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Autism Essay | Essay on Autism for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Autism Essay:  Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Problems with communications and social interactions, along with repetitive and restricted behaviour, are common in autism. The associated factors of autism include genetics and specific environmental influences.

Autism includes a wide range of disorders of which, Asperger syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorders have been added recently. The symptoms of autism occur before three years in a child, as observed by doctors.

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Long and Short Essays on Autism for Students and Kids in English

We provide students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic Autism for reference.

Long Essay on Autism 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Autism is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder and affects a person’s responsive and interactive behaviour. It requires sensitivity and a certain intensity of the traits that affect social development for diagnosis. Autism includes persistent deficits in social communication and interactions. People who have autism also face difficulties in social and emotional reciprocity and a reduced interest in sharing emotions or feelings and often fail to respond to social interactions. Autistic people often face difficulties in maintaining, developing, or understanding relationships. They exhibit poorly integrative verbal or non-verbal communications and abnormalities in making eye-contacts and body language.

Autism is characterized by stereotypical and repetitive movements, phrases and words, and reactions along with inflexible adherence to a particular routine. The abnormal intensity of attachment with unusual objects is often seen in autistic people, and they are hypersensitive to small changes around them. The symptoms of autism result from changes related to maturation in different brain systems. The mechanisms of autism can be divided into two ways. The pathophysiology of the brain structure and associated processes regulates the behavioural characteristics. There are individual neurophysiological connections between the brain and behaviours also.

Autism is a significant form of Pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and is also classified as syndromal and non-syndromal. The extent of non-syndromal autism is unclear, but syndromal autism includes an intellectual disability or congenital syndromes. Diagnosed reports suggest some children lose their language and social skills at 15-30 months. Researches have been restricted due to identification problems in traditional boundaries between the subgroups and disciplines like psychiatry, neurology, paediatrics, and psychology.

According to doctors, very few people suffering from autism exhibit savant syndrome. A person starts to exhibit extraordinary skills and abilities in a specific field, like, calculating complicated sums at a very high speed, reading two books simultaneously, memorizing things quickly, etc. The exact causes leading to autism are still not known. It just occurs due to a different functioning of the brain and is often believed to be genetic, as the doctors found pieces of evidence. Autistic people experience changes in the significant areas of the brain that affect their speech and behaviour. In cases of twins, a strong correlation between them has also been observed in terms of autism. Environmental factors also cause autistic disorders. The risk factors during pregnancy, including rubella, toxins, autoimmune diseases, fetal growth restrictions, and air pollution, also play a vital role.

Autism results in low tolerance and perseverance levels in distinctive individuals. Autistic people often suffer from regular panic attacks and societal trauma which causes anxiety, self-esteem issues, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, epilepsy, and sleep disturbances. This trauma adversely affects their development. There is no such proven treatment for curing autism, but proper therapies and strategies can manage mental health issues. Treatment interventions are beneficial in autism cases. Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) increases desirable behaviour, reduces harmful isolation from others, and might improve memory-focus, academic performance, and communications. Other interventions include Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), Occupational Therapy (OT), Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), Speech Therapy, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), Verbal Behaviour Therapy (VBT), and TEACCH.

Short Essay on Autism 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Autism is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that occurs at the age of three years. It affects the social, behavioural and communicative skills. The characteristics of autism vary from person to person. Parents start to notice the autistics characteristics in their child when he/she avoids social interactions, has behavioural issues and speech problems.

One of the important behavioural characteristics of an autistic child is aggressiveness or self-harming behaviour, either active or passive. They exhibit odd behaviours and have a resistance to change regular routines. However, in many cases, extraordinary talents and skills are observed in autistic people. The symptoms of autism first appear during infancy or early childhood days. Autistic people have specific impairments which include problems in social interactions, communications, repetitive behaviour. Atypical eating habits are also common.

The causes of autism have not been discovered yet, but genetics play an essential role along with significant risk factors during the time of pregnancy. It is a disorder and not a disease and is not curable. Medications, therapies and strategies help to improve the conditions, physically and mentally, and people need to get more aware and careful while dealing with autistic children.

10 Lines on Autism in English

• Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder and not an illness.
• Genetics, environmental factors and risk factors at the time of pregnancy play a vital role in cases of autism.
• The first signs and symptoms of autism are seen during infancy and early childhood days.
• Autistic people face difficulties in communication and interactions and often suffer from mental health issues.
• Autistic people often have repetitive behaviour and may have speech problems.
• In some cases of autism, the person may exhibit unique talents and extraordinary skills in specific fields.
• Autism is a resultant form of differential performing of the brain.
• Autism is the most common form of Pervasive developmental disorders (PDD).
• Autistic people face issues related to the senses, memory and understanding verbal instructions.
• There is no cure for autism though medicines and therapies improve the mental health of the child.

FAQ’s on Autism Essay

Question 1.  What causes autism?

Answer:  There is no exact known cause of autism, but genetics and environmental often affect in cases of autism.

Question 2. What does ‘spectrum’ mean in autism cases?

Answer:  Autism does not come with a single disorder. It has a range of conditions related to behaviour, speech, communication and memory, and hence it is often called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Question 3.  How to understand if a child is autistic?

Answer:  The signs of autism are identified in early childhood when the child isolates themselves or faces speech difficulties or have a tendency of repetitive behaviour or phrases.

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165 Autism Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Struggle with writing a research paper topics on autism? We’ve got your back covered! Below, you will find a list of 147 topics about autism as well as autism research paper examples!

🏆 Best Research Autism Topics & Essay Examples

👍 good autism essay topics, 💡 psychology research autism topics to write about, ⭐ simple & easy autism essay titles, ❓ research questions about autism.

