Postsecondary Expectations of High-School Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders.
High-schoolers with autism expect straight-line adult lives, but data and later voices show flexible paths work better—so teach options, not just milestones.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked with high-school students who have autism. They asked how the teens picture life after graduation.
The chats showed students expect regular adult jobs, college, and living on their own. They saw only one straight path to get there.
What they found
Kids linked adulthood to three words: independence, maturity, responsibility. They did not talk about backup plans or detours.
Their road map was rigid: finish school, start work, move out. Flexibility was missing.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) counted where young adults with autism actually live. Most still live with parents or in supervised homes. The teens’ rosy picture clashes with this real outcome.
Cribb et al. (2019) followed young adults a few years later. Those adults felt more in control when they built skills at their own speed, not when they chased the exact milestones the teens named. The later study softens the earlier worry: rigid hopes can bend if support is right.
Tesfaye et al. (2023) asked autistic teens the same question again. The answers matched: teens still want typical adult roles. The dream stays steady, so our job is to add flexible routes to reach it.
Why it matters
You can use these findings in transition planning. Start by validating the teen’s dream: “Yes, you can work and live on your own.” Then show several roads to get there—dorm, commuter college, part-time job, shared apartment. Add self-determination lessons so the student can steer if the first road closes. This small shift turns a rigid hope into a workable plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the perceptions of adulthood among 31 high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We had two research aims: (1) to report students' postsecondary expectations in terms of school, work, friendships and living arrangement and (2) to describe how our sample defined adulthood. To better compare our sample's criteria of adulthood to the criteria traditionally endorsed in secondary schools, we used a directed content analysis approach. Data were derived from a semi-structured interview that questioned students about friendships, activities and the transition to adulthood. The majority of students expected to attain traditional markers of adulthood after high school; however, for some the pathways to achieving these outcomes were narrowly defined and perceived as a rigid, linear process. Independence, maturity and personal responsibility were the most highly endorsed characteristics of adulthood, followed by chronological age and traditional markers. Implications for transition planning and adult services are discussed.
Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1177/1088357615610107