Incorporating Preference Assessment into Transition Planning for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle with communicating preferences integral to the transition planning process. Systematic preference assessments (SPAs) are objective methods for observing and documenting learner responses to a variety of environmental stimuli. An extensive literature-base exists supporting the inclusion of SPAs when identifying potentially reinforcing stimuli for educational programming. Although these methodologies are effective, in the transition planning process they may be useful beyond identifying potentially reinforcing stimuli. The following commentary provides an overview of the transition planning process, as well as how preference assessment may enhance that process. Postschool outcomes for individuals with disabilities are especially poor when compared to their typically developing peers, but the statistics for those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are exceptionally unfortunate. Results from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) indicate that individuals with ASD are overwhelmingly under and unemployed (i.e., only 37% employed at the time of interview), experience extremely low rates of engagement in their community (i.e., 29% of individuals with ASD have no engagement in their community), and more than half (i.e., 52%) report having not seen friends outside of work or school (Newman, Wagner, Cameto, & Knokey, 2009). Similarly, Farley et al. (2018) found that that 72% of participants with ASD required high levels of caregiver support in their daily lives (i.e., extensive help with social contacts and employment sites, total control of economic affairs, lives with relatives), and 69% required high levels of public support (i.e., resided in supported living, group home or institution, day center, or had a personal assistant). Fortunately, there are a number of evidence-based transition predictors that may improve these dismal post school outcomes (Mazzotti et al., 2016). A number of these predic-tors (e.g., career awareness) can even be incorporated into a student's transition planning and services while they are still in high school, and served under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The transition services a student receives in high school can be defined as a coordinated set of activities that include assessment, goal development, and preparation for postsecondary experiences (Kochhar-Bryant & Greene, 2009). As learners with ASD enter secondary education, curricular decisions should become increasingly focused on post-secondary outcomes and transition services. To ensure that students are receiving effective services , IDEA (, 2004) specifies that transition services must be (a) coordinated; (b) results oriented; (c) based on learner need; (d) take into account learner strengths, preferences and values; and (e) include instruction that may lead to successful post-secondary outcomes. Indeed, Indicator 13 of IDEA measures the "percent of youth aged 16 and above with an IEP that includes coordinated , measurable, annual IEP goals and transition services that will reasonably enable the child to meet the post-secondary goals" (20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(B)). This requires that the student's IEP has appropriate, measurable postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessment in the areas of training, education, employment , and, where appropriate, independent living (IDEA, 2004; Section 300.302).