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Autism is a serious disorder that has the potential to disrupt the success of people living with it. This is to mean that the theory of causation regarding autism is not complete as yet.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Child At the moment, M.is more verbal with his parents and siblings and reacts adequately to them, especially in repeated day-to-day situations.
• How Does Having a Child With Autism Affects Parents’ Lifestyle? The creation of a system of psychological, pedagogical and social support can reduce the risk of a complete family life dedication to a child with autism.
• Autism. Child and Family Assessment The other common disorder associated with autism is that of mutism whereby it also lies under the category of speech disorder and in many cases it is difficult to be diagnosed and at the same […]
• Autism: Characteristics, Prevalence and Interventions The symptoms of autism are noticeable in the early years of childhood. Occupational therapy is one of the non-educational interventions used to assist kids with autism.
• Bright Not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Autism It is possible to state that the book provides rather a high-quality review of the issues about the identification, education, and upbringing of the 2e children.
• Critical Analysis of Published Articles: Autism It was therefore the goal of the research to find out if the negative attitude of people towards autistic children can be altered to the benefit of the parents.
• “Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph Over Autism” by Catherine Maurice The book was published in 1994, and it was a success as parents of autistic children were waiting for someone to prove that autism was not an incurable disorder.
• Inclusion Curriculum for Children With Autism In the given paper, the issue of children autism, the developmental issues that autism triggers and the educational prospects for children with autism are going to be considered.
• One-To-One Programs: Supporting Autistic Children The purpose of conducting this essay will be to examine the educational intervention of one-to-one support programs during normal school times within a mainstream classroom and also to discuss the challenges faced by teachers and […]
• Impact of Autism Disorder on Adolescents This essay discusses the impact of autism disorder on adolescents in the community and a nursing intervention that can be used to assist adolescents in becoming prominent society members.
• Progression of Reading Ability in a Child Diagnosed With Autism The battery of assessments and interviews with parents on the participant’s socialization and early reading ability indicates the study applied the Psychometric and Social Contextual approaches.
• Analysis of Behavior of Preschool Age Child With Autism The child’s behavior in the video differs from that of a mentally healthy child, and these differences lie in the child’s other emotional state and degree of interest in talking to people.
• Autism and Disability Advocacy People with autism can contribute to the diversity of disability culture by expanding understanding of what disability is and how it can be accepted.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis According to DSM-5, to fit the diagnostic criteria for ASD, a child must have evident deficits in three major areas of social communication as well as 2 out of the 4 restricted or repetitive behaviors.
• Thinking in Pictures: Autism and Sensory Problems The chapter “The Squeeze Machine: Sensory Problems in Autism” in Grandin’s Thinking in Pictures presents a series of life perspectives of various individuals, including her own, regarding the sensory problems they experienced. They postulated that […]
• Therapeutic Programs for Children With Autism in K-12 Institutions In the paper, the gaps in the research of effective treatments for children with ASD are explored, after which the efficacy of a multi-system aquatic therapy and standardized equine-assisted therapy program is argued.
• Societal Issue Research Project: Autism Spectrum Disorder The first factor is the significant risk that the genetics of siblings who had ASD diagnosis will increase the chance of the disorder.
• Child-Centered Play Therapy and Autism The purpose of the discussed research was to investigate the effects of CCPT on the sample of children with autism, establishing and describing the connection between CCPT and social and emotional growth.
• Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Training Program for Caregivers The latter means that many caregivers take care of children with ASD, hence the importance of equipping them with the necessary skills for effective and smooth parenting and coping with various difficulties.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder’s Impact on Child’s Learning In regards to the public-school setting, standardized testing demands youngsters to grasp and react to spoken as well as written communication at an anticipated pace and level.
• Laboratory Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders The purpose of my study is to discover which of these methods is more accurate, with the reason being the importance of early diagnosis of ASD, which leads to better treatment outcomes.
• Autism and Related Cognitive Concepts It has been suggested that children with autism show a general deficit of cognitive skills in multilevel planning and in the regulation of behavior.
• Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorder In fact, bullying as a social phenomenon can be characterized as a social and interaction issue; therefore, it is possible to analyze the connection between autism and acts of bullying and inappropriate behavior.
• Face Emotion Recognition in Autism Phenotype One critical aspect of social communication is the capability to apprehend the emotions and intentions of another person. In conclusion, Autism Spectrum Disorder makes the interpretation of facial expressions difficult.
• Misrepresentation of Autism in the ‘Music’ Film While the film was not centered on the topic of autism as its message, the stereotype-heavy portrayal and a lack of research make it a harmful piece of media.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence and Impact in Society It has therefore been impossible to determine the level of increase in autism cases that is as a result of improved diagnostic measures and that which can be attributed to the real increase in autism […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Diagnosis, Impact, Treatment The main diagnostic element for ASD is the evidence of difficulties, either in the present or past, which are different across the age groups.
• Autism and Vaccination Refusal Management Among Somalian Parents Somalian parents in their community in Minnesota refuse from their children being vaccinated, as they believe that vaccination causes autism.
• Everyone Has the Power to Effect Positive Change Within the Autism Community This paper presents what is autism, how every one reacts to the problem, what is the difference between the rich and the poor in their response towards the problem.”Autism is one of five developmental disorders […]
• Reducing Off-Task Behaviors Using a Token Economy System in Children With Autism Token economy is a strategy of positive reinforcement that can be provided to children in the form of tokens for completing the assigned tasks.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Key Points The requirement to meet these needs is supported by the fact that the rate of students with ASD is high: according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, more than 83 per cent of […]
• “Theoretical Aspects of Autism” by Helen Ratajczak On the whole, it is possible to say that the standards set by Austin Hill cannot be always met, in part because the physiological aspects of this disease have not been fully investigated.
• Dr. Temple Grandin’s Argument on Visual Thinking and Autism A more in-depth analysis of visual activities can reveal the all imagery can be mentally processed and modified by children so that images are rotated and analyzed to make the brain map expand.
• Intellectual Disability: Autism In their adulthood, and because of the communication issues that most individuals with autism tend to have, they will naturally have difficulty in finding and keeping jobs.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Children With Autism On the positive side, it fastens the production of different types of reactive oxygen used in the body. It is arguable that the size of the samples used in the study was small.
• Analysis of Children Autism in “The Black Balloon” It is imperative to note that Charlie’s emotions are not regulated and as such, manifest in immature behaviors such as flapping of his hands.
• Occupational Therapy for Children With Autism The main reason for the appearance of autism is the disturbance of the development of the patients brain which results in the appearance of various symptoms.
• The Mitochondria and Autism – Results and Main Function The results are important in health because children with autism were more probable to have dysfunctions and abnormalities of the mitochondria such as over replication and deletion of mitochondrial DNA compared to those without the […]
• Autism Etiology, Symptoms, Beliefs, and Management To date, debate on the cause or etiology of autism still remains divided, with extant literature demonstrating that “although many hypotheses have been proposed, a singular or specific combination of causes has yet to be […]
• Quantitative Assessment of Neuromotor Function in Adolescents With High Functioning Autism: Critique The study authors did not give the benefits and/or risks associated with the study participation. The authors indicated that the ZNA was appropriate for collecting the data because it could measure the 11 parameters of […]
• Critical Appraisal on the Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Family: A Qualitative Study of Mothers’ Perspectives The study researchers established the significance of the study by outlining the social and financial implications of taking care of children with ASD.
• Autism: External Forces, Causes and Treatment The increasing prevalence of Autism in the United States and across the world is attracting great attention from the healthcare sector to design critical programs tailored to stem the disorder in terms of prevention, treatment, […]
• The Importance of Services for Children With Autism The plea of the majority of Americans for the reverse of healthcare budget allocation is well because it is wrong to interfere with services offered to children with autism. With childcare initiative in place, the […]
• Autism: General Information and Treatment She argues that the treatment of autism is through scientific proven medication that aids in controlling aggressive behaviors and that Trisperidone is the commonly used antipsychotic.
• The Issue of Autism: Task-Group Project The role of B.N.in the meeting can be seen as a summarizer, providing a summary of the minutes of the previous meeting.
• Concepts of Autism and Williams Syndrome The disorder manifests itself in the early years of a child’s life, with long-lasting effects that are not curable but controllable and easy to deal with on condition that, the concerned parties take the necessary […]
• Autism Programs to Enhance Students’ Outcomes In addition to social and behavioral challenges, ASD typically hinders a learner’s ability to gain and process the necessary academic information.
• Autism Program’s Impact Across Contexts In other words, a detailed overview of the issues that administrators face when designing the program and which the teachers have to deal with when addressing the needs of children with autism must be carried […]
• Autism: Teaching Plan for Taking All the Features Into Account For the first child, caregiver training was done at child’s bedroom, and for the second child it was done at living room, and for the third child with severe mental retardation it was carried out […]
• Education Considerations for Students With Autism Two articles under consideration consider the opposite views regarding the education of students with autism; on the basis of the information obtained from these articles, it can be stated that none of the perspectives is […]
• Developmental Psychology: Autism and Vaccination Vaccination of infants is widely used today as the pattern of endemic diseases can be explained in terms of interplay of social, physical and biological factors in an area that is conducive to a continuous […]
• Social Work Methods to Treat the Child Who Is Suffering From Autism This is a clear indicator that alcohol intake by the family is costing the members and it is an issue that needs to be looked into.
• Autism and Immunization: Vaccines and the Changing Epidemiology The interest and attention invoked by this paper were largely due to the fact that it appeared to provide a biological means through which MMR vaccine resulted in autism.
• The Autism-Vaccine Debate, Arguments, and Research Autism is defined by the Autism Society of America as ” a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first 3 years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Interventions However, the negative side of it is that such an intervention is limited to those patients who are verbal and have limited vocabulary.
• Autism: Symptoms, Forms, Diagnostic Instruments Autism is basically a developmental disorder of the human brain that its first symptoms are initially manifested in infancy and it follows a steady cause without relapse.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Features in Children One of the causes for the appearance of these issues is an inborn disability that might presuppose the need for specific methods to educate a child and guarantee a chance for integration with society.
• Autism Occurrence by Measles Vaccine Status The organization of information in the text follows a logical format by introducing the background for the vaccine, incorporating the issue of ASD connection, and leading up to the primary research question.
• Parental Report of Vaccine Receipt in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In the introduction, which is the first section, the study’s research problems and their significance to nursing are stated. The discussion section covers how the authors relate the findings to the research objective and the […]
• Teenagers With Autism Disorder Autism is seen as a spectrum disorder since its severity and symptoms vary greatly among affected individuals – from mild and occasional to persistent and interfering with all aspects of life.
• Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorders on Life However, between the ages of two and three, his lack of verbal activity and inability to “echo” simple sounds and syllables were found to be very concerning by the family.
• Autism Should Not Be Viewed as a Disability A good example is that the treatment of autism as a mental disorder makes it possible for pharmaceutical companies and clinics to invent new health systems or procedures that will meet the needs of the […]
• Autist Student’s Behavior and Remedial Plan In the process of reading, I would pay attention to the student’s concentration and ability to integrate what she was reading. She also took long in doing this and did not want to stop the […]
• Autism Treatment, Its Methods and Results It was appropriate to focus on the use of the DSE intervention and examine if addressed most of the challenges facing many ASD patients.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Programs Effectiveness The purpose of this PE, therefore, is to evaluate and analyze the efficiency of the programs implemented by the Day Support Services.
• Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders The main goal of this paper is to present a review of relevant literature addressing the issue of helping college students with ASD prepare for workforce readiness and job placement.
• Association Between Vaccination and Autism The study examined whether there is a link between the toxic effects of exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines and the risk of developing ASD.
• Olfaction and Autism Spectrum Disorder Relationship These findings reveal that the sniff test can reveal both the presence and severity of ASD in young children. The link between ASD and olfaction can be used in diagnosing young children with autism.
• Abu Dhabi Autism Center The Abu Dhabi Autism Center has to operate within the laws and regulations of the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs.
• Applied Behavior Analysis Treatment for Autism It is the most commonly applied autism treatment remedy in the United States and several other countries in the world and the major method that schools and therapists embrace and use.
• Inclusive Education: Child With Autism and Spina Bifida It is worth mentioning that Ted’s mother is willing to cooperate with teachers, and her participation can be of great assistance to the teacher.
• Children With Autism’ Communication in Saudi Arabia Parents of children with autism in Saudi Arabia have complained that the government has neglected the needs of autistic children by failing to finance their education and research to detect the effectiveness of the digital […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing and Measurement It will begin with the rationale that explain why the issues are critical, followed by the reasons for unavailability of the solutions to the issues and the consequences of the issues.
• Autism Spectrum Disorders and Educational Interventions From this point, this paper aims to discuss the definition of Autism Spectrum Disorders, examine the etiology and incidence of the disorder, focus on the prevalence of autism, and analyze the effectiveness of the DTT […]
• Vaccines and Autism: Separating Facts From Fiction The advocacy groups say that thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, is toxic to the central nervous system and responsible for an alarming rise in rates of autism among children in the United States and […]
• Lesson for Learners With Autism: Reflection Observation The essay identifies the instructional methods used by the teacher during the exercise. The teacher also guided the learners to solve the mathematical problems using different visual objects.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Concept Besides, Temple often explores her own experiences and attempts to understand the feelings of others that are unavailable to her by visualizing herself as other creatures people and animals.
• Dubai Autism Center’ Quality Management TQM employs strategies and effective communication within the organization to incorporate the quality principles into the culture and activities of the organization to ensure that all the activities are geared towards satisfying the customers.
• Video Modeling for Individuals With Autism The video model will be developed according to the needs of autistic children, with the focus on the role of visual and auditory stimuli in the teaching process.
• The Effects of Vaccines on Autism From their study, the findings demonstrate that the presence of thimerosal is one of the causes of the disorder. It is imperative to state that they have used many studies that have indicated that there […]
• Vaccination as a Cause Autism This paper borrows on the arguments of Monica Prasad and Washington and Haydn when they argue that the belief about vaccinations as a primary cause of autism stems from emotional, psychological, and behavioral barriers, as […]
• Youth With Autism Disorder: Education and Employment This includes the communication patterns of the teenager, the extent of social relations and the unusual behavioral characteristics of the teenager in the environment.
• Autism Children Education Inclusion Policy in Private Schools: Compulsory Enrollment Policy 2011 The following are the main areas will be addressed by the policy: Prohibited Private schools will be prohibited from ignoring the needs of children suffering from autism; they will be compelled by the act to […]
• Autism: Pathogenesis and Intervention Similarly, a person with autism has to be trained on the process of communicating normally and forming a relationship with objects, events and people in their lives.
• The Real Causes of Autism However, the main problem is that this association or correlation does not imply that autism is triggered by a vaccine. This is the main argument that can be put forward.
• Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism The primary subject of this study is applied behavior analysis while the secondary subject is applied behavior analysis and its effects on autism in children.
• Autism. Sensory Integration. Tactile Desensitization The poor development that is recorded at the early stages in life is likely to affect the development of different skills by the individuals even in the adult stages The signs that are associated with […]
• Autism Effect on Children It is crucial to understand the behavior of children with autism in the school set up in order to understand how autism affects children and their social interactions. It is up to the teacher to […]
• Autism and Its Effects on Social Interaction The article “Social Impairment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” identifies the major challenges facing many people with autism. The authors wanted to examine the social problems and difficulties encountered by individuals with Autism Spectrum […]
• Older Dads More Likely to Have Kids With Autism The author highlights autism as one of the main outcomes of late fatherhood following the release of the results of a study involving the counting of the mutations corresponding to a father’s age at the […]
• Evidenced-Based Practice: Autism Management in Children Autism largely is connected to communication abilities of a child, a situation that later results into the child experiencing disability problems in effectively encoding and decoding communicative messages.
• Miami Dance Project for Autistic Children For me, what the Miami dance project represents is in line with what is known as the concept of confidence building wherein through the development of certain talents children with autism will begin to have […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorders and Family Impact One of the greatest fears of a parent with such a child is the fact that such a child would be taken care of until the advanced stages of their lives.
• Program Models in Autism The DTT technique has been designed in such a way as to target the individual behavior of an autistic child using the available curriculum.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Relation to Education Attending to students having ASD in the regular classrooms requires specialized teachers and supplementary staff in order to aid in the realization of the needs of the students having ASD.
• Autism in Saudi Arabia This support may come in the form of modification of the curriculum to cater for the special needs of the autistic children.
• Analysis of Autism Disorder This disorder affects the brain of the child during growth so that it does not develop in the right way thus affecting the social and communication skills of the child. This is especially to the […]
• Psychological Disorders and Their Treatment: An Overview of the Recent Progress and the Current Challenges in Treating Autism in Children In the given paper, the issue of psychological disorders is being addressed in reference to the ideas expressed in Chapter 11 “Psychological Disorders” in Carole Wade and Carol Tavris’s Invitation to Psychology.
• Early Intervention for Young Adults With Autism This is due to unavailability of information on children development stages and the importance of early detection and intervention in the case of autism.
• Different Behaviors in Children With Autism The purpose is to find out whether the co morbidity changes with the environment, and assess the influence that the environment has on the behavior of an autistic child.
• Diagnosis and Treatment for Autism Disorder Children with autism are therefore able to reason and even interpret the feelings of other people but the challenge is to communicate the response to other people.
• Autism: Qualitative Research Design Golafshani continues to argue that the use of the term “dependability” in qualitative studies is a close match to the idea of “reliability” in quantitative research.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder However, the reality is that the number of children with autism and having high intelligence is insignificant. It is apparent that, in autism, a disorder is found in the structure of the brain.
• Vaccines and Autism: A Critical Analysis of Thimerosal in Relation to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella The safety and efficacy of vaccines has been the subject of many studies in the medical field. The disorder was observed in one participant from each of the cohorts in the experiment.
• How to Recognize and Teach Students With Autism If these groups of students have to be given directions that are more than three steps, the directions have to be written down due to their inability to remember sequences.
• Autism and Visual Thought Suprisingly the quality of visual thinking according to Bogdashina is dependent on other factors like time and the state the autistic person is in.
• Autism and Educational Process Owing to these adverse effects that can stem from autism and the shear prevalence of the condition in the country’s population, a lot of research effort has been dedicated to the early diagnosis and treatment […]
• Do Vaccines Cause Autism? Thimerosal is alleged to increase the exposure of mercury in the vaccine to a substantiated high amount. In fact, the amount of antigens between children with autism and without is the same irrespective of the […]
• Language Development Problems in Children: An Indicative Characteristic of Autism This is because it is a time when it is expected that a majority of the kids should be able to talk.
• The Disease of Autism Origin The disorder is one of the new diagnoses of the autism. Other effects of the disorder are constipation and growth failures that may be a problem to the lives of the individual.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Its Impact on the Family Manning, Wainwright and Bennet argue that children with autism are faced with a big challenge because of the nature of the symptoms the disorder.
• Autism’s Teaching Tips for Children and Adults The present description is concerned with the role of teacher in the better management of Autism in children. Further, assessment of the interactive and developmental skills is on of the important component in the teacher […]
• How Christopher’s Autism Affect His Life In spite of the fact that the issue of autism is not clearly explained in the story, the condition of the narrator is referred to as high-functioning autism or Aspersers Syndrome on the cover of […]
• What Are Autism Spectrum Disorders?
• How Does Autism Affect the Person With It and Those Around Them?
• What Are the Barriers of Learning for a Learner With Autism/Aspergers in Performing Arts?
• Does Gluten Effect Children With Autism?
• What Are the Causes of Autism?
• How Does Autism Affect a Child’s Educational Performance?
• What Can Autism Look Like and Things You Can Do to Spot It?
• Can Children With Autism Develop a Theory of Mind?
• Which Interventions Reduce Anxiety in Autistic People?
• What Influence Has the Development of Autism Had on a Diagnosed Individual?
• How Does Autism Affect the Development of a Child?
• Are Huddles the Missing Piece of the Puzzle in Implementing Clinical Innovation for the Eating Disorder and Autism Comorbidity?
• How Does Autism Start?
• Can Mouse Imaging Studies Bring Order to Autism Connectivity Chaos?
• How Does ‘Fake News’ Affect Autism Policy?
• Are There Any Relationships Between Latent Toxoplasma Gondii Infection, Testosterone Elevation, and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Do People With Autism Experience the World?
• Can Robotic Systems Promote Self-Disclosure in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Did the Media Perpetuate the Autism-Vaccine Scare?
• Are There Cultural Differences in Parental Interest in Early Diagnosis and Genetic Risk Assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Can the Therapist Help Autism Children?
• Can Vaccinations Cause Autism?
• Does Autism Spectrum Disorder Affect People All Around the World?
• Is There a Correlation Between Epigenetics and Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Does Autism Affect Regular Brain Functions as Well as Socialization Skills?
• What Can Responses to Music in Autism Tell Us About the Nature of Musical Emotions?
• Why Has the Incidence Rate of Autism Increased?
• What Are the Most Effective Ways to Support/Provide Social Care For Autistic Adults?
• Which Interventions Are Effective in the Development of Communication/Language Skills in Autism?
• How Can Parents and Family Members Be Supported/Educated to Care For and Better Understand an Autistic Relative?
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Autism - List of Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication. Essays could explore the causes, symptoms, and treatment of autism, the experiences of individuals with autism, and societal understanding and acceptance of autism. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of Autism you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Rain Man and Autism

The film Rain man was released into theaters in 1988 and was awarded many awards along with an Academy Award. The movie starts off by showing Charlie who works as a car salesman, attempting to close on a deal involving four Lamborghinis. Charlie decides to drive with his girlfriend Susanna to ensure that this deal goes through. On the drive over Charlie receives a call telling him that his father has just passed away. Charlie and his girlfriend go his […]

Applied Behavior Analysis and its Effects on Autism

Abstract During my research i have found several studies that have been done to support the fact that Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) does in fact make a positive impact on children with Autism through discrete trials. It is based on the thought that when a child is rewarded for a positive behavior or correct social interaction the process will want to be repeated. Eventually one would phase out the reward. Dr Lovaas, who invented this method, has spent his career […]

The Unique Parenting Challenges are Faced by the Parents of Special Children

Introduction For typical children, parenting experiences are shared by other parents whereas the unique parenting challenges are faced by the parents of special children. Mobility and Inclusion of the parents as well as children are affected many a times. Even though careful analysis often reveals abilities, habitual tendency to perceive the disabilities from society’s part often hinders effective normalization and proper rehabilitation. All impose severe identity crisis and role restrictions even in knowledgeable parents.. In some conditions, as in the […]

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Autism in Japanese Manga and its Significance on Current Progression in J-pop Culture

Abstract In this paper I will explore and examine Autism in Manga, the social and cultural context of Autism in Manga, its movement, and importance of Tobe Keiko’s, “With the Light.” Manga is a huge part of Japanese culture and can be appreciated by so many different people. There are different types of Manga that have been specifically produced for that type of audience. In this paper, I will address the less talked about, women’s Manga or also known as […]

Speech Therapist for Autism

Abstract Autism Spectrum Disorder is a condition that consists of various challenges to an individual such as social skills, nonverbal communication, repetitive behaviors and difficulties with speech. So far doctors have not been able to find out what causes autism although it is believed that it involves both environmental and genetic factors. Autism can usually be detected at an early age, therefore giving the patient and therapist an early start to improve their verbal skills. Speech language pathologists also known […]

Virtual Reality in Regards to Health and how it Can be Life-Changing

        Exploring Virtual Reality in Health Diego Leon Professor Ron Frazier October 29, 2018, Introduction When most individuals think of technology involving computers, they think it can solely involve two of the five senses we humans have – vision (sight) and hearing (audition). But what if we could interact with more than two sensorial channels? Virtual reality deals with just that. Virtual reality is defined as a “high-end user interface that involves real-time simulation and interaction through […]

Growing up with Autism

Autism is a profound spectrum disorder; symptoms, as well as severity, range. It is one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in America. For every 68 children born in the United States, 1 is diagnosed with a neurological development disorder that impairs their ability to interact and communicate on what we constitute as normal levels. Autism is multifaceted; it affects the brain development of millions worldwide. Not only are those diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum facing difficulties, but the family members […]

