Self-Determination in Autistic Transition-Aged Youth without Intellectual Disability.
Brianne Tomaszewski, Laura G Klinger, Cara E Pugliese
PMID 34536165WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic youth rated their self-determination skills higher than parents did, but both groups agreed that home opportunities exceeded school ones.
Fewer executive function problems and less depression linked to better self-reported skills. Discrepancies mean you need both perspectives to plan transitions.
Key findings
01Students reported significantly higher self-determination capacity and home opportunities, but fewer school opportunities, than their parents reported.
02Lower student-reported depression and fewer student-reported executive function problems were associated with greater student-reported capacity for self-determination.
03There was only a small significant association between student and parent reports of capacity, indicating low concordance between the two perspectives.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that executive function or depression causes changes in self-determination, only that they are linked at one point in time. Data was missing for some measures, particularly student-reported executive function (only 47 participants) and IQ (106 participants), so those findings rest on smaller subgroups. The study combined two different versions of the executive function measure (BRIEF-2 and BRIEF-A) and two different depression scales across sites, which may introduce measurement inconsistency. The sample was predominantly White (71%) and male (76%), so results may not generalize to other backgrounds. The study did not track previous services received, so it is unclear if prior interventions influenced the self-determination ratings.
Declared interests
Not reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that parent reports of self-determination are inaccurate or that youth self-reports are the only valid perspective. The low correlation between groups means they are measuring different aspects of the experience, so both are needed for a complete picture.