Examining the quality of life outcomes and supports of autistic people, particularly without proxies, is important to inform research and service delivery -- not only for it to be more evidenced-based, but also to ensure services and supports are successfully supporting autistic people in ways that are important to them. The aim of this…

Autistic children tend to show divergent social information processing, and controversies exist regarding the mechanisms underlying this processing. In this article, we summarize and categorize the current theories and evidence related to hypo- and hyperarousal accounts of social information processing in autism. The hypo-arousal account proposes…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in less physical activity than typically-developing peers. This can result in serious negative consequences for individual well-being and may contribute to the physical, behavioral, and emotional challenges associated with ASD. This study explored the potential benefits of trainer-led,…

Individual education plan (IEP) quality is a strong predictor of student outcomes and progress towards their goals. In the Republic of Ireland, unlike many other jurisdictions, IEPs are not compulsory, regulated or assessed. Therefore, the aim of our co-produced, mixed-methods study was to identify and understand the IEP priorities of the autistic…

Autistic students are educated in Australia across a variety of contexts and almost all educators use individualized goal-setting as a way of ensuring appropriate accommodations and curriculum modifications. Educators experience similar challenges when developing individualized goals for students, including lack of a standardized process for goal…

Academically talented students with autism, also known as twice-exceptional students with autism (2eASD), are increasingly identified in school. These students present challenges to educators who attempt to plan and implement successful instructional opportunities, as teachers' knowledge and use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for students…

To understand the process by which evidence-based practices (EBPs) move from identification as effective through research establishing empirically validated effects, to being routinely adopted to bring about meaningful impact, we examined the selection/adaptation process within a well-established consultation model, COMPASS, applying two…

The aims of this study were to (a) characterize the prevalence and interrelationship of Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals in academic (reading, writing, math) and developmental (language, social skills, behavioral) domains in a large U.S. national sample of autistic children across the elementary and secondary grade levels and (b)…

COMPASS is an educational intervention aimed at supporting individualised goal setting for students on the autism spectrum. Although its effectiveness is supported by quantitative data, little qualitative research has explored the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing COMPASS with community consultants. In the present qualitative…

Individual education programs (IEPs) are the cornerstone of special education programs. The persistence of poor in- and post-school outcomes for students with significant disabilities highlights the importance of developing well-designed IEPs to address their multifaceted needs. We conducted a content analysis of IEPs for 150 high school students…

Many autistic children receive special education services via Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that include specific educational goals and needs. Prior research has examined programming options available to support autistic students, but less is known about their educational needs across academic and developmental educational goals.…

This study examined the use of a peer-mediated instruction and intervention (PMI) model combined with the use of a visual schedule as a way of supporting academic engagement and social interactions of secondary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A multiple-baseline across participants design (Kazdin, 2011) was used to determine effects…

In non-autistic children, academic skills are associated with academic enablers (motivation, engagement, study/interpersonal skills), but few studies have explored these in autistic children. This study identified profiles of academic skills and enablers in autistic students and explored the trajectory of each profile over time. Teachers completed…

The educational services available for fully included middle schoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general education setting in the United States are not well known. Even less is known about how the executive functioning (EF) deficits of such youth are addressed in the classroom. The current study sought to identify the challenges,…

Understanding how different environmental arrangements can affect academic performance and engagement is critical for developing effective and efficient instructional strategies. The current study examined the influence of five environmental arrangements (no-interaction, distractor, escape, attention, and tangible conditions) on the rate of…