Kids with Autism

In this earth we have many different lifeforms. Animals, plants, insects, and people. Humans have populated the earth all throughout it. Some people are born healthy and some are born will disorders and illnesses and diseases. One of the disorders is Autism. Autism is constantly affecting the people who have it and the people around them all over the world. So what is Autism? Autism is a disorder that impairs the ability for social interaction and communication. It is very […]

My Personal Experience of Getting to Know Asperger’s Syndrome

The beginning of this paper covers the history of Asperger’s Syndrome, followed by an explanation of what Asperger’s is. The history provides detailed insights into Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner, and their relationship to each other. Their work has significantly enriched our understanding of the research surrounding Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. The paper also discusses the process leading to Asperger’s becoming a recognized diagnosis, including the contributions of Lorna Wing and Ulta Frita. Furthermore, it traces Asperger’s entry into the […]

Cultural Stereotypes and Autism Disorder

“It’s the fastest growing developmental disability, autism” (Murray, 2008, p.2). “It is a complex neurological disorder that impedes or prevents effective verbal communication, effective social interaction, and appropriate behavior” (Ennis-Cole, Durodoye, & Harris, 2013). “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong disorder that may have comorbid conditions like attention deficit disorder (ADD)/attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorder, stereotypical and self-stimulatory behaviors, insomnia, intellectual disabilities, obsessive compulsive disorder, seizure disorder/epilepsy, Tourette syndrome, Tic disorders, gastrointestinal problems, and other conditions. Another certainty, […]

Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a cognitive disability that affects a person’s “communication, social, verbal, and motor skills” . The umbrella term of ASD created in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association that covered 5 separate autism diagnosis and combined them into one umbrella term, the previous terms being Autistic Disorder, Rett syndrome, Asperger’s Disorder, Childhood disintegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. The word spectrum in the diagnosis refers to the fact that the disability does not manifest itself in […]

Defining Altruism Issue

In current society, it can be justified that the level of autonomy directly influences the amount of altruism an autistic adolescent implements. Defining Altruism: When it comes to the comprehension of socialization within the development of behaviors in adolescents, altruism is vital. Although there is no true altruism, more or less altruism can be determined based upon the involuntary actions and behaviors of an individual. In the absence of motivation, altruism cannot transpire. An altruist must have the inherent belief […]

911 Telecommunicators Response to Autism

Autism is becoming more prevalent every day. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released new statistics in 2018. Nationally, 1 in 59 children have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and boys are 4 (four) times more likely to have autism than girls. 1 in 37 boys and 1 in 151 girls were found to have autism. These are incredibly high statistics that will affect our communities across the United States We, as Telecommunicators, need to know how to understand and […]

Representation of Autism in the Netflix TV Show “Atypical”

In the first season of the TV show “Atypical”, the viewer meets the Gardner family, a seemingly normal family with an autistic teenage son, Sam, as the focus. This show failed initially to deviate from typical portrayals of autistic people on screens, as a white male, intellectually gifted, and seemingly unrelatable, although it seemed to try. Sam acts in ways that seem almost unbelievable for even someone with autism to, such as when he declares his love for someone else […]

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disorders that challenges a child’s skills in social interaction, communication, and behavior. ASD’s collective signs and symptoms may include: making little eye contact, repetitive behaviors, parallel play, unexplainable temper tantrums, misunderstanding of nonverbal cues, focused interests, and/or sensory overload. Positive symptoms of ASD may reflect above-average intelligence, excellence in math, science, or art, and the ability to learn things in detail. A question that many parent has is whAlthough an individual […]

The Complexity of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex disease that affects the developmental and speech capabilities of adolescents that carries with them to adulthood. It is distinctly apparent when the child is still very young and able to be diagnosed from about a year and a half old onwards. Although the disease cannot be pinpointed to one specific area of the brain, it is believed to stem from a glitchy gene that makes the child more susceptible to developing autism, oxygen deprivation […]

An Overview of the Five Deadly Diseases that Affect the Human Brain

There are hundreds of diseases that affect the brain. Every day, we fight these diseases just as vehemently as they afflict their carriers. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, depression, autism, and strokes are just five of the most lethal and debilitating diseases that afflict human brains. Parkinson's disease alone claims up to 18,000 lives a year (Hagerman 1). But what is it? Parkinson's disease occurs when a brain chemical called dopamine begins to die in a region that facilitates muscle movement. Consequently, […]

Autism Genes: Unveiling the Complexities

“Autism is a brain disorder that typically affects a person’s ability to communicate, form relationships with others and respond appropriately to the environment (www.childdevelopmentinfo.com).” There are different levels of autism. “There is the autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental syndrome (www.asws.org).” According to (www.everydayhealth.com/autism/types), “Each situation is unique as there are many levels and severities of it. Many cases also include sensory difficulties. These can range from imaginary sights and sounds to other sensations.” There are many different characteristics […]

Autism and Assistive Technology for Autistic Children

Autism is a complex neurobehavioral condition that is found in a person from early childhood days where the person faces difficulty in communicating with another person. It is also known as ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is a spectrum disorder because its effect varies from person to person. This is caused due to some changes that happen during early brain development. It is suggested that it may arise from abnormalities in parts of the brain that interpret sensory input […]

The Evolution of Autism Diagnosis: from Misunderstanding to Scientific Approach

Autism has come a long way from the early 1980s when it was rarely diagnosed to today where 100 out 10,000 kids are diagnosed. Autism is defined as a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior (NIMH 2018). There are many aspects surrounding Autism and the underlying effects that play a role in Autism. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, people with Autism have “Difficulty with communication and interaction with other people Restricted interests and repetitive […]

Do Vaccines Cause Autism

In a world of medicines and “mommy bloggers”, there is a controversy between pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers. The vaccination controversy cause an uproar for many people, understandably, it’s very polarized- you strongly believe in them or you strongly do not. For me, at the age of 15, I strongly believe in the Pro-Vaccine movement and I have data that can back me up. For starters, you may wonder ‘what is a vaccine’ or ‘how to do they work’. For a general […]

Autism: Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Understanding

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder has nearly doubled in recent years, and the numbers are staggering: nearly 1 in every 59 children are diagnosed with autism in the United States alone. Yet, there are so many questions surrounding the complexity and increase in diagnoses of this condition that affects so many in such diverse ways. (Autism Speaks) How autism originates in the first place and its impact on communication, both verbal and nonverbal, are questions that need to be […]

Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Positive Effects

 What would it feel like if you were constantly ignored or treated as though you have little usefulness? Many people experience this kind of treatment their entire lives. Long has it been assumed that people with mental disabilities such as Autism, were meant to be cared for but to never expect any value from them. Evil men such as Hitler even went so far as to kill them because he thought they had no use to society. However, there is […]

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders and ADHD

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder that affects communication and behavior, generally diagnosed within the early stages of life. No two individuals living with Autism experience the same symptoms, as the type and severity varies with each case (Holland, 2018.). Autism has been around for hundreds of years, but the definition has evolved immensely. In 1943, scientists Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger conducted research on individuals with social and emotional deficits to better refine the definition […]

Raising a Child with Autism

All impose severe identity crisis and role restrictions even in knowledgeable parents.. In some conditions, as in the case of physical challenges, the child needs physical reassurance and support from the parents against those conditions of cognitive deficits in which the demands are always parent’s constant attention and feedback. As far as autism is concerned, the child’s deficits are many namely social, emotional, communicational, sensual, as well as behavioral. Symptoms are usually identified between one and two years of age. […]

Is Autism a Kind of Brain Damage

Many people have different views about autism. Autism may be only one simple word, but with this one word comes many forms in the way it could affect people with this disability. Autism should not be looked down on as much as this disability is from others in society. It may seem as if it has more “cons” than “pros” as some call them, but if looked at from a better perspective, there could be more pros than cons and […]

Trouble with Social Aspects and People on the Autism Spectrum

Autism in childhood starts as early as age two, and symptoms will become more severe as children continue into elementary school. When a child goes to a psychiatrist, they will work on social development. Adolescence with autism struggle when attempting to project others pain. For example, my brother has Asperger's and when I have a bone graph done on my hand, he could not stop touching my hand. He needed constant reminders to not touch and remind him of when […]

Effects of Autism

When he was eight years old, the parents of Joshua Dushack learned that their son was different. He had been diagnosed with Autism. According to the doctors, Joshua would never be able to read, write, talk, or go to school on his own. This might have been the case, had his parents accepted it. But his mother saw her son as a normal boy, and treated him as such. He did need some extra help in school, but because of […]

How Different Types of Assistive Technology Can Help Children with Autism

I. Introduction An anonymous speaker once said, “some people with Autism may not be able to speak or answer to their name, but they can still hear your words and feel your kindness.” Approximately thirty percent of people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder never learn to speak more than a few words (Forman & Rudy, 2018). Fortunately in today’s society, new technologies have made it possible for these individuals to communicate and socialize with others. Purpose The primary focus of […]

Searching Employment Autism

Over the last 20 years, there has been an alarming increase for children who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the year 2000 1 in 159 children would be diagnosed with ASD. In the latest version of the study, the number has been reduced to 1 in 59 children will be diagnosed with ASD (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). This is a subject that […]

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How To Write an Essay About Autism

Understanding autism.

Before writing an essay about autism, it's essential to understand what autism is and the spectrum of conditions it encompasses. Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a complex developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior. It is characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication. Start your essay by explaining the nature of autism, its symptoms, and the spectrum concept, which acknowledges a range of strengths and challenges experienced by individuals with autism. It's also important to discuss the causes and diagnosis of autism, as well as the common misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding it. This foundational knowledge will set the stage for a more in-depth exploration of the topic.

Developing a Focused Thesis Statement

A strong essay on autism should be centered around a clear, focused thesis statement. This statement should present a specific angle or argument about autism. For example, you might discuss the importance of early intervention and therapy, the representation of autism in media, or the challenges faced by individuals with autism in education and employment. Your thesis will guide the direction of your essay and ensure that your analysis is structured and coherent.

Gathering and Analyzing Data

To support your thesis, gather relevant data and research from credible sources. This might include scientific studies, statistics, reports from autism advocacy organizations, and personal narratives. Analyze this data critically, considering different perspectives and the quality of the evidence. Including a range of viewpoints will strengthen your argument and demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Discussing Implications and Interventions

A significant portion of your essay should be dedicated to discussing the broader implications of autism and potential interventions. This can include the impact of autism on individuals and families, educational strategies, therapeutic approaches, and social support systems. Evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions, drawing on case studies or research findings. Discussing both the successes and challenges in managing and understanding autism will provide a balanced view and demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Concluding the Essay

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points of your discussion and restating your thesis in light of the evidence and examples provided. Your conclusion should tie together your analysis and emphasize the significance of understanding and supporting individuals with autism. You might also want to highlight areas where further research or development is needed or the potential for societal changes to improve the lives of those with autism.

Final Review and Editing

After completing your essay, it's important to review and edit your work. Ensure that your arguments are clearly articulated and supported by evidence. Check for grammatical accuracy and ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next. Consider seeking feedback from peers or experts in the field to refine your essay further. A well-crafted essay on autism will not only inform but also engage readers in considering the complexities of this condition and the collective efforts required to support those affected by it.

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Students on the Spectrum

By  Elizabeth Finnegan and Margaret Finnegan

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For graduating high school seniors who are entering college this fall, it is an exciting time. Possibilities have been opened! Yet now new concerns arise: Have they chosen the right college? Will they thrive?

These are hard questions for any young adult, but for those with autism, the stakes are especially high. A 2015 Autism Speaks report found that only 30 percent of high school graduates with autism ever attend a two- or four-year college, and those that do fare poorly. Research suggests that 80 percent of them never graduate. Furthermore, only 32 percent of high school graduates with autism find paying work within two years of graduating high school. This need not be. Half of all individuals with autism have average or above-average intelligence. They can do the work. The problem is not the students. It’s the colleges.

We come to this issue from an unusual perspective. One of us, Elizabeth, studies at Pasadena City College and has autism. The other, Margaret, teaches at California State University at Los Angeles, and -- in addition to being Elizabeth’s mother -- has worked with students on and off the spectrum. Together, we have seen the many ways that colleges fail students with autism.

Federal legislation, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, mandates that colleges provide reasonable accommodations for disabled students. But common accommodations, such as providing a quiet exam setting, don’t adequately address the problems faced by many students with autism.

As autism scholars Ernst VanBergeijk, Ami Klin and Fred Volkmar note, autism is a social disability. The inherent qualities of autism -- resistance to change, sensitive sensory systems, weakness at reading social cues and a tendency to take language literally -- interfere with communication and social engagement. A quiet exam room will not help students overcome those barriers. The problems students with autism face are more insidious.

Elizabeth, for example, struggles with understanding if professors are being sarcastic or rhetorical. Uncertain, she often responds too much or too little. When one professor expressed frustration at her eager hand raising, she asked privately if he would signal her when he wasn’t being serious or didn’t require a response. “No,” he said. “I don’t need to change my teaching for you, and you need to learn sarcasm.”

It would be easy to regard Elizabeth’s experience as exceptional, the product of one unsympathetic professor. Yet research out of Australia by Ru Ying Cai and Amanda L. Richdale confirms how common such experiences are. In focus groups, autistic college students told story after story about metaphorical or abstract language leading to confusion, as well as loud, active classrooms challenging their abilities to focus on learning. For many, the frustrations became too great, leading to stress, anxiety and regrettable outcomes. However, when students felt their social needs were met -- in particular when faculty members proved willing to modify their teaching style -- students had much more positive experiences.

But American professors are not required to modify their teaching style for disabled students, and colleges are not required to think about the social, communicative needs of any students, let alone those with autism. Those things are not considered reasonable accommodations. But if autism is indeed a social disability, then denying the social needs of autistic students is inherently unreasonable.

It would help if faculty members understood how autism affects learning. But professors are busy. They juggle many demands, and professional development is often low on their to-do lists. At Margaret’s university -- which houses an outstanding center for teaching and learning development -- professional development seminars are often poorly attended, especially those focused on helping students with special needs. At one seminar on working with hearing-impaired students, Margaret was one of three instructors to show up, and if our conversations with colleagues and peers are indicative, then Margaret’s experience is a common one. Even when given the opportunity to learn more about the needs of disabled students, professors turn those choices down.

Some positive changes are underway. More than 100 colleges now offer programs for students with autism, but most of them are private, expensive, residential programs. Meanwhile, research suggests that up to 80 percent of college students with autism at one point filter through community colleges , where students, often still highly dependent on family support, can live at home. Those institutions generally offer fewer resources for students with autism. If we are to meet the needs of neurodiverse students, public community colleges will need to lead the way.

In these days when most community college disability offices are underfunded -- Elizabeth’s community college does not even provide note takers  -- meeting the needs of students with autism may seem daunting. But meaningful institutional changes do not need to strain budgets. For Elizabeth, the greatest support has often come from students who have chosen to act as social interpreters. A whispered word or two is often all she needs to better and more appropriately engage with her curriculum. Colleges like California State University at Fullerton already have mentorship programs that pair neurotypical and neuroatypical classmates.

