Developing a Participatory Mentorship Program for and with Autistic College Students: Project Reach@CSI

Background: Autistic students are increasingly entering college, where they face difficulties self-advocating, self-regulating, developing social relationships, and managing time (Gelbar et al., 2014; Elias & White, 2017). Autistic students often have strengths they can use to overcome challenges, including systemizing skills, detail orientation, sincerity, and focus (Gobbo & Shmulsky, 2015). While autistic students are less likely to enroll in college than students with most other disabilities (Shattuck et al., 2017), they may be more likely to persist in college (Wei et al., 2013). However, very little remains known about factors that support their success in college. Supports for autistic college students are often neither evidence-based nor informed by their perspectives (Barnhill, 2016). Although promising reports about programs for autistic students have emerged (Kudder & Accardo, 2018), prior research, including our work examining earlier iterations of our program (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2017), has not examined academic improvements associated with programming or provided sufficient opportunities for autistic students to develop self-advocacy skills by guiding program development.

Objectives: Evaluate a participatory mentorship program in which neurodivergent students play leadership roles in developing, delivering, and evaluating programming.

Methods: Our program is designed for autistic students but open to other neurodiverse students. Programming is free for students who can consent to complete assessments (e.g., interviews, standardized assessments and writing activities) for gift cards, but are under no obligation to provide data to participate. Students choose to attend an hour per week of one-on-one mentorship, structured group meetings, or both (recommended). Although our goal since program inception in 2013 was for it to be participatory, becoming truly participatory took time. The current study focuses on data collected after our most recent program evaluation in Summer 2015 (Hotez et al., 2018). Thirteen students with disabilities (11 autistic) have become mentors thus far. In Fall 2016, we formed a participatory research group to guide assessment/curriculum development.

Results: Of the 46 students who signed consents since Fall 2015, 38 were autistic (the focus of analyses; 92% Male; 61% White; M NVIQ = 96; M SRS-A = 69.87). Two autistic students did not continue past pre-tests. Students averaged 20.4 years when joining REACH; 93% continued for a year or more. Group curriculum is selected/developed based on individual computerized needs assessments and group discussions at the beginning of each term (see Table 1 for student-identified needs). Analysis of GPA changes associated with joining REACH revealed that the GPA of students who had been in college before joining REACH improved from the semester before (M=2.80) to the semester they joined (M = 3.10; p = .02); students enrolled in REACH attained higher GPAs than college norms their first semester in REACH (p = .04). Qualitative analysis of interviews and weekly mentor logs highlight empowering aspects of our participatory model.

Conclusions: By collaborating with autistic students, we have developed increasingly socially valid and engaging programming; students have gained valuable skills as mentors, researchers, and speakers on campus and at local and international conferences. Programming for autistic college students should build from their strengths.