KU researchers detail successes, challenges of practices to help autistic students transition out of high school

LAWRENCE — Transitioning to life after high school, whether it includes enrolling in college, beginning a career or living more independently, can be a daunting time for any young person, especially autistic students who often need additional supports as they plan for the transition to adult life. 

New research from the University of Kansas has found two evidence-based practices can support autistic students during high school, but challenges remain to implementing them during the school day.

Researchers from the Kansas University Center on Disabilities (KUCD), part of the Life Span Institute, with colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received a $3.3 million, five-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences in 2020 for the Propel Project. The project supported schools to use the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction and Peer Supports, two evidence-backed practices for students with disabilities. Before this research, there had been little focus on combining and evaluating these approaches with autistic students.

“The goal was to figure out the most effective ways to support autistic students during this critical phase of life, transitioning from high school to adult roles and responsibilities,” said Karrie Shogren, Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education, director of KUCD and principal investigator for the project. “We know autistic students don’t always get access to supports to connect with their peers and build goals and action plans for their future. Combining the SDLMI and PS was a way to bring together general education teachers, special education teachers, support staff, autistic students and their peers.”

The research team tested this approach in 32 schools across three states, including Kansas. Schools were randomly assigned, trained and supported to either use SDLMI, PS or SDLMI + PS.  

• SDLMI is an evidence-based practice that enables general and special education teachers to support students to identify goals, build action plans and solve problems they run into as they work toward transition goals. 
• PS is an evidence-based practice that is used in general education classrooms to connect students with and without disabilities and build shared social and learning supports.  
• In SDLMI + PS, special educators supported autistic students with SDLMI to set individualized transition goals, and general educators supported their inclusive classes to use PS and added a brief version of the SDLMI with all their students to set group goals.

To share critical findings, Propel Project researchers are publishing a Special Series with five papers in the journal, Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals. Many faculty, staff, graduate students and lived experience experts have been part of developing the papers. At KU, this included Shogren, Tyler Hicks, Lindsay Rentschler, Hsiang Yu Chien, Abdulaziz Alsaeed, Natalie Nordby Chen, Kayla Malone, Lauren Bruno and Stone Addams of KUCD. 

Aso contributing are Kara Hume, Barbara Bossen and Delia Kan of UNC, Tzu-Wei Wang of Virginia Commonwealth University and Mehmet Karatas of Istanbul University, Turkey.

The first two studies were just published, and the remaining are forthcoming.

The first paper used traditional methods to see if there were differences across the three approaches. Overall, the researchers found effects on students’ social, transition and goal attainment outcomes, but the effects did not differ across SDLMI, PS or SDLMI + PS. 

However, the second paper looked at how implementation went in the schools.

“We know these approaches can all benefit students, but when we looked at if schools were able to support the collaboration needed for SDLMI + PS, we found that this was really hard,” Shogren said. “Overall, it was really difficult for teachers, especially general education teachers, to find time to do this in inclusive classes. We all know teachers are asked to do a lot. Adding something to their already full plate is a big ask, especially for general educators. 

“Having buy-in from administrators to carve out time during the school day was where we saw the most success. Time is a big challenge. But when schools were able to make time and build supports for teachers and students — there were positive impacts that were important for autistic students.”

Future papers in the series will highlight how, in schools that were able to successfully implement SDLMI, PS or SDLMI + PS, teachers and students generally had positive feedback and saw real impacts. 

Rentschler, an assistant research professor at KUCD and lead author of the third paper in the series on the social validity of the interventions, said, “By and large, teachers and students saw the value in the interventions and highlighted how this was a real benefit for autistic students. Many autistic students in the study reported feeling more empowered to direct their own future and increased their social connections across campus.”

The feedback, combined with a decade of previous research confirming the benefits of the SDLMI with students with a wide range of disabilities, suggests the importance of continuing to build implementation supports for teachers and schools to use the SDLMI and PS.

The remaining papers in the special series will highlight what social and academic engagement looks like in inclusive secondary classrooms for autistic students and how autistic students’ goal attainment can be understood and enhanced, including through more effective assessment of progress toward highly individualized goals using artificial intelligence.

“One of the challenges in transition research is that success can look very different for every student,” said Hicks, research associate professor at KUCD and lead author of the fifth paper in the series. “Goal Attainment Scaling gives us a tool to respect those individualized goals while still evaluating whether interventions are working. Our work shows how newer statistical approaches can help researchers distinguish real changes in student outcomes from changes in how goals are being set and measured in schools.”

Overall, this large-scale research project has important implications for teachers and schools as well as ongoing research.

“We can confidently say it is worth investing the time to support autistic students using the SDLMI and PS,” Shogren said. “But we need to continue to partner with schools to build implementation supports that enable teachers to use evidence-based practices to align their instruction with what autistic students need and want as they plan for transition.”