We recommend expanding such programs so that peer mentors -- perhaps those offered the coveted privilege of priority registration -- work side by side with autistic students in the classroom. Of course, that brings us back to the privacy concerns voiced earlier. Peer mentors can only work with students who are willing to self-identify in the classroom as having autism, which is why autistic students themselves must also be involved in making campuses more responsive to their needs -- and that will only happen when students with autism bring neurodiversity into conversations about campus diversity.

Until that happens, faculty can do a lot to foster feelings of safety and inclusion for all students -- both with autism and without. Elizabeth advocates for simple kindness, acceptance and the understanding that some disabilities are invisible. In Margaret’s classes, she announces on day one that students registered with the school’s disability office should feel free to talk to her about not just the accommodations they may legally require but also about other things she can do to make her courses work for them. She shares -- with Elizabeth’s permission -- the struggles Elizabeth has faced in education, and she urges students to see her as someone who really wants to help them succeed.

Work by Nicholas Gelbar, Isaac Smith and Brian Reichow offers faculty members other suggestions for helping students on the spectrum: incorporate universal design into curriculum and assignments. As much as possible, use concrete language in both lectures and the syllabus. Break tasks down into more steps, provide greater organizational support, realize that group work, public speaking and active classrooms (such popular buzzwords in today’s curricular development) may offer particular challenges for students who struggle socially and who do not thrive in environments demanding rapid transitions. In other words, when dealing with students whose disability makes flexibility extremely difficult, faculty members must be the flexible ones. They must also take responsibility for educating themselves about neurodiversity, and if that seems too hard, they can do one last thing. They can defer to autistic students who do understand their own needs, and they can give those students the support they ask for.

One thing is undeniable: without significant changes, the traditional gateway to greater community inclusion and financial security will remain closed to people with autism. And that’s a tragedy, because those with autism have a lot to offer -- not just to our colleges, but also to our nation’s economy. We all win when everyone can compete and contribute.

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Improving the Written Expression of Children with ASD

• By: Kristie Asaro-Saddler, PhD University at Albany
• January 1st, 2013
• children , students , writing
• 14585    1

Writing has become an increasingly important element across curricular areas. However, many young children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), struggle with this key literacy skill. While it has […]

Writing has become an increasingly important element across curricular areas. However, many young children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), struggle with this key literacy skill. While it has been well-documented that many children with ASD have handwriting deficits, difficulties in the writing process, including planning, content generation, and revising text, are also pervasive. Therefore, it is essential to examine the writing of children with ASD, determine how their characteristics impact their writing ability, and discuss how parents and teachers may foster improvement in writing outcomes.

Writing is a foundational skill that can support and extend student learning across the curriculum. It allows the sharing of opinions, the demonstration of critical thinking skills, and the display of content knowledge. Writing is critical for school success, as it is the primary means by which students demonstrate their knowledge in school, and the major instrument that teachers use to evaluate academic performance (Graham & Harris, 2005). Beyond school, students need to be able to write well to succeed in society and to obtain and maintain employment.

Writing presents a unique challenge, as it requires putting thoughts on paper in such a way as to transmit a message to another person who may not have knowledge of what you are writing. While developing these thoughts, writers must coordinate the processes of planning, text production, and revision, while also self-monitoring their work. In addition, they must consider the conventions of the language, and the constraints of the topic and the genre, along with the audience needs and perspectives.

  Why Writing is Difficult for Children with ASD

Deficits in writing have been well-documented in ASD research. In one study (Mayes & Calhoun, 2008), for example, 63% of students diagnosed with ASD also exhibited a writing disability. It can be difficult for these students to think of ideas, organize their writing, and physically write their ideas. So what is it that makes writing so difficult for children with ASD?

Children with ASD characteristically exhibit a range of impairments that make written expression difficult. Among these characteristics are:

• An inability to use imagination, engage in abstract thinking, consider perspectives of others, and imagine future events or possible scenarios (Harbinson & Alexander, 2009; Myles, 2005; Myles & Simpson, 2001). These characteristics can lead to a literal interpretation of a writing task and an inability to comprehend or use metaphors, idioms, or rhetorical questions, and may hinder the exploration of counter-arguments and various perspectives.
• Deficits in theory of mind, or the ability to take another’s perspective or believe that others think differently from you (McCoy, 2011), which makes it difficult for students with ASD to recognize that their work will be read by someone else with different views and opinions. This unawareness of an “absent audience” may result in writings that are not well-developed, or that lack elaboration.
• Weak central coherence, or a tendency to focus on small details, which can lead to an inability to understand context or see the “big picture,” causing difficulty with distinguishing important from unimportant details.
• Deficits in the areas of language and communication, which make compiling, expressing, and recording thoughts a challenge, resulting in a composition that lacks a clear, central focus, or that is poorly organized.
• Motor/coordination issues that can contribute to difficulty with handwriting and composing, resulting in brief writings that students are unwilling to revise or elaborate because it is physically “too difficult.”
• Deficits in several executive function components, including planning, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and self-monitoring (Hill, 2004), which directly impact an individual’s ability to maintaining his/her focus on the process of developing a main idea and details to support the topic, and to encourage engagement and continuous motivation throughout the writing process.

How Can You Help?

  There are several steps that parents and teachers can take to help students with ASD improve their writing skills and allow them to be more successful in school and in their everyday functioning. Here are five simple tips that you can use to help increase the motivation and written performance of children with ASD:

Make the environment conducive to writing. The home or classroom environment can impact a child’s willingness to write. Be sure that the lighting and noise level are acceptable for your child, given his/her sensory needs. Surround the child in a print-rich environment by posting model letters, book reviews, and other types of writing around the home or classroom. Teachers and parents may also consider providing alternatives to the typical pencil and paper. Vary writing implements to include items such as markers, stamps, stickers and magnetic letters, and allow students to work in a comfortable setting for them, as long as it is appropriate for writing (i.e. has a flat surface).

Create an audience and purpose. Since deficits in theory of mind my impact children with ASD’s ability to write for an absent audience, it is helpful to create an audience for them. It is beneficial for students to know before beginning the writing process that there will be an authentic audience, besides just their parent or teacher, viewing their writing. Different genres of writing offer different options of potential audiences. For example, persuasive letters can be written to a principal, a parent, or the head of a company, whereas fictional stories can be written and shared with younger siblings or students in younger grades. Online blogs for people with ASD provide a natural context for writing, in addition to social and emotional support, and may be used by young adults with ASD and younger students who are supervised by parents or teachers.

Use interests and fascination . In school, students must eventually learn to write in response to a prompt their teacher gives them. However, in order to increase students’ motivation and fluency with writing, it may help to allow them to start writing about things in which they are interested. These are topics in which children usually have a desire to share information, along with a great deal of background knowledge. For example, a child with ASD who has an interest in digital cameras may write a “how-to” piece about how to take a picture with a digital camera, or a child with a fascination with trains may write a persuasive piece on why trains are a better method of transportation than cars.

Provide supports. Students with ASD may require various types of supports in the classroom or at home. Graphic organizers and semantic maps (visual tools designed to organize thoughts and represent relationships between them) may aid in the planning process (Sansoti, Powell-Smith & Cohan, 2010). Framed paragraphs, which are partially completed paragraphs with a number of blanks strategically placed for the student to fill in, may also be used to scaffold students’ writing (Kluth & Chandler-Olcott, 2008), along with word banks or drawings/pictures (Hillock, 2011) and story starters, which provide a statement to start the story, such as, “I went for a walk in the woods and I found…” that the student has to continue. Siblings or other students in the class can also act as a support for children with ASD through scribing (writing down what the student says aloud) or shared writing, where students take turns making a contribution to the written product. Peers can also help students with the revising process after their first drafts have been completed.

Use technology. Sometimes the physical act of writing makes it difficult for children with ASD to create written products. Allowing the students to use a keyboard or speech-to-text software may reduce the physical burden and allow students to express themselves in another way. Technology can also be used to help children organize their writing. Software programs such as Kidspiration® and Inspiration® and iPad apps such as Popplet™ for example, can be used in the planning stages to help students organize their thoughts before beginning to write.

While writing can be a challenge for many students with ASD, providing support may prove beneficial. The basic tips offered here can help increase students’ motivation to write, resulting in more frequent writing with less resistance, and ultimately, better written products.

Kristie Asaro-Saddler, PhD is Assistant Professor of Special Education at The University at Albany. For more information, please contact Dr. Asaro-Saddler at [email protected] or visit www.albany.edu/special_education .

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Writing better: Teaching writing processes and self-regulation to students with learning problems . Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Harbinson, H., & Alexander, J. (2009). Asperger Syndrome and the English curriculum: Addressing the challenges. Support for Learning, 24 , 10-17.

Hill, E. L. (2004). Evaluating the theory of executive dysfunction in autism. Developmental Review, 24 , 189-233.

Hillock, J. (2011). Written expression: Why is it difficult and what can be done? In K. McCoy (Ed). Autism from the teacher’s perspective . Denver: Love Publishing Company.

Kluth, P., & Chandler-Olcott, K. (2008). A land we can share . Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing.

Mayes, S., & Calhoun, S. L. (2008). WISC-IV and WIAT-II profiles in children with high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38 , 428–439.

McCoy, K. M. (2011). Autism from the teacher’s perspective: Strategies for classroom instruction. Denver: Love Publishing Co.

Myles, B. S. (2005). Children and youth with Asperger syndrome . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Myles, B. S., & Simpson, R. L. (2001) Effective practices for students with Asperger Syndrome. Focus on Exceptional Children, 34 , 1-14.

Sansoti, F., Powell-Smith, K., & Cohan, R. (2010). High-functioning Autism/Asperger syndrome in schools: Assessment and intervention . New York: Guilford Press

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Reading and Writing Skills in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Disability

Inmaculada baixauli.

1 Occupational Sciences, Speech Language Therapy, Developmental and Educational Psychology Department, Catholic University of Valencia, Campus Capacitas, Valencia, Spain

Belen Rosello

2 Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Carmen Berenguer

Montserrat téllez de meneses.

3 Neuropediatrics Section, Hospital la Fe de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Ana Miranda

Associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge about academic achievement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To this end, first, we analyzed differences in a wide range of reading and writing skills in adolescents with ASD without intellectual disability (ASD-WID) and adolescents with typical development (TD). Second, these two groups were compared on academic outcomes in core subjects and indicators of successful transition to secondary school. Third, the potential contribution of literacy skills to academic outcomes was examined in the two groups. Participants were 56 adolescents between 12 and 14 years old, 30 with ASD-WID and 26 with TD. Results showed no significant differences between the two groups on measures of reading fluency or literal and inferential comprehension. However, the performance of the group with ASD was significantly lower on reading comprehension processes that assess cognitive flexibility. Regarding their written expression skills, significant differences were observed between the group with ASD and the group with TD on most of the indicators analyzed as: productivity, lexical diversity, and overall coherence (resolution component). In addition, findings showed that the deficits in reading and writing observed in the adolescents with ASD significantly affected their academic achievement, which was lower than that of their peers with TD and below what would be expected based on their intellectual capacity. Moreover, their families’ perceptions of the transition to high school reflected worse adjustment and lower self-esteem, confidence, and motivation.

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent difficulties in communication and social interactions, along with restricted interests and the presence of repetitive behaviors ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). A key factor in the development of people with ASD is academic achievement, which undoubtedly contributes to access to employment opportunities and independent living. The inclusion of students with ASD in regular classrooms is a growing reality, and so it is necessary to analyze the factors that influence their educational performance.

Despite the relevance of this topic, research on the academic profile of students with ASD is limited, particularly in the adolescent stage or during the transition to secondary school. This is a complex period when important developmental changes occur, and it is characterized by greater academic and social demands. The inherent characteristics of ASD, such as difficulties in social communication, resistance to change, sensory hypersensitivity, or intolerance to uncertainty, make these students a particularly vulnerable population in this developmental period. In fact, anxiety, social pressure, and bullying have been found to be significant challenges for adolescents with ASD ( Nuske et al., 2018 ), who report negative experiences in this academic transition phase ( Makin et al., 2017 ). Therefore, identifying the variables that influence school performance and contribute to successful transition to secondary school should be a major research objective.

To date, studies that have attempted to analyze the academic performance of students with ASD have generally referred a variable performance, which is consistent with the disorder’s heterogeneity ( Keen et al., 2016 ). To account for this variability, studies have tried to establish different performance profiles in children and adolescents with diverse cognitive abilities. Thus, Wei et al. (2014) identified four distinct profiles based on five measures of academic achievement (word identification, rapid letter naming, passage comprehension, applied problems, and calculation). These profiles were the following: higher-achieving (39%, who have scored around the national average on most of the measures), hyperlexia (9%, who do well on decoding but with poor comprehension), hypercalculia (20%, with scores close to the national average on calculation skills, but significantly below average on the other four dimensions), and lower-achieving (32%, children who scored about two standard deviations below the mean on all five indicators). The higher-achieving and hyperlexia subgroups had significantly better functional cognitive skills and came from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

Following a similar approach, Chen et al. (2019) , in a sample 7–14 years old participants with ASD with varied intelligence levels, could determine two distinct groups, low-achievement ASD and high-achievement ASD, based on their performance on four measures taken from the WIAT-II ( Weschler, 2001 ): numerical operations, mathematical reasoning, word reading, and reading comprehension. These differences were especially pronounced in the area of mathematics. As in the study by Wei et al. (2014) , the low-achievement subgroup scores were consistent with the intellectual capacity and other cognitive processes, such as working memory.

However, despite the expected relationship between cognitive ability and academic performance, other studies have identified discrepancies in this regard. Jones et al. (2009) found that approximately 70% of adolescents with ASD from 14 to 16 years old with different cognitive levels had a significant divergence between intellectual ability and one or more achievement domains. They described four subgroups in which either word reading (“reading peak” and “reading dip”) or arithmetic (“arithmetic peak” and “arithmetic dip”) was higher or lower than the WASI Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ; Wechsler, 1999 ). Estes et al. (2011) identified these same differences in a sample of 30 children with ASD without intellectual disabilities. In 60% of them, a significantly lower achievement was found than what was predicted by their cognitive ability, in at least one of the domains analyzed (spelling, word reading, or basic number skills).

In conclusion, students with ASD present an irregular performance profile where intelligence plays an important role, although the research is not consistent in this regard. However, it is clear that many children and adolescents with ASD perform below what would be expected based on their intellectual capacity. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the areas of vulnerability and the factors involved in this low performance, in order to plan more appropriate and effective interventions. Certainly, in the school context, reading and writing are crucial instrumental skills and the basis for success in different curricular areas, and they have important implications throughout life, not only academically, but also socially and occupationally.

