Students with intellectual disability going to college: What are the outcomes? A pilot study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Postsecondary education (PSE) programs for students with intellectual disability (ID) have been increasing in recent years. Career development and skills for independent living are frequently cited objectives of PSE programs (Grigal, Hart, & Weir, 2012) yet evidence for the immediate effects of these programs is sparse.

OBJECTIVE:

In this study we conducted an initial investigation to monitor changes in independence during a one year period for six students with intellectual disability (ID) participating in an inclusive postsecondary education program.

METHODS:

Adaptive behaviors and support needs were measured using the Scale of Independent Behaviors-Revised (SIB-R; Bruininks Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill, 1996), the Support Intensity Scale (SIS, Thompson et al., 2004), and weekly hours of support provided to the students were directly measured. A single group, pre-post design was used to compare measures of independence from the beginning and end of the academic year.

RESULTS:

Initial results, in the form of descriptive statistics, show evidence that students, living on a college campus and participating in a PSE program, learn to function in ways that reduce the needs for support without limiting participation in inclusive activities.

CONCLUSION:

Recommendations for improving impact assessments of PSE programs are also discussed.

Keywords

Intellectual disability independence adaptive behavior person-centered planning

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