carrboro, NC, 27510, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 May 21. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06375-6.
Following high school exit, many autistic young adults are not enrolled in post-secondary education or employed, and few are engaged in community activities. This disengagement among autistic young adults may be a result of the limited or inadequate supports provided to autistic transition-age youth in schools. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to explore how school professionals report preparing transition-age autistic youth for adulthood and the barriers that make it difficult for school professionals to provide quality transition services. We surveyed 21 school professionals who work with transition-age autistic students. The survey solicited descriptions of transition supports provided to youth, and barriers that make it difficult for school professionals to provide high quality transition supports. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify themes from the data. Participants described barriers related to the autistic youth they taught or supported, their families, the classroom environment, and the community. Barriers were either framed as deficits inherent to autistic students and their families, or larger systemic issues that make it challenging to implement high quality transition supports. We recommend implementation of autism-specific trainings within teacher preparation programs and school districts, professional development opportunities that create spaces for educators to challenge and resist deficit views of autism, and development of strengths-based transition programs that are implemented by school-based professionals who work with autistic students.
高中毕业后，许多患有自闭症的年轻人未接受高等教育或就业，很少有人参与社区活动。自闭症青年的这种脱离社会状态可能是学校为自闭症过渡年龄青年提供的支持有限或不足所致。因此，本研究的目的是探讨学校专业人员如何报告为过渡年龄的自闭症青年为成年做准备的情况，以及使学校专业人员难以提供高质量过渡服务的障碍。我们对21名与过渡年龄自闭症学生打交道的学校专业人员进行了调查。该调查征求了对向青年提供的过渡支持的描述，以及使学校专业人员难以提供高质量过渡支持的障碍。采用定性内容分析法从数据中识别主题。参与者描述了与他们所教或支持的自闭症青年、其家庭、课堂环境和社区相关的障碍。障碍要么被视为自闭症学生及其家庭固有的缺陷，要么是使实施高质量过渡支持具有挑战性的更大的系统性问题。我们建议在教师培训项目和学区内开展针对自闭症的培训，提供专业发展机会，为教育工作者创造空间，以挑战和抵制对自闭症的缺陷观点，并由与自闭症学生合作的学校专业人员实施基于优势的过渡项目。