Reading Difficulties in ASD

Reading is a complex skill involving the orchestration of different components. From an overall perspective, two major processes may be distinguished as: decoding and comprehension. Decoding refers to the transformation of written words (graphemes) into phonological representations. Comprehension processes refer to the extraction of meaning from the written text. Specifically, and according to one of the most known models of reading, the Simple View of Reading Model ( Hoover and Gough, 1990 ), reading comprehension is the product of decoding skills and linguistic comprehension.

Many studies have found that people with ASD without intellectual disabilities (ASD-WID) have strengths in decoding skills, compared to their reading comprehension performance. Thus, in general, students with ASD-WID seem to master mechanisms involved in automatic word recognition, in contrast to their reading comprehension performance ( Jones et al., 2009 ; Norbury and Nation, 2011 ; Solari et al., 2017 ), which is below expectations for their chronological age or reading accuracy level ( Brown et al., 2013 ). To explain this discrepancy, good memory skills have been cited, as well as phonological and visual processing skills, which would contribute to adequate recognition of the written word.

As in the case of academic performance, the variability in reading skills has led studies to identify reading profiles in samples of children and adolescents with ASD. In a longitudinal and retrospective study, Åsberg et al. (2019) were able to determine three subgroups. A first subgroup, with “low reading performance,” which was the most frequent profile (approximately 50% of the participants), had below-average scores on both word reading and text comprehension. A second subgroup, made up of “skilled readers,” performed above average on both reading processes. Finally, the third subgroup was the least common (20%), and it was composed of “hyperlexical/low understanding” participants. Following a similar approach, namely latent profile analysis, McIntyre et al. (2017) found four different profiles in a sample of students with high-functioning autism from 8 to 16 years old: (1) readers with overall disturbance (32.2%), i.e., alterations in the decoding and comprehension processes; (2) readers with severe overall disturbance (14.1%); (3) readers with comprehension problems (20.6%); and (4) average readers (32.1%). In other words, approximately 70% of the participants experienced reading impairments, and of them, the majority had comprehension problems. Other studies using a cluster analysis methodology have also found lower reading comprehension scores than word reading scores, even in high-achieving subgroups of students with ASD ( Chen et al., 2019 ).

To determine the factors moderating reading comprehension performance in students with ASD, Brown et al. (2013) conducted a meta-analysis of 36 studies comparing ASD and control groups. The strongest individual predictors of reading comprehension were semantic knowledge and decoding skills. The study results highlight the contribution of oral language to reading comprehension, as well as the content of the texts, because individuals with ASD were significantly worse at comprehending highly social texts than less social texts.

In sum, decoding skills, language level, and text characteristics and content are variables to take into account when analyzing the reading comprehension difficulties of students with ASD. Other factors to consider are the development of comprehension strategies during reading ( Williamson et al., 2012 ) or the type of comprehension assessed (literal versus inferential) because students with ASD have shown greater difficulty with inferential comprehension processes ( Tirado and Saldaña, 2016 ). In addition to classical predictors, other cognitive factors may help us understand why students with ASD struggle with reading comprehension. Research in typical children has suggested that cognitive flexibility is positively associated with reading ( Yeniad et al., 2013 ). Cognitive flexibility requires the interaction of several mechanisms (attention shifting, conflict monitoring, and perception) that respond to specific environmental demands, such as rule changes, in order to achieve flexible behavior and to solve the problem in a new way ( Ionescu, 2012 ). Precisely, cognitive flexibility is one of the most significant affected executive function in the majority of children and adolescents with high-functioning ASD ( Lai et al., 2017 ). Therefore, it seems logical to expect that they have difficulties in deploying flexible strategies for accomplishing reading tasks.

Writing Difficulties in ASD

Similar to reading ability, good writing skills are crucial to academic and professional success. In addition, with the growing prevalence of online communication and social networks, the written expression has become a common means of daily interaction between people. Writing represents a major challenge for students with ASD. According to data provided by Mayes and Calhoun (2006) , -in a study with children and adolescents with heterogeneous IQ levels-, approximately 60% of students with ASD present some type of specific difficulty in learning to write.

Most of our understanding of the writing process has been based on the recursive and multi-layered model developed by Hayes and Flower (1980) and Hayes (2006) , which is composed of three main processes: (1) the planning process , directed to prepare the content of the text by retrieving ideas from memory and organizing them; (2) the translation process , which includes the grammatical and orthographical encoding, and the motor execution actions involved in handwriting; and (3) the revision process that allows writers to compare the written product with their mental representation of the intended text. Research on writing difficulties in ASD has mainly focused on the planning and translation processes. A meta-analysis found significantly worse performance of ASD students on several components of writing, related to the translation process (length, legibility, size, speed, and spelling) and to some indicators of the planning process, such as text structure ( Finnegan and Accardo, 2018 ). Likewise, a more recent study has demonstrated that children with ASD-WID write personal narrative texts that obtain lower ratings in holistic assessments of coherence, structure, and content, and have less lexical and syntactic complexity, in comparison with children with TD ( Hilvert et al., 2020 ). Moreover, fine motor and visuomotor speed problems ( Kushki et al., 2011 ) may often result in illegible or brief writing ( Fuentes et al., 2009 ).

Written expression difficulties of students with ASD have been found not only in narrative discourse, but also in expository and persuasive texts ( Brown et al., 2014 ; Price et al., 2020 ). In addition, their essays contain more grammatical errors and present less syntactic diversity and complexity, although they can achieve a lexical richness and coherence comparable to their peers with TD ( Hilvert et al., 2019 ).

In summary, variability is the trait that characterizes the academic performance and reading and writing abilities of students with ASD, which is linked to variables, such as intellectual ability, language level, the type of processes involved, and the characteristics of the tasks used to assess reading and writing. In any case, as students progress through the education system, there is a greater emphasis upon reading comprehension and writing expression which gives students access to school curriculum with more autonomy. The transition from primary to secondary school is one important and educational challenge. Research about the experience of young people with autism has identified a number of areas in which they may experience particular concerns compared to their TD peers, including structural/organizational and social demands. Secondary schools tend to be large, with different teachers for different subjects that students need to adapt to Maras and Aveling, (2006) . Furthermore, social complexity about forming relationships with a new peer group increases anxieties as well as academic demands of independence ( Tobin et al., 2012 ; Mandy et al., 2016 ). Our research focuses on the period of adolescence, a stage less studied in the literature, in particular, in the transition from primary to secondary school, an especially demanding challenge for individuals with ASD. Therefore, a measure of transition to secondary education of individuals with ASD without ID was included.

Consequently, the present study seeks to advance the knowledge about the reading and writing performance of students with ASD in several ways. First, there is a paucity of research on studying the relationships between reading and skills and school achievement in individuals with ASD. Second, it is carried out in Spanish, a language with a transparent spelling characterized by a series of phonological and orthographical specificities that can impact psycholinguistic processing. Third, different comprehension processes (literal and inferential) are considered, using, in addition, a reading-specific measure that requires cognitive flexibility. To the best of our knowledge, this measure has not been employed in the previous investigations assessing reading comprehension in ASD. Based on these considerations, the following objectives were addressed as follows:

• to analyze differences in a wide range of reading and writing skills between adolescents with ASD-WID and adolescents with TD;
• to analyze differences in academic outcomes in core subjects and on indicators of successful transition to secondary school between adolescents with ASD-WID and adolescents with TD; and
• to explore the potential contribution of reading and writing skills to academic outcomes in both groups, adolescents with ASD-WID and TD.

According to the literature review, it is expected to find similar results in both groups in reading accuracy and fluency. However, significant lower results are hypothesized in participants with ASD-WID regarding indicators of written expression and reading comprehension tasks tapping inferential and cognitive flexibility processes. Likewise, it is predicted that participants with ASD will obtain lower academic outcomes, as well as worse results in indicators of successful transition to secondary education. Given the prominent role that reading and writing play on school outcomes, it is anticipated that both instrumental skills will have a considerable weight in academic performance, both in the group with TD and in the group with ASD-WID.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

The present study included 56 adolescents between 12 and 14 years old, of whom 30 were adolescents with ASD-WID (28 males) and 26 were adolescents with typical development (TD; 17 males). The participants had an intellectual functioning within the limits of normality on the K-BIT ( Kaufman and Kaufman, 2000 ).

The group of adolescents with ASD-WID had received a previous clinical diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition by the Psychiatry and Child Neurology services in hospitals and medical centers in the Valencian community at ages ranging between 2 years and 11 months and 6 years old. According to the protocol for the ASD diagnosis, the criteria for ASD from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ), the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R; Rutter et al., 2006 ), and/or the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-WPS (ADOS-WPS; Lord et al., 1999 ) were administered by a multidisciplinary team. In order to confirm the ASD diagnosis for the present study, the Social Communication Questionnaire ( Rutter et al., 2003 ) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R; Rutter et al., 2006 ) were administered, taking into account the recommended cutoff points. The results appear in Table 1 . These two instruments were administered to the parents by a clinical psychologist from the research team who had been accredited in their application. Likewise, all the adolescents met the strict diagnostic criteria for ASD from the fifth edition of the DSM-5 ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), based on information provided by teachers and parents. Both informants, in interviews with a clinical psychologist, rated the severity of the criteria in the two ASD dimensions on scales ranging from 0 to 3 points (0 represents “almost never,” 1 represents “sometimes,” 2 represents “often,” and 3 represents “many times”).

Socio-demographic characteristics.

Parental education measured as highest level of mother or father (0 = elementary school, 1 = Compulsory secondary school, 2 = Medium level vocational training, 3 = Upper secondary education (High School) or Superior level vocational training, and 4 = University degree). Repeat grade in S (Secondary), ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised), ADI-R A (Qualitative alterations in the reciprocal social interaction), ADI-R B (Qualitative Alterations in Communication), ADI-R C (Restrictive and Stereotyped Behaviors), and SCQ (Social Communication Questionnaire) .

The majority of the adolescents with ASD had educational support at school. Specifically, seven adolescents with ASD (23.33%) were attending school in regular classrooms full time without educational support; nine adolescents (30.00%) attended regular classrooms but received educational support for their specific needs in the high school; and finally, 14 adolescents (46.66%) were placed in the communication and language classroom modality. Furthermore, 11 (36.66%) adolescents with ASD were taking antipsychotic medication (mostly risperidone) for behavioral problems.

The typically developing adolescents had no history of psychopathology or referral to pediatric mental health units (USMI), according to the information found in the school records, and they did not meet DSM-5 criteria for ASD on the screening carried out before beginning the evaluation. None of them were taking any psychoactive medication.

The exclusion criteria for the adolescents who participated in this study were evaluated through an extensive anamnesis carried out with the families. They included neurological or genetic diseases, brain lesions, sensory, auditory, or motor deficits, and an IQ below 80 (see Table 1 ).

The assessment measures were selected based on the objectives of this study. In addition, criteria, such as the psychometric properties of the measures, were taken into account, as well as their translation and adaptation to Spanish.

Reading Skills

The assessment of lexical and semantic reading processes was carried out through two tasks from the PROLEC-SE battery ( Evaluation of Reading Processes for Secondary Education Students ; Ramos and Cuetos, 1999 ). Furthermore, a subtest of the TLC Test ( Leer para Comprender; Reading for understanding ) was also administered ( Abusamra et al., 2010 ).

Lexical Processes Measures

Reading accuracy and reading fluency were assessed through the reading of 40 Spanish words that vary in length, frequency of use, and the complexity of their syllabic structure (i.e., high and low frequency, short and long words). The total accuracy score is obtained by adding up the words read correctly. To obtain the reading speed score, the time spent reading the complete list of 40 words is recorded. In our study reliability index of this measure, Cronbach’s alpha is 0.74.

Reading Comprehension Measures

Semantic processes were assessed using one of the tasks proposed in the semantic block of the PROLEC-SE battery. The task required silently reading two expository texts: “The Eskimos” and “The Australian Papuans.” After each text is read silently, the text is removed, and the participant has to answer 10 questions. Five questions are literal and can be answered from memory and five questions are inferential; that is, they can only be answered if the participant has understood the text and can make the appropriate inferences. Each correct answer receives 1 point. The total score is obtained by adding up the total number of correct answers on each text.

In this research, we use the direct scores. High direct scores on reading accuracy and comprehension and low scores on reading speed indicate better reading performance. The psychometric properties of the PROLEC-SE battery are adequate. For the reliability index, Cronbach’s alpha is 0.84 ( Ramos and Cuetos, 1999 ). In this study, α coefficients for the subscales used were 0.63 (literal comprehension), 0.68 (inferential comprehension), and 0.73 (total comprehension).

Moreover, to assess cognitive flexibility in the reading comprehension process, the “Mental flexibility” subtest from the Read to Understand Test (TLC) was administered ( Abusamra et al., 2010 ). In this subtest, instructions are given that involve different ways to approach the reading of a text, and, subsequently, the reader’s awareness of the strategies used is evaluated. Therefore, part of the evaluation is declarative because the student “tells what s/he does” to solve the task. This test assesses, for example, whether the student knows that, in some cases, a superficial understanding of the text is possible (specifically, on tasks, such as searching for five nouns in a paragraph), whereas in other cases, a deeper understanding is necessary. That is, it is not always necessary to pay attention to the meaning of words, sentences, and paragraphs in order to perform certain activities that focus exclusively on grammatical, syntactic, or stylistic aspects, or when searching for a specific piece of information. This test evaluates this type of metacognitive process, which is related to cognitive flexibility, that is, the ability to focus on the reading comprehension process by selecting appropriate strategies. This aspect of metacognition is defined as the ability to cope with a task by selecting the right strategies and modifying cognitive processes in response to changes: to shift attentional focus, select information to guide and choose necessary responses, form plans, and generate monitoring ( Abusamra et al., 2010 ). The test has psychometric properties, such as concurrent validity and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79). α coefficient for this test in our sample is 0.66.

Written Expression

To obtain the spontaneous writing sample, the “Birthday” sheet from the Test of Written Language, fourth edition, was used (TOWL-4; Hammill and Larsen, 2009 ). The participants were given a blank sheet of paper and a pen and the following instruction: “Write a story about the events and activities shown in the picture.” They were given as much time as necessary to complete the written compositions, which were then transcribed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller and Iglesias, 2010 ). All the texts were coded on variables that assessed productivity, syntactic complexity, and overall coherence. An independent research assistant was trained in the measures coding during two sessions in a seminar of 5 h. In these sessions, the variables considered were defined and explained and the analysis was practiced on written samples. The research assistant was blind to the goal of the study and did not know the membership group of the texts (ASD or TD). For the reliability check, after the training sessions, the evaluators analyzed approximately 80% of the writings from each group (40 in all), which were randomly selected.

Productivity

Children’s productivity, or fluency, was measured as the total number of words in the text. Automated SALT analyses provided information about this variable.

