Poor social skills is a leading factor why individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) lose their jobs. Fortunately, the use of technology has made learning and teaching social skills more seamless and integrated in employment contexts. We conducted a multiple-probe-across-participants single-case experimental design study…

College options for students with intellectual disabilities continue to grow. However, there is a gap among students and families about available college opportunities. This study provides evidence of a weeklong summer academy that bridges the gap between high school and college. Results showed the summer academy increased participants' awareness…

Concerns regarding social competence skills in preschool and kindergarten students and the impact to the disruption of learning within the classroom is a growing area of concern within public schools. Decreased social competence skills lead to increased difficulty in engagement and cooperation in the classroom, disrupting the learning environment…

This study examines the impact of a comprehensive college transition program, the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC), on psychosocial outcomes using an experimental design. We estimate overall and heterogenous effects of program participation on students' sense of belonging to campus, feelings of mattering to campus, sense of academic…

Research demonstrates that pupils do not always have the necessary social and emotional intelligence to cope with the transition to secondary school successfully. This paper explores a context-specific intervention designed to enhance key social and emotional skills after a secondary school transition. The intervention was designed with reference…

We tested the efficacy of a comprehensive intervention program designed for high school students across the autism spectrum, the Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism (CSESA) model, in a cluster randomized control trial involving 60 high schools in three states (California, North Carolina, Wisconsin), with implementation occurring…

This study of occupational therapy services to students with disabilities, 14 to 16 years of age, demonstrated effectiveness (Pierce, Spence, Sakemiller, & Roberts, 2020). The intervention approach was developed by 14 school-based occupational therapy personnel from 10 Midwestern school districts and described using grounded theory. Forty-two…

College-based transition services provide opportunities for transition-age students with intellectual disability and autism (ID/A) between the ages of 18 and 22 to receive their final years of secondary transition services in a college or university setting. We compared the extent to which youth with ID/A experience in-school predictors of…

This article provides a systematic review of the literature related to college transition programs for students with autism. It addresses how individual programs themselves, as well as associated research, can be enhanced to accommodate the needs, identities, and pathways of individual students with autism more effectively. Methods entailed…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that schools assist students with disabilities to develop independent living skills and abilities essential to succeed in most of their life's endeavors. According to the law, each student with a disability must have an individualized education program (IEP), and the IEP must address…

In 2015, the University of Southern California (USC) began a longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation of the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC), a comprehensive college transition program that provides students with multiple, integrated types of support. The evaluation as a whole examined whether, how, and why TSLC, as implemented at the…

As a residential college within Michigan State University that focuses on STEM fields, Lyman Briggs College developed a STEM learning community to support students with low mathematics placement test scores, the Instilling Quantitative and Integrative Reasoning program (INQUIRE). INQUIRE serves some of those students considered historically…

College is one of the most formative times in an individual's life. Its intense living-learning environment can promote students' extreme self-confidence and positive development, or alternatively, can result in low levels of well-being. The first year in college is an opportunity for faculty and staff to engage with students to help them build…

After leaving school, young people with autism spectrum disorder often struggle with social, educational and employment participation. A post-school transition programme underpinned by individualised case management, where mentees are guided to complete self-selected projects by mentors with multimedia skills, was evaluated using a qualitative…

Project Panther LIFE is an inclusive postsecondary transition program for students with intellectual disabilities providing university access and participation with the primary goal of employment at program completion. Students in the program receive support from their academic mentors and peer coaches during the academic year. This study examines…