Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025)
<p dir="ltr"><b>Purpose:</b> Navigating the postsecondary landscape is a complex and daunting journey for many autistic students due to widespread misconceptions about autism among nonautistic peers and educators. Additionally, barriers to self-advocacy limit students’ ac...
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2025
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| _version_ | 1852018330567704576 |
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| author | Siva priya Santhanam (21673400) |
| author2 | Monica L. Bellon-Harn (21673403) Shubha Kashinath (21673406) Kaitlyn Wilson (21673409) Victoria VanUitert (14790997) Alyssa Barnett (21673412) |
| author2_role | author author author author author |
| author_facet | Siva priya Santhanam (21673400) Monica L. Bellon-Harn (21673403) Shubha Kashinath (21673406) Kaitlyn Wilson (21673409) Victoria VanUitert (14790997) Alyssa Barnett (21673412) |
| author_role | author |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Siva priya Santhanam (21673400) Monica L. Bellon-Harn (21673403) Shubha Kashinath (21673406) Kaitlyn Wilson (21673409) Victoria VanUitert (14790997) Alyssa Barnett (21673412) |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv | 2025-07-21T15:49:57Z |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | 10.23641/asha.29496335.v1 |
| dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv | https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Autistic_students_in_college_Role_of_SLPs_Santhanam_et_al_2025_/29496335 |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv | CC BY-NC 4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | Higher education Speech pathology People with disability speech-language pathologist role autistic students postsecondary education college self-advocacy academics social integration graduate social communication executive functioning personalized supports college students retention success graduation rates scope of practice clinical focus |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | Text Online resource info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion text |
| description | <p dir="ltr"><b>Purpose:</b> Navigating the postsecondary landscape is a complex and daunting journey for many autistic students due to widespread misconceptions about autism among nonautistic peers and educators. Additionally, barriers to self-advocacy limit students’ academic and social integration, ultimately compromising their ability to graduate. Despite these challenges, there remains inadequate support for this population with social communication, executive functioning, and self-advocacy. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are well positioned to reduce existing barriers and provide support to autistic students and their postsecondary communities in these needed areas. This clinical focus article highlights the pivotal role SLPs could play in establishing personalized supports for autistic college students and describes how SLPs can leverage their unique skills to fulfill this role.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Method: </b>Drawing from existing literature, clinical expertise, the neurodiversity framework, and lived experiences of autistic college students, we offer guidelines for the indirect and direct supports that SLPs can provide. In addition, we provide a case example and personalized support plan to illustrate the application of direct supports.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Conclusions: </b>Targeted direct and indirect supports are crucial to autistic students’ retention, success, and graduation rates and to building a welcoming postsecondary community. This article emphasizes how SLP supports for autistic college students fall within the scope of practice and how these supports can be operationalized through the concrete examples provided.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S1. </b>Initial questionnaire/interview.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S2. </b>Sample 2 individualized support plan.</p><p dir="ltr">Santhanam, S. p., Bellon-Harn, M. L., Kashinath, S., Wilson, K., VanUitert, V. & Barnett, A. (2025). The speech-language pathologist’s role in supporting autistic students in postsecondary education settings. <i>American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, </i><i>34</i>(5), 2533–2546. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00467" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00467</a></p> |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| id | Manara_1dc74ac4e5e786c4e6fe0a0bccbc0bbf |
| identifier_str_mv | 10.23641/asha.29496335.v1 |
| network_acronym_str | Manara |
| network_name_str | ManaraRepo |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:figshare.com:article/29496335 |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| repository.mail.fl_str_mv | |
| repository.name.fl_str_mv | |
| repository_id_str | |
| rights_invalid_str_mv | CC BY-NC 4.0 |
| spelling | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025)Siva priya Santhanam (21673400)Monica L. Bellon-Harn (21673403)Shubha Kashinath (21673406)Kaitlyn Wilson (21673409)Victoria VanUitert (14790997)Alyssa Barnett (21673412)Higher educationSpeech pathologyPeople with disabilityspeech-language pathologistroleautistic studentspostsecondary educationcollegeself-advocacyacademicssocial integrationgraduatesocial communicationexecutive functioningpersonalized supportscollege studentsretentionsuccessgraduation ratesscope of practiceclinical focus<p dir="ltr"><b>Purpose:</b> Navigating the postsecondary landscape is a complex and daunting journey for many autistic students due to widespread misconceptions about autism among nonautistic peers and educators. Additionally, barriers to self-advocacy limit students’ academic and social integration, ultimately compromising their ability to graduate. Despite these challenges, there remains inadequate support for this population with social communication, executive functioning, and self-advocacy. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are well positioned to reduce existing barriers and provide support to autistic students and their postsecondary communities in these needed areas. This clinical focus article highlights the pivotal role SLPs could play in establishing personalized supports for autistic college students and describes how SLPs can leverage their unique skills to fulfill this role.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Method: </b>Drawing from existing literature, clinical expertise, the neurodiversity framework, and lived experiences of autistic college students, we offer guidelines for the indirect and direct supports that SLPs can provide. In addition, we provide a case example and personalized support plan to illustrate the application of direct supports.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Conclusions: </b>Targeted direct and indirect supports are crucial to autistic students’ retention, success, and graduation rates and to building a welcoming postsecondary community. This article emphasizes how SLP supports for autistic college students fall within the scope of practice and how these supports can be operationalized through the concrete examples provided.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S1. </b>Initial questionnaire/interview.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S2. </b>Sample 2 individualized support plan.</p><p dir="ltr">Santhanam, S. p., Bellon-Harn, M. L., Kashinath, S., Wilson, K., VanUitert, V. & Barnett, A. (2025). The speech-language pathologist’s role in supporting autistic students in postsecondary education settings. <i>American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, </i><i>34</i>(5), 2533–2546. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00467" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00467</a></p>2025-07-21T15:49:57ZTextOnline resourceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontext10.23641/asha.29496335.v1https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Autistic_students_in_college_Role_of_SLPs_Santhanam_et_al_2025_/29496335CC BY-NC 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/294963352025-07-21T15:49:57Z |
| spellingShingle | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) Siva priya Santhanam (21673400) Higher education Speech pathology People with disability speech-language pathologist role autistic students postsecondary education college self-advocacy academics social integration graduate social communication executive functioning personalized supports college students retention success graduation rates scope of practice clinical focus |
| status_str | publishedVersion |
| title | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| title_full | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| title_fullStr | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| title_short | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| title_sort | Autistic students in college: Role of SLPs (Santhanam et al., 2025) |
| topic | Higher education Speech pathology People with disability speech-language pathologist role autistic students postsecondary education college self-advocacy academics social integration graduate social communication executive functioning personalized supports college students retention success graduation rates scope of practice clinical focus |