Syntactic Complexity

Syntactic complexity was measured as the diversity of complex syntax ( Hilvert et al., 2019 ). This variable was determined by counting the number of different types of complex syntactic devices employed within the text: substantive subordinate clauses, adverbial subordinate clauses, relative subordinate clauses, and coordinated clauses. For the presence of each type of syntactic relationship, 1 point was awarded, with a maximum score of 4. In order to calculate inter-rater reliability, the formula proposed by Sackett (1978) was used (number of agreements divided by the number of agreements plus disagreements, x 100). The agreement was 90% for the substantive subordinate clauses, 100% for the adverbial subordinate clauses, 100% for the relative subordinate clauses, and 100% for the coordinated clauses. All disagreements were resolved by discussion.

Global Coherence

To assess the overall coherence of the compositions, the coding system proposed by Barnes and Baron-Cohen (2012) was followed. This system is specially addressed to capture how the story components are included. In this way, it can be identified if there is a cognitive style focused on details at the expense of globality, as the weak central coherence theory states. Thus, the texts were coded on a scale from 0 to 2 for each of the four different elements of the story: (1) setting (where the story takes place); (2) character (who the story is about); (3) conflict (what the story is about); and (4) resolution (how the story ends).

A score of 0 indicates that no information is provided about the element in question; a score of 1 indicates that the composition provides one or more details about the element, but the overall idea of the scene is not captured; and a score of 2 indicates that the narrative provides a well-founded and fully developed view of the corresponding element. With regard to the characters, a score of 0 is awarded if either of the story’s characters is not mentioned, and 1 point if the characters are mentioned, but without defining their relationship to each other or their role in the scene. For conflict, a score of 0 is assigned if the character’s desires or goals are not identified; a score of 1 if a character is defined as wanting something, but without mentioning an obstacle to that goal; and a score of 2 if both a goal and an obstacle to the character achieving that goal are established. Finally, in relation to the resolution component, 0 points are assigned when what happened at the end of the conflict is not mentioned; 1 point if an action that took place at the end of the scene is mentioned; and 2 points if an ending action is described and that action is linked to the overall theme of the scene.

According to the formula proposed by Sackett (1978) , the inter-rater reliability of these measures was as follows: in the case of the setting, 100% agreement was reached; for character, 100% agreement; for conflict, 97% agreement; and for resolution, 98% agreement. All disagreements were resolved by discussion.

Academic Results

Academic results were reported by parents and/or primary caregivers from the last math, language, and social science evaluation. The numerical range used in the Spanish educational system is from 0 to 10, where 0 is the minimum academic grade and 10 is the maximum.

Transition to Secondary Education

Parents filled out a questionnaire derived from a large scale, national transitions study, the Effective Preschool, Primary, and Secondary Education (EPPSE) transitions substudy ( Evangelou et al., 2008 ), used in Makin et al. (2017) to provide an index of “transition success.” Evangelou et al. (2008) defined “successful transition” as a multidimensional construct composed of five underlying factors: developing friendships and confidence, settling into school life, showing a growing interest in school and work, getting used to new routines, and experiencing curriculum continuity.

Parents had to answer six questions related to three of the five factors. Regarding the “developing friendships and confidence” dimension, parents were asked whether, compared to the last year in primary school, their child has more (3 points), the same number (2 points), or fewer (1 point) school friends, as well as more, the same, or less self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. The same scoring system was used in the “experiencing curriculum continuity” dimension, which was assessed by asking parents whether, compared to the last year in primary school, their child shows more, the same, or less interest in school and schoolwork. Regarding the adaptation to school life, parents were asked how they thought their child had settled in (very well, 4 points; quite well, 3 points; not very well, 2 points; and not well at all, 1 point). They were also asked how satisfied they were with the whole process of their child’s transition to secondary school (from very satisfied, 4 points and to not at all satisfied, 1 point), how they felt when their child first moved on to secondary school, and how they feel now (from not at all concerned, 4 points and to very concerned, 1 point). The index of internal consistency Cronbach’s alpha for this questionnaire in our sample is 0.91.

This research was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Valencia, which is regulated by the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (Declaration of Helsinki 1964; World Medical Association General Assembly, 2013 ). Likewise, the authors received authorization from the Board of Education of the Valencian Government to access the schools and locate the participants.

The evaluation was carried out in the high schools where the adolescents were enrolled, in specially prepared spaces that met optimal conditions for psychoeducational assessment. The informed oral and written consent of the parents of all the participants was also obtained after informing them about the research proposal. The different measures were administered to all the adolescents individually by trained examiners. The parents (mostly mothers) provided information about the adolescent’s transition to secondary education, ASD symptoms, and socio-demographic data.

Data Analyses

This paper presents a descriptive cross-sectional study of comparison between a group of adolescents with ASD and a group of adolescents with typical development.

The statistical analyses were performed with the statistical program for the social sciences SPSS v 26.0 (SPSS). Preliminary analyses checked all data for multicollinearity and multivariate outliers. The asymmetry and kurtosis data indicate that most of the variables followed a normal distribution (all values between −1 and 1). Variables that did not show a normal distribution were transformed using square-root transformation (coherence setting and coherence character). To compare the reading/writing skill, academic results, and successful transition to secondary school of ASD-WID and TD, Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used. The data set was examined for violations of essential assumptions associated with the application of MANCOVA. Pearson correlations between all dependent variables pairs and dependent variable-covariate pairs suggested statistically significant linear relationships.

Adolescents’ IQ, vocabulary, and parents’ educational level were included as covariates due to its potential effect on reading and writing abilities and academic outcomes in general. Likewise, the differences between math, language, and social sciences academic outcomes were explored, as well as the differences regarding the transition to secondary education in adolescents with TD and with ASD-WID. Both academic outcomes and parents perceptions about the successful adaptation to secondary education form part of the academic curriculum, which encompasses different interrelated dimensions.

For the ANCOVAs, Bonferroni correction was applied to establish the significance level. The proportion of total variance accounted for by the independent variables was calculated using partial eta squared (according to Cohen (1988) : eta squared, 0.06 = small; 0.06–0.14 = medium; and 0.14 = large). To compare academic results and successful transition to secondary school of ASD-WID and TD, t -student was used. Moreover, two partial correlations, controlling for parents’ educational level and adolescents’ IQ and vocabulary, were conducted to examine the relationships between reading and writing skills and academic outcomes in both groups. Finally, multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to test the effect of reading and writing skills on the transition to secondary school and academic outcomes in adolescents with ASD-WID.

Differences in Reading and Writing Skills Between Adolescents With ASD-WID and Adolescents With TD

The MANCOVA between the ASD-WID and TD groups with the different reading skill scores (accuracy, speed, reading comprehension, and reading comprehension related to mental flexibility), controlling for parents’ educational level, IQ, and vocabulary, was statistically significant [Wilks’ Lambda (Λ) = 0.70, F 6,46 = 3.21, p = 0.01, η p 2 = 0.30 ]. Likewise, to calculate the additional ANCOVAs, a significance level of p < 0.008 was established, after applying the Bonferroni correction, and the value of η p 2 was calculated to check the strength of the association. Specifically, statistically significant differences were found on the reading comprehension “Mental flexibility” subtest (F 1,51 = 14.6; p < 0.01; η p 2 = 0.22 ). In addition, scores for accuracy (word reading), speed, and reading comprehension did not reach the required level of statistical significance between the group with TD and the group with ASD-ID ( Table 2 ).

Means, standard deviations (SD) of reading and writing skills, and statistically significant differences between ASD and TD adolescents.

P. (PROLEC), P. comprehension (PROLEC reading comprehension), P. Comprehension L. (PROLEC literal comprehension), P. Comprehension I (PROLEC inferential comprehension), RC. Flexibility (Reading Comprehension Mental flexibility), Syntactic C (Syntactic complexity), Coherence S (Setting), Coherence Ch (Character), Coherence C (Conflict), and Coherence R (Resolution) .

The MANCOVA between the ASD-WID and TD groups with the different writing skill scores (productivity, syntactic complexity, and coherence), controlling for parents’ educational level, IQ, and vocabulary, was statistically significant [Wilks’ Lambda (Λ) = 0.71, F 6,46 = 3.02, p = 0.014, η p 2 = 0.28 ]. Likewise, to calculate the additional ANCOVAs, a significance level of p < 0.008 was established, after applying the Bonferroni correction, and the value of η p 2 was calculated to check the strength of the association. Specifically, statistically significant differences were found in word productivity (F 1,51 = 7.78; p = 0.007; η p 2 = 0.23 ), Syntactic complexity (F 1,51 = 13.4; p = 0.001; η p 2 = 0.21 ), and Coherence (conflict resolution component; F 1,51 = 7.63; p = 0.007; η p 2 = 0.13 ; see Table 2 ).

Differences in Academic Outcomes and Transition to Secondary School Between Adolescents With ASD-WID and Adolescents With TD

The MANCOVA between the ASD-WID and TD groups with the different academic outcome scores (language, math, and social sciences) and the transition to the secondary stage was statistically significant [Wilks’ Lambda (Λ) = 0.71, F 6,46 = 3.02, p = 0.014, η p 2 = 0.28 ]. Statistically significant differences were found in language (F 1,51 = 7.78; p = 0.007; η p 2 = 0.23 ), mathematics (F 1,51 = 13.4; p = 0.001; η p 2 = 0.21 ), social sciences (F 1,51 = 7.63; p = 0.007; η p 2 = 0.13 ), and the index of successful transition to secondary education (F 1,51 = 7.63; p = 0.007; η p 2 = 0.13 ; see Table 3 ).

Means, standard deviations (SD) of academic results and successful transition to secondary, and statistically significant differences between ASD and TD adolescents.

Transition to SE (Transition to secondary education) .

Contribution of Reading and Writing Skills to the Academic Outcomes of Adolescents With ASD-ID and Adolescents With TD

Likewise, two partial correlations were performed, using the covariates of parents’ vocabulary, IQ, and educational level, to analyze the association between the reading and writing variables that showed significant differences between the ASD-WID and TD groups and the learning outcomes in the subjects of the Spanish language, mathematics, and social sciences in the ASD-WID and TD groups.

In the group of children with TD, significant positive correlations were observed between the reading comprehension score related to mental flexibility and the scores on language ( r = 0.45; p = 0.029), mathematics ( r = 0.56; p = 0.006), and social sciences ( r = 0.40; p = 0.050). Similarly, significant positive correlations were observed between the productivity subscale and the scores on language ( r = 0.51; p = 0.013) and mathematics ( r = 0.44; p = 0.035).

In the group of children with ASD-WID, significant positive correlations were observed between the reading comprehension score related to mental flexibility and the scores on language ( r = 0.37; p = 0.050) and mathematics ( r = 0.37; p = 0.050). Likewise, significant positive correlations were observed between the social sciences scores and productivity ( r = 0.46; p = 0.015), syntactic complexity ( r = 0.61; p < 0.001), and coherence ( r = 0.42; p = 0.029; see Table 4 ).

Partial correlations between reading/writing skill and academic outcomes.

RC. Flexibility (Reading Comprehension Cognitive flexibility), Syntactic C (Syntactic complexity), and Coherence R (Coherence resolution). * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01. Controlling for IQ, vocabulary, and parental education .

Finally, multiple regression analyses were carried out in each group in order to evaluate the contribution of reading comprehension related to mental flexibility and writing skills of productivity, syntactic complexity, and coherence to academic outcomes in the core subjects of language, mathematics, and social sciences (see Table 5 ). The regressions carried out with the TD group indicated that the predictors that explained the highest percentage of variance in Spanish language were reading comprehension related to mental flexibility, productivity, and coherence, explaining 51% of the total variance. As for the mathematics outcomes, the results showed that reading comprehension related to mental flexibility and productivity were the significant individual predictors, together explaining 55% of the variance. In social sciences, there were no significant individual or collective predictors.

Multiple regression analysis of reading and writing skills that predict academic outcomes in TD and ASD groups.

RC. Flexibility (Reading Comprehension Mental flexibility), Syntactic C (Syntactic complexity), and Coherence R (Coherence resolution) .

The regressions performed with the ASD-WID group indicated that, on the one hand, reading comprehension related to mental flexibility was the single most significant predictor of language and mathematics outcomes, explaining 31 and 24% of the variance, respectively. On the other hand, the predictors that explained the highest percentage of variance in social sciences were syntactic complexity and coherence, explaining 57% of the total variance.

The purpose of this study was to extend the knowledge about academic achievement in adolescents with ASD by addressing various objectives. First, this study analyzed differences in reading and writing performance between adolescents with ASD-WID and adolescents with TD. In terms of reading, no significant differences were found between the two groups on measures of reading fluency (accuracy and speed), which is consistent with most of the research on the topic in languages with opaque orthographies, such as English ( Jones et al., 2009 ).

However, contrary to expectations, our study data failed to show significant differences between participants with ASD-WID and their peers with TD on either literal or inferential reading comprehension. These results contrast with what is commonly reported in the literature, which generally indicates lower reading comprehension competence in individuals with ASD (see meta-analysis by Brown et al., 2013 ). This discrepancy in the findings could be explained by different factors. Firstly, both groups were matched according to vocabulary knowledge which following the Simple View of Reading Model ( Hoover and Gough, 1990 ) is a fundamental factor for reading comprehension. Numerous investigations with children with ASD have exemplified the strong association between reading comprehension and language (see the meta-analysis by Brown et al., 2013 ), which emerges even as one of the strongest predictors of the reading comprehension abilities of these students ( Davidson et al., 2018 ). A second important factor is the type of texts employed in our study. We used two expository texts with little social content that do not require the student to display inferential skills related to Theory of Mind, which is clearly affected in ASD ( Bora and Pantelis, 2016 ). In other words, the reader would not have to apply skills that require taking the perspective of the characters, which, in contrast, would be necessary to understand narrative texts ( Dore et al., 2018 ). In fact, studies have shown that individuals with ASD are significantly worse at comprehending highly social texts than less social texts, such as those employed in this study ( Brown et al., 2013 ). Moreover, and in line with our results on inferential comprehension, experimental studies using eye-tracking techniques have shown that adolescents with ASD are capable of developing inferential comprehension skills that are activated automatically ( Saldaña and Frith, 2007 ; Micai et al., 2017 ), although they may have difficulties on tasks that require them to answer questions that rate this same process ( Tirado and Saldaña, 2016 ). Likewise, another explanation for our discordant results could be found in the composition of the sample, which might consist of students with ASD who have shown strengths in reading performance, both in decoding and comprehension. These profiles have been described in the literature as “skilled readers” ( Åsberg et al., 2019 ) or “average readers” ( McIntyre et al., 2017 ).

However, the results of our study allowed us to identify certain deficient reading comprehension processes in adolescents with ASD, specifically those that require the activation of cognitive flexibility skills and, in particular, metacognitive skills, such as explicitly describing the strategies used when summarizing, detecting the main idea, or giving a title to a text. Thus, significantly lower performance was observed on the reading-specific measure used in this study that requires cognitive flexibility. These results are congruent with the alterations in cognitive flexibility described in ASD. These disturbances have been considered one of its neuropsychological manifestations, although with mixed findings ( Leung and Zakzanis, 2014 ). These outcomes also coincide with the difficulties identified in students with ASD in adapting reading strategies to various reading materials and task demands ( Micai et al., 2019 ). A competent reader must be able to change strategies while reading a text and adapt them to the different objectives and/or requirements presented. Adequate mental flexibility ensures the reader’s active participation in the comprehension process, and its proper functioning facilitates independent learning, which has a great impact on academic performance. Thus, we can see the importance of mastering these processes involved in comprehension and the need to consider this specific area when designing reading intervention programs for individuals with ASD.

