Author: Leanne Gerekaroff
Gerekaroff, Leanne, 2025 Social Communication Planning: the Experiences of Autistic Young People Transitioning from School to Employment, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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Transition planning is not robust enough to meet the social communication needs of autistic young people moving to adulthood. Schools and policy makers need to address the social communication gap to ensure inclusionary educational practices and prepare autistic young people with the life skills required to thrive in tertiary education, employment and community life.
The transition from primary to secondary school is understood by the community as a huge step for autistic young people, however, there appears to be less transition planning supports, moving from middle school to senior secondary school. Even less is known about how transition planning works in preparing autistic senior secondary students for tertiary education, employment and community life.
As autistic young people transition into senior secondary school, the social and communication expectations of their peers, their teachers and the wider community increases. For many autistic young people this creates further challenges, as they may struggle with making social communication connections in tertiary education settings and in the community which may lead to less employment opportunities.
My original contribution to autism research and inclusive education is to make heard the voices of autistic young people in relation to the social communication skills they want and recognise are critical to be an active part of society. Secondly, to convey to policy makers and schools that the key to inclusion and capacity building in schools relies on building teachers’ knowledge and increasing policy makers’ commitment and support of planning beyond school for autistic young people.
This research investigated the lived experiences of thirteen autistic senior secondary students and autistic young adults in relation to their social communication transition planning from school to work. In gathering an in-depth picture, twelve parents of autistic senior secondary students and autistic young adults and twenty-seven educators who taught autistic senior secondary students were interviewed as well, with the purpose of developing an understanding of how autistic young peoples, transition planning had prepared them for tertiary education, employment and community life.
Using an interpretive method to unpack the autistic voice, their parents’ and educators’ views, and applying a case-study design, each case was investigated separately, and similar findings were linked between the participants. In doing so, key indicators for investigating what successful transition planning looked like, focused on student-centred transition planning, self-determination, social communication core skills for work and supports available over a person’s life span.
Reflections from the autistic senior secondary student and autistic young adults revealed that they all struggled at school, experienced limited peer and teacher connections at school, found difficulties in mainstream education due to social communication barriers, and were unsure about what conversations they had about their plans after school and what they did at school to help with transition to tertiary education or work. They recognised that social communication skills development occurred out of school through mentors and expressed their willingness to learn social communication skills.
Parents rely on external funding models to support transition and life skill development and want to see a shift in schools’ support to a range of social communication life skills rather than just academic ones.
Educators suggested that more work is needed to meet the transition need of students and wanted to know how other schools are meeting this need. Educators indicated that the key to inclusion and capacity building in schools relies on building teachers’ knowledge and increasing policy makers’ commitment and support of planning beyond school for autistic young people.
Transition planning in schools is not meeting this need. As the social communication gap widens for autistic young people moving into adulthood, so does the gap in tertiary education engagement and success, employment and fulfilment in community life.
Keywords: Transition planning, inclusive education, autism, social communication, schools, tertiary education, employment
Subject: Education thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2025
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Associate Professor Kerry Bissaker