A Support Program for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Functioning of Participants Versus Non-Participants and the Role of Program-Sponsored Mentoring

<p>Increasingly more students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending college. In response, many colleges are now offering these students the extra support of an Autism Support Program (ASP), many of which include a mentoring component. This study is one of only a handful of attempts to examine these programs empirically. Using a small sample of college students who identified as having ASD, I compared participants and non-participants of a university ASP. An online survey was used to assess demographic characteristics and pre-college academic performance, as well as students’ functioning across the following domains: social, adaptive, academic, emotional, and having a natural mentor. I also examined the degree to which student functioning was associated with the quality and frequency of ASP-sponsored mentoring relationships. Results indicated ASP participants were more often men and likely to report higher levels of social, adaptive, academic, and emotional functioning than non-participants. There were few significant correlations between relationship quality or frequency with ASP mentors and students’ functioning. The implications of these findings for future research and for recruiting students into ASPs is discussed. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Mapes, Ayla Raven

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cavell, Timothy A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bridges, Ana J.
• Greene, Aleza

• Autism
• Autism Support Program
• Mentoring
• Counseling Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Higher Education
• Psychiatric and Mental Health
• Special Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2990

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-4540