In terms of writing skills, as it was hypothesized, the data revealed significant differences between the group with ASD-WID and the group with TD on all the indicators analyzed as: productivity, syntactic diversity, and overall coherence (in the latter case, only in the resolution component). Adolescents with ASD wrote shorter texts with less varied syntactic structures, which is consistent with the results of the previous studies and reviews on the topic ( Dockrell et al., 2014 ; Finnegan and Accardo, 2018 ; Hilvert et al., 2019 ). Unexpectedly, both groups performed similarly on most of the variables used to assess overall coherence (setting, character, and conflict). However, significant differences could be identified in the resolution component; that is, the students with ASD failed to mention what happened at the end of the conflict presented in their stories. These difficulties may affect the overall coherence of the written composition, which is consistent with the tenets of the Weak Central Coherence Theory ( Happé and Frith, 2006 ). According to this theory, people with ASD tend to focus on local or marginal aspects of the information and fail to integrate them into meaningful global representations, in this case, by providing an ending related to the conflict narrated. This cognitive style has also been shown in different studies on written expression in ASD, both in children and adolescents ( Brown et al., 2014 ), as well as in the adult population ( Barnes and Baron-Cohen, 2012 ).

The second objective of this study was to analyze the differences in academic outcomes and the transition to secondary school between adolescents with ASD-WID and adolescents with TD. As it was expected, the results showed statistically significant differences in the academic grades reported by parents and teachers in the language arts, mathematics, and social science subjects, and in the families’ perceptions of the transition to high school. These findings reinforce the idea of a significant gap between cognitive ability and school performance, taking into account that the participants in our study did not present intellectual limitations. This means that students with ASD are not displaying their full academic potential, which is being undermined by various factors, including deficits in certain reading comprehension and written performance measures, as discussed below.

Furthermore, according to parents’ perceptions, a less successful transition process to high school and generally worse adaptation were observed in adolescents with ASD compared to their peers with TD. Families report fewer friends and lower self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. They are less satisfied with the transition process and are concerned about it. These results are consistent with the negative experiences described by parents of children with ASD in this period of educational change, referring to social isolation, bullying, and anxiety in their children ( Humphrey and Lewis, 2008 ). Families experience challenges and stress beyond what would typically be expected ( Dillon and Underwood, 2012 ; Mandy et al., 2016 ; Peters and Brooks, 2016 ). Therefore, as parents also point out, it is essential for secondary schools to understand the nature of autism and the impact it can have on the child and implement the assistance or support students need for a successful transition, optimal academic performance, and social adjustment ( Cremin et al., 2017 ; Tso and Strnadová, 2017 ).

Finally, the third objective of this study was to examine the contribution of reading and writing skills to the academic outcomes of adolescents with ASD-WID. As expected, a significant positive relationship was found (in both the ASD-WID and the TD groups) between the two variables being analyzed. Specifically, in the group with ASD-WID, significant positive associations were observed between the reading comprehension measure specifically tapping cognitive flexibility and the grades earned in the language and mathematics subjects. A similar relationship was found between the grades obtained in social sciences and the written expression indicators considered (productivity, syntactic diversity, and coherence). This association highlights the importance of instrumental skills, such as reading and writing, which have a clear influence on school performance. Specifically, on the one hand, our study data indicate that the reading comprehension task involving cognitive flexibility turned out to be the only significant predictor of the grades obtained in language and mathematics. On the other hand, the predictors that explained the highest percentage of social sciences grades were syntactic complexity and coherence.

The difficulties of these students exhibit in certain processes of reading comprehension and written expression have an impact on their academic outcomes, which should lead to designing interventions that fit their profile of strengths and weaknesses. Several research syntheses have supported the use of strategy instruction in the form of question generation, use of graphic organizers, or making predictions ( El Zein et al., 2014 ; Finnegan and Mazin, 2016 ). More recently, Singh et al. (2020) , in a systematic review of case studies, analyzed the effectiveness of a series of instructional procedures that contributed to improving the reading comprehension performance of students with ASD. They highlighted the use of comprehension-enhancing supports in the form of graphic organizers or visual diagrams, metacognitive strategies, collaborative strategies, such as peer tutoring, and computer-assisted instruction. In terms of writing skills, a recent research synthesis carried out by Accardo et al. (2020) identified several effective instructional practices: self-regulated strategy development, sentence frames, video modeling, Handwriting Without Tears®, and analytic task instruction with systematic prompting and graphic organizers. Some of the variables that improved with the application of these techniques were the number of elements in the text structure and the number of words and sentences. It should be noted that, as in the reading comprehension intervention, the studies reviewed were single case studies, and so research using experimental or quasi-experimental group designs is necessary in order to improve the levels of scientific evidence currently available. Apart from these teaching strategies, education professionals may also consider to adjust the assessment criteria or the mode of assessment for adolescents with ASD.

Likewise, parents’ perspectives on the transition process to secondary school suggest the need for tailored assistance at the time of the student’s move to secondary school. In this regard, Peters and Brooks (2016) show that parents describe a more positive transition when both pre-transition support and ongoing support in the learning and social environments of secondary school are implemented. To this end, a better understanding of the difficulties and strengths of students with ASD in this educational stage, their particular style of processing information, and their strengths and weaknesses in reading and writing skills are essential, due to their strong impact on academic performance.

Limitations

Despite the contributions of these findings, our research has several limitations. First, the relatively small sample size may be hiding some possible significant relationships between the study variables and limiting the possibility to detect small effects. One second limitation, which leads the results to be interpreted with caution, is related to the moderate values of reliability coefficients of the administrated tests. Therefore, future studies should increase the number of participants on a randomized sampling basis and include, apart from psychometric tests, other reading comprehension tasks. The information from criterion-referenced measures could help to design more accurate intervention programs for students with ASD-WID. Third, the mid-range cognitive ability and the gender of the participants with ASD, mostly male, are factors that should be considered, as they may influence the results and affect their generalization to girls or to individuals with ASD with other cognitive levels. In addition, the writing skills of adolescents with ASD were only assessed on a narrative text, and it would have been appropriate to expand the information to persuasive and expository genres. Furthermore, the indicator used to reflect the academic results was the qualification marks of the last evaluation, which may not be representative of the whole academic level of achievement. Finally, our study has a cross-sectional design, and future research should analyze developmental variations in the writing and reading profiles of individuals with ASD.

This research provides an overview of the school performance of adolescents with ASD and the factors involved in it. The results show that adolescents with ASD have strengths in reading-decoding mechanisms, but their performance on reading comprehension processes involving aspects of mental flexibility and writing skills continues to be significantly below expectations. Both deficits contribute significantly to their academic achievement, which is also below that of their peers with TD and what would be expected based on their intellectual capacity, at a medium range in this study. In any case, academic difficulties should be taken into account when analyzing the parents’ opinions in the transition period to secondary school because parents of students with ASD-WID report a more difficult adaptation process compared to students with TD. Consequently, education professionals face the challenge of adapting their teaching style and employing evidence-based teaching strategies that address students’ different needs while enhancing their capabilities. This may be a promising avenue for reducing the gap between the potential and current academic performance of students with ASD.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the University of Valencia. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

IB, AM, BR, and CB contributed to the design of the work and wrote the manuscript. CB was responsible for the analysis and interpretation of data for the study. BR was responsible for the literature search and assessment of the participants. All authors participated in data interpretation and draft the manuscript and approved the version to be submitted.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the adolescents, parents, and teachers who participated in this study.

Funding. This research was financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2016-78109; AEI/FEDER, UE) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (grant no. GV/2020/C/005). The funding body had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the report or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Home » Education and Classroom » 7 Tips for Teaching Writing Skills to Autistic Students

7 Tips for Teaching Writing Skills to Autistic Students

By   Maria Langford

May 22, 2024

Teaching writing skills to autistic children poses various challenges. Therefore, it’s crucial to consider individual needs, academic ability, and personal characteristics when deciding how to help an autistic child write. 

Learning to write involves many complex physical and cognitive processes, which can challenge all learners, but ASD students can experience these challenges more acutely. For example, fine motor skills impairments can make holding a pencil difficult, while visual motor skills impairments can hinder copying words. 

If a comorbid learning disability is present, vocabulary may be limited, and anxiety or stress about writing tasks can lead to resistance or avoidance. So, how can we mitigate these challenges? Let’s explore some possible strategies.

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Homeschooling a Child With Autism

1. Create a supportive environment for learning

To teach an ASD child writing skills, you must create a supportive, inclusive , and comfortable environment.

To do this, focus on the following areas:

• Promote independence in their work – this can boost an autistic child’s self-esteem and is a crucial life skill. 
• Reduce their anxiety – this is crucial as anxiety is a significant problem for ASD students, which can be heightened during writing tasks. 
• Foster creativity in writing tasks – this is important as some ASD students may need extra help to tap into their creativity.

The examples explored in the next sections will help with this.

2. Incorporate some fun hand exercises

These strategies are aimed at ASD learners who are struggling with the physical challenges posed by writing . 

When ASD children struggle to hold a pencil properly, writing can be stressful and painful. It may also mean that they’re behind their peers in mark-making.  

While wrist weights and pencil grips can help ASD students later on, it’s important to start with fun activities to develop their hand strength and fine motor skills .

Play dough disco is a popular activity for this. The students are given soft modeling dough and encouraged to mimic the hand exercises demonstrated in an interactive video. 

Here are some other activities you could try:

• Digging with a small spoon
• Having egg and spoon races 
• Using tongs or tweezers 
• Playing with peg boards

If these physical barriers to writing are severe and persist throughout school, technology can help ASD students overcome them.

3. Start simple

When teaching writing skills at any level, it’s important to start simple and gradually increase the challenge by scaffolding the task, breaking it into manageable steps. 

This will also help to build your students’ independence and help them understand how to sequence the stages of a task. This is something that ASD students often struggle with.

Although this is standard teaching practice , ASD students may need to spend longer than their peers on each step. Allow them to progress at their own pace to avoid anxiety.

For example, if you’re teaching an ASD child how to form letters, they could start by tracing simple shapes and then move on to copying them freehand. When they’re comfortable with this, you can slowly introduce letters for them to trace and copy. 

If they’re struggling with their pen grip, you could experiment with other forms of mark-making first. 

For example, they could use their finger or a stick to draw letters and shapes in sand or shaving foam.

4. Use their special interests

Incorporating ASD students’ special interests into lessons can engage them in learning. Writing tasks that refer to relevant contexts are more effective than generic ones. 

For example, students may initially prefer to write the letters from their name or the names of objects/people that interest them.

For more academically advanced ASD students, this can also be a great way to foster creativity . You could let them pick their own writing topic or plan themed writing tasks for them.

For example, if they’re interested in space, they could create an encyclopedia page about a planet of their choice.

In creative writing tasks, the story prompts should be imaginative and fun, encouraging ASD students to step outside of themselves and think in abstract or creative ways.

As our understanding of ASD increases, it’s becoming evident that autistic people can be uniquely creative. However, all such tasks should be appropriately scaffolded for individual students’ needs. 

5. Use visual aids

Many ASD children are visual learners , so using visual stimuli is a great way to foster creativity.

Pictures are great for teaching various writing skills, like descriptive writing or characterization.

They can also help an ASD student to engage their senses. For example, you could give them a picture of a rainforest and help them imagine how it would feel if they were there. 

Using verbal or written prompts could help your students to access this task:

• “Is it usually hot or cold in the rainforest?” 
• “Can you remember a time when you were really hot? How did it make you  feel?” 
• “Do you think it would be hot where this picture was taken?” 

Utilizing technology to access multimedia resources can also help to overcome many challenges. Videos are effective writing prompts that can inspire creativity and engagement in non-fiction writing.

For example, if you’re teaching a module on writing to argue, you could use a short documentary to generate ideas.

Watching adverts can also be great fun for exploring persuasive techniques, particularly in a speak-to-write teaching model.

Video models have also proved effective in helping ASD students develop functional writing skills, such as sentence construction, spelling, and letter formation. 

6. Use social stories

Social stories can be used to teach writing skills like perspective-taking and narrative form.

For example, you could tell social stories based on difficult social interactions so your students can explore perspectives and feelings. This can be applied to creating characters or writing dialogue. 

Moreover, verbally retelling their favorite stories or recounting the events of their day can help them develop their narrative, sentence structure, and sequencing skills. 

To help them organize their thoughts into writing, you could provide sentence starters like these:

• “When I woke up this morning, I felt…” 
• “However, when I …” 
• “After this, I…”

You could also play word games like these to foster creativity and remove focus from physical writing skills: 

• Fortunately/Unfortunately: verbal game for narrative flow
• The Minister’s Cat: verbal game encouraging ambitious vocabulary 
• Boggle: spelling and word recognition
• Pictionary: visual vocabulary practice
• Story cubes: narrative structure

7. Use positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is another important tool in motivating individuals with autism to engage in writing tasks. 

It could take many forms, such as:

• verbal praise, 
• rewards , 
• token or sticker systems,
• preferred items and activities. 

By creating positive associations with writing, you can help relieve ASD students’ anxiety and resistance in the short and long term. 

To maintain their motivation and focus, it’s important to identify and acknowledge incremental progress and effort, rewarding students immediately after they’ve achieved each goal.

When deciding what reinforcement strategies to use, consider how your students’ preferred items or activities could motivate them.

For example, if a child loves reading, give them 10 minutes in the reading corner with their favorite book if they achieve their goals. 

They could also collect motivational stickers as they progress through each stage of their writing project, which can be exchanged for small rewards.

Teaching writing skills to autistic students should be fun! 

Teaching any form of writing to ASD students should be enjoyable and engaging. Incorporating creative and interactive activities into your writing lessons is key to this. 

By helping an ASD child overcome their physical, emotional, and cognitive barriers to writing, you can enable them to achieve their future goals and provide a valuable outlet for their emotions, ideas, and thoughts.

Q: Does autism affect writing skills?

A: Autism can affect writing skills due to challenges such as fine motor skill impairments, sensory sensitivities, and difficulties with organization and abstract thinking. With patience, understanding, and tailored strategies, you can support the development of writing skills in autistic children.

Q: Why do children with autism struggle with writing?

A: Children with autism struggle with writing due to challenges with fine motor skills, visual motor skills, sensory sensitivities, organizational issues, and barriers to creative or abstract thinking, often leading to distress and avoidance

Q: How do you teach an autistic child to hold a pencil?

A: Teaching an autistic child to hold a pencil involves using adaptive grips or techniques that accommodate their fine motor skill challenges. Patience and practice are key as you provide gentle guidance and positive reinforcement to help them develop a comfortable and functional pencil grasp.

