Individualized Education Program Quality for Transition Age Students with Autism.
Real-world transition IEPs for autistic teens skip social-skills goals even though RCTs prove they work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors read 20 transition IEPs for students with autism. All students were 14-18 years old and in public high schools.
They counted how many annual goals and post-secondary goals each plan had. They also checked if social-skills goals were listed and if the goals matched the student's present levels.
What they found
The average plan had only 3.1 annual goals and 1.6 post-secondary goals. Most plans left out social-skills goals entirely.
Goals often did not line up with the student's current abilities. In short, the plans were thin and mis-matched.
How this fits with other research
Chandroo et al. (2018) found the same gap. Their review of 15 studies showed students with autism rarely speak up in their own transition meetings. Gandhi et al. (2022) now show the written plans are just as weak.
W Vernon et al. (2018), Johnson et al. (2009), and Płatos et al. (2022) all ran RCTs that improved social skills for autistic teens. Yet the new case series shows those exact goals are missing from real-world IEPs. The contradiction is stark: we know how to teach social skills, but the plans ignore them.
Tullis et al. (2019) urged teams to add preference assessments to transition plans. Gandhi et al. (2022) confirm this still is not happening. The field has the tools; the paperwork just does not use them.
Why it matters
If you write or revise transition IEPs, treat social skills as a core goal, not an extra. Add at least one peer-interaction target and one vocational-social target. Link each goal to clear present-level data. This single change can close the gap between what research shows works and what schools actually plan for.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Students with ASD have some of the worst postsecondary outcomes when compared to other students with disabilities indicating transition planning may not be working effectively. One source of support for postsecondary planning is development of the transition Individualized Education Program (IEP). However, little research is available to describe the current contents of transition IEPs for students with ASD. This study aimed to describe IEP and postsecondary planning quality for students with autism in their final year of high school. METHOD: IEPs for 20 students with autism (Mage = 18.2 years; SD = 1.1) from two mid-southern states were analyzed. Descriptive analyses were used to identify strengths and weaknesses of IEPs and postsecondary goals based on federal law requirements and best practice recommendations. RESULTS: IEPs contained an average of 3.1 IEP goals and 1.6 postsecondary goals. IEP goals were most frequently related to academic, learning/work, or communication skills. All IEPs contained an employment postsecondary goal while less than half of the IEPs included an independent living postsecondary goal. Key findings include lack of goals related to social skills and the lack of alignment between present levels of performance, IEP goals, and postsecondary goals. CONCLUSIONS: IEPs for students with ASD in their final year of school do not consistently meet standards outlined by federal law or best practice recommendations necessary for successful transition from high school.
Research in autism spectrum disorders, 2022 · doi:10.1002/pits.20255