Exploring Post-School Outcomes across Time Out of School for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

While one generally assumes the longer one is out of school the more positive his or her outcomes this may be, this may not be accurate. Little research systematically explores the relationship between time after exiting high school and post-school outcomes, especially for students with disabilities. This study represented a secondary analysis of the NLTS2 aimed at understanding the immediate and long-term post-school outcomes of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the relationship among those outcomes. The main findings suggest positive results for some post-school outcomes examined when considering improved success the longer one was out of school (e.g., attending and graduating from post-secondary education and employment). However, inconsistent, at best, and negative, at worst, results were found for working full time and wage earning the longer one with ASD is out of high school.