Accardo, Amy L., et al., ‘Writing Interventions for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Research Synthesis’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2020) 50:1988–2006 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-03955-9

Asaro-Saddler, Kristie (2016), ‘Using Evidence-Based Practices to Teach Writing to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders’, Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth , 60:1, 79-85, DOI: 10.1080/1045988X.2014.981793, https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2014.981793

Baixauli, Inmaculada, et al., ‘Reading and Writing Skills in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Disability’ (2021), Frontiers in Psychology.  doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.646849 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.646849/full?fbclid=IwAR3ZC642yig3L-J2ssDNXj10eQTcitQh5Ujj2yBS96WASn-8MCrvPxwPOWY  

Pennington, Robert C and Carpenter, Megan (2019), ‘Teaching Written Expression to Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Complex Communication Needs’, Top Lang Disorders, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 191–207, https://alliedhealth.ceconnection.com/ovidfiles/00011363-201904000-00005.pdf

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Helping autistic children understand the concept of time, structured teaching for autism: all you need to know, 6 tips for building vocabulary in children with autism, 6 tips for incorporating visual schedules in school, 9 effective ways to motivate students with autism, 8 tips for literacy development in autism, 4 ways to help your autistic teen prepare for high school, tips for dealing with an autistic child disrupting class, 8 tips on how to get a child with autism interested in school, preschool programs for autistic children: 5 questions to consider, privacy overview.

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Education of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (asd)

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Being autistic at university: what you need to know

So you’ve got your ‘A’ Level results, and all that hard work over the past two years spent on writing essays, putting together coursework and revising like mad has paid dividends. On receiving your results, you’ve found out there and then that you’ve gained enough UCAS points to get to the university of your choice, but what happens next? In this blog post, we go through the basics of being an autistic university student, from finance and support to studying and socialising.

Take the essentials

Unless you’re going to a uni that’s close to home, it’s likely that you’ll need to live away from the family. This involves a lot of work, shopping and packing, but we’ve got a little checklist that you might find useful. Here’s what you should bring with you:

• A laptop, notebook or tablet
• Pots and pans
• Crockery and cutlery
• Small kitchen appliances e.g. kettle
• A television
• Something for storing all your paperwork

Fitting all of that in the boot of a car seems like hard work, but it’s worth it. Before that, however, you need to get two things sorted: somewhere to live and money to help fund it.

A place of your own

For your new student digs, you have two options for your first year. You can either contact your university and apply to stay in their Halls of Residence or find private student accommodation.

The first step is to visit your university’s website and check out the accommodation section. Then, you should get all necessary info. If your uni has a disabled students service, contact them and talk about your needs e.g. wanting to live alone or in a quiet space on campus.

Be sure to check out the accommodation before signing the contract; take a thorough look, possibly accompanied by a parent. This will let you map out how you plan to live while studying and where you can fit all of your worldly possessions.

All about the money

Having the money in place to fund accommodation costs as well as food, tuition fees and other expenses like travel is very important. To do that, you may need to apply for a student loan – this link on the GOV.UK website is where you need to start.

The amount you’ll receive depends on where you live. Repayment doesn’t happen until after graduation, when a small portion of your salary from your first job goes towards it.

Loan money will be paid into your account in instalments coinciding with the start of each term. From that, you can pay for rent, food and other essentials. To top up your income, it might be worth taking a part-time job if possible, or checking out any benefits available.

As an autistic student, there is one benefit you can apply for. The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) will see you receive funding to top up the cost of studying. General payments go up to £1,954 per year (as of May 2020), with additional funding awarded if you need specialist equipment.

Have a look at the grant options on DisabilityGrants and Turn2Us to see if there are other funds you are eligible for.

Your first week

The first week of your university course is called freshers’ week. This is where you can acclimatise yourself to your surroundings, find out where everything is on and off-campus, learn about what your course involves and look at the social side of uni.

While it might be tempting to do as many things as possible in the space of just five days, it’s worth doing things at your own pace. Do one thing at a time: one day exploring the campus, the next checking out town, the following one getting to know your classmates.

Getting support

Most universities will have their own student support service for disabled undergraduates and postgraduates. Try and talk to them during your first week to let them know about your needs for studying, accommodation and other things such as sensory issues and socialising with others. Then, they’ll know how to support you.

While you’re at it, make a note of what sort of equipment you’ll need to study in the best possible way. If, say, you need a quiet place to revise, a computer to type on for exams and essays or some equipment needed to meet your sensory needs, mention it in a meeting with them and they can help.

Socialising

A big part of campus life is talking to other students. As with exploring the campus, try doing it at your own pace and be sure not to push yourself into a situation where you feel uncomfortable. See if there are any societies at your uni based around something you’re interested in, like gaming or sports.

Trying to fit in is hard work in any environment. Being yourself is much easier than putting on a facade and trying to act neurotypical. Maybe meet other autistic students who are in the same boat as you; it’s possible you could strike up a bond and become friends from freshers’ week to graduation.

This is by far the most important part of being a student, and you’ll want to make sure everything goes right. Here are some top tips:

• Print off a timetable for each semester/term and check it before the start of each day
• When you have free time during weekdays with no lectures, workshops or seminars, spend some of it on research or revision
• Take a laptop or voice recorder into each lecture to record what’s being said
• To save money on textbooks, find the nearest charity bookshop; they might have discount versions of those you’re looking for
• Proofread everything you’ve written, from slideshows to essays
• Check what information/research is available before choosing an essay or dissertation topic
• If you’re concerned about part of your course, speak to the most sympathetic lecturer you have

There’s a lot to get your head round when starting uni, but if done right, it can be a fun and rewarding experience. Just remember to do things at your own pace and try not to put yourself in a position where you feel uncomfortable, in or out of the lecture theatre.

Further reading

Here is an excellent document created by the Bristol Autism Spectrum Service about going to university

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Autism And The College Experience

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By Marina Sarris / SPARK

When Sarah Sanders began college, she hoped she would be fine without the special education help she received in high school. Then she found herself struggling in biology class. Fortunately, a classmate served as her guide to the campus disability support services office, taking her there to register for help. “I wasn’t sure how the system worked since it’s so different from high school,” says Sanders, an autistic advisor to the SPARK autism study .

Many students struggle to adjust to the challenges of college: difficult classes, dormitory living, sudden independence, and a new social world. But for people on the autism spectrum, the transition can be more abrupt and dramatic.

For one, the individualized education programs (IEPs) that helped autistic students from preschool through high school disappear in college. Their parents are no longer able, or welcome, to advocate for them. Students’ struggles with communication, organization, and interpreting social situations can multiply exponentially in college, away from the watchful eyes of special educators and families.

“There are no bells to tell you to go to a different class, and no one tells you when to eat, do laundry, work, or sleep,” says Ernst O. VanBergeijk, Ph.D., MSW, who directed programs for students with autism and other developmental conditions at two universities.

About a third of autistic teens who had IEPs go on to college or vocational programs after high school, 1 but they are less likely to graduate than their classmates, 2 according to research.

Many autistic people can earn a college degree, but they often require a range of supports. 3 Do colleges offer the help that they need?

What’s the Difference Between High School and College Supports for Students With Disabilities?

As Sanders noted, the high school and college systems for helping students with autism differ greatly.

From birth until they leave high school, students with disabilities are guaranteed a free and appropriate public education under U.S. education law. Schools have the power to adopt changes that help students learn and succeed, including altering the curriculum and testing.

But the rules change after high school. The focus shifts from ensuring student success to preventing discrimination.

“Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, higher education is a privilege,” says VanBergeijk, an educational consultant. “The colleges only have to make accommodations to level the playing field and so they don’t discriminate against the person. But the student must be otherwise qualified.”

Colleges and universities that accept federal money must provide only “reasonable” accommodations to students with disabilities, and only accommodations that do not fundamentally change the requirements of their programs.

Such accommodations often include extended time on tests, a testing room free of distractions, a screen reader that reads books out loud, the use of a note taker or audio recorder for lectures, and seating accommodations. 4,5 Colleges do not have to provide tutoring.

A College Necessity: Advocating for Yourself

Unlike high schools, colleges require autistic students to ask for what they need. For example, students must contact the disability support services office, provide documentation of their disability, and request accommodations. In many cases, they also must notify their professors of their accommodations, although they do not have to say what their disability is.

Some students are reluctant to tell their colleges that they have a disability, according to one study. 6 Asking for help—a vital skill for adulthood—can be difficult for those on the spectrum who struggle with social and communication skills.

Sanders, who earned an associate degree, urges other autistic students to register with the disability support services office as soon as they can. Her grades improved dramatically after she received accommodations, such as a screen reader, a quiet exam room, and extra time on tests.

“I can’t stress this enough: please get acquainted with the disability services office,” says Sanders, who is now 29. “Ask for help because everybody there wants to help you succeed.”

The Changing Role of Parents

Parents must also adjust to changes when their teenager goes to college. When the IEP disappears, so does their role as their child’s advocate. College representatives probably will not talk to them without their child’s permission. When students run into academic trouble, parents will not be the first to know.

To help prepare their children, parents could gradually give them more responsibility in high school. For example, they shouldn’t always rescue them when they miss due dates or leave materials they need for school at home. 5

And IEP teams should consider phasing out modifications—such as doing less homework than others—that will not be offered in college, says Aleza Greene, Ph.D., director of the University of Arkansas Autism Support Program. “Also, parents should not encourage their child’s teachers to let them turn in everything at the end of the semester, because that doesn’t happen at the university level,” Greene says.

Needed: An “Interpreter of the Social World” for Autistic Students

Colleges are used to providing accommodations to students with learning or physical disabilities, but students with autism often have needs that extend beyond the classroom, VanBergeijk says.

“If you send a person to college who is deaf or hard of hearing, you provide an interpreter of the hearing world, but our people on the spectrum need an interpreter of the social world,” he explains. “The biggest issue is not academics. It’s navigating the social environment and having the independent living skills necessary to be away at college.”

Students may be accused of stalking because they don’t know how to show their interest in a potential date appropriately. They may irritate professors by interrupting and correcting them. Or they may become upset if someone sits in what they consider to be their seat, VanBergeijk says.

Students may need social or sensory accommodations for dorm living, such as a single room or different lighting. Whether colleges can provide that is “hit or miss,” VanBergeijk says. Colleges may interpret the Americans with Disabilities Act differently, and their attempts to comply may be affected by their size, budget, and mission, he says.

Sanders arranged to live in the “quiet dorm” on campus, which helped her avoid sensory overload from blaring music or late-night parties. “All colleges with dorms should have either a quiet hallway or a quiet building if possible because that’s really, really helpful,” she says.

The Community College Option

Sanders graduated from a community college, a popular option for those on the spectrum. More than 80 percent of college students with autism have attended a two-year college at some point. 7

Public community colleges, which often boast lower tuition and open admissions, may provide a “smoother transition to the academic and social challenges that can arise in a university setting,” according to one research group. 7 They may also offer tutoring and advising programs that four-year universities do not have, for example.

Students who focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (called STEM) are more likely than peers in non-STEM fields to stay in community college and are twice as likely to transfer to a four-year university. 7

Finding Comprehensive Autism Support Programs at College

Some autism experts have recommended that colleges and universities go beyond the required accommodations by offering social skills groups, counseling, vocational training, and life coaching to autistic students who are seeking a degree. 3

About six dozen colleges in 29 states have programs that do at least some of those things, according to a 2022 study. 8 These programs may include academic coaching, mentoring, vocational help, social skills interventions, or social events—needs that disabilities services offices usually do not address.

Some of these autism support programs are free to students, but most charge an extra fee, beyond tuition. The average fee was $3,500 per semester, according to a study published in 2020. 9 Scholarships and state vocational rehabilitation agencies may subsidize costs for some students.

Marshall University, home of the West Virginia Autism Training Center, was among the first to offer an autism support program more than 20 years ago. The program begins helping students adjust to the campus before their first class starts, explains Mindy Thornton, who directs campus-based services for the center. Incoming first-year students can attend a five-week summer term that allows them to take one class, live in a dorm, and learn the rhythms of campus life.

Marshall’s program offers mental health counseling and social supports. Each student is paired with a graduate student who acts as a mentor. Students also receive an app that helps them keep track of assignments and due dates, class schedules, and even chores like laundry, Thornton says.

As they get closer to graduation, students receive help with job readiness, resumes, and interviewing. Preparing for work in their chosen field is important, Thornton says. “We wouldn’t want all the time and effort to be spent on getting a degree and then not putting it to good use.”

College Options for People Across a Wide Spectrum

College is available to students across the autism spectrum, including those who do not receive a traditional high school diploma.

Students with intellectual disabilities can receive federal financial aid to attend a comprehensive transition and postsecondary (CTP) program at more than 150 two- and four-year colleges in 42 states, according to ThinkCollege.net . The programs provide academic, vocational, and independent living skills.

ThinkCollege.net also lists scores of other educational and vocational programs for students with intellectual disabilities. These non-CTP programs are not eligible for federal financial aid, but they may be funded by school districts and vocational rehabilitation agencies for students with IEPs.

One Student’s Plan for College and Beyond

Community college figures into the plans that 20-year-old Travis King has for his future. King, an autistic participant in the SPARK study, is attending a transitional program through his school district that focuses on independent living skills for students ages 18 to 22.

“We get to go to restaurants, and learn how to order our food, and pay with our money,” King says. “I pay with either exact change, or my debit card, and always wait for the receipt. We also get to go shopping, and to learn how to find things, by doing a scavenger hunt.”

King plans to enroll in community college next year to earn a certificate in business and learn everything he needs to know to launch his career. “I am going to be an entrepreneur and open my own hot dog stand.”

With the money he earns selling hot dogs, he hopes to travel from his home in rural Washington state to his favorite city, New York, to see its subway, the Statue of Liberty, and recycling center. “I love New York.”

See a related SPARK article, “ How to Find the Right College for Autistic Students .”

Interested in joining SPARK? Here’s what you should know .

• Roux A.M. et al . National autism indicators report: Transition into young adulthood. Life Course Outcomes Research Program, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2015) Report
• Newman L. et al . The post-high school outcomes of young adults with disabilities up to 8 years after high school. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International (2011) Report
• VanBergeijk E. et al . J. Autism Dev. Disord . 38 , 1359-1370 (2008) PubMed
• Hamblet E.C. National Association of School Psychologists’ communique handout. 42 . Article (2014)
• Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Transition of students with disabilities to postsecondary education: A guide for high school educators . (2011)
• Elias R. and S.W. White J. Autism Dev. Disord. 48 , 732-746 (2018) PubMed
• Wei X. et al . J. Autism Dev. Disord . 44 , 1159-1167 (2014) PubMed
• Nachman B.R. et al . J. Autism Dev. Disord . 52 , 863-870 (2022) PubMed
• Viezel K.D. et al Fi Focus Autism Other Dev. Disabil . 35 , 234-245 (2020) Abstract

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