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Identifying School-Based Factors that Predict Employment Outcomes for Transition-Age Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

There is a growing need to provide appropriate services to help students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) transition to employment. Limited research has investigated what aspects of support should be prioritized when preparing youth with ASD for employment. By conducting structural equation modeling using a nationally-representative dataset on high school students receiving special education services (NLTS-2), this study examined the malleable predictors of employment during the transition and developed a model to examine the relationships between predictors and employment outcomes. The findings suggested two pathways for youth with ASD. For youth with higher daily functioning skills (DFS), academic performance mediated the relationship between parent participation and employment. For youth with lower DFS, school-based transition supports was the key mediator.

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Acknowledgments

This study was part of Jasin Wong’s dissertation at Boston University. We would like to thank the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education who provided the access to the nationally-representative dataset (NLTS-2) for the secondary analysis.

Funding

This work was supported in by the Studying Abroad Scholarship by Ministry of Education, Taiwan to Jasin Wong. Jasin Wong also received support from the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College, at Boston University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA

    Jasin Wong

  2. Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago, USA

    Jasin Wong

  3. Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University, Boston, USA

    Wendy J. Coster, Ellen S. Cohn & Gael I. Orsmond

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  1. Jasin Wong
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  2. Wendy J. Coster
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Correspondence to Jasin Wong.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the author’s institutional research committee (BLINDED FOR REVIEW) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Wong, J., Coster, W.J., Cohn, E.S. et al. Identifying School-Based Factors that Predict Employment Outcomes for Transition-Age Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 60–74 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04515-2

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