UNC TEACCH Efficacy of a Community College Transition Program for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, North Carolina, 2019-2021

The UNC TEACCH project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the TEACCH School Transition to Employment and Postsecondary Education Program (T-STEP) intervention for young adults aged 16 to 21 with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) enrolled in community colleges. Over the course of three years, the study has several objectives:

Conduct a pilot study to refine the T-STEP intervention based on stakeholder feedback, ensuring its suitability and practicality in a community college setting.
Evaluate the efficacy of the T-STEP intervention in both in-person and online formats, with 45 young adults with ASD receiving the intervention and 45 in a waitlist control group.
Investigate the characteristics of individuals who benefit most from the program.
Describe employment and college outcomes three months after program completion.

Expected outcomes of the intervention include improvements in executive function/organization, social communication, emotion regulation, and self-advocacy/self-determination skills. The study also aims to identify which individuals benefit most from the T-STEP intervention and whether there is an increased rate of employment and/or college success at follow-up.
The anticipated deliverables include conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and an intervention manual that is both socially valid and evidence-based, facilitating its broad implementation across community college campuses.