“Don’t be in your own head too much”: how autistic first-year students build academic and social support

Miller, Jennifer Rebbecca (2023) “Don’t be in your own head too much”: how autistic first-year students build academic and social support. Doctoral thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

An increasing number of autistic students attend U.S. universities, and higher education must meet their support needs. Existing literature frames research using a medical model of autism and is limited surrounding how autistic students form academic and social bonds during their first-year transition. This qualitative study examines 13 autistic students’ transition to the university and takes a strengths-based look at how they build academic and social support. I center autistic students’ lived experiences using a disability studies and neurodivergent paradigm conceptual framework and a grounded theory methodological approach. I collect and analyze data using constructivist grounded theory methods, including intensive interviews and iterative strategies. The result is a core process model of Autistic Self-Judging and Adapting that describes students’ experience of stress during social situations and the mediators to that process. I also describe how autistic first-year students build academic and social support and identify support facilitators and barriers. I recommend that administrators, staff, and faculty understand and study the effects of the core process of Autistic Self-Judging and Adapting as it can have far-reaching effects beyond any specific program or policy. I additionally recommend that universities consider specific adaptations to address the facilitators and barriers to support.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	academic support; autism; first-year transition; grounded theory; neurodivergent; social support; autistic college students
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Education > Educational Leadership
Date Deposited:	22 May 2025 17:36
Last Modified:	22 May 2025 17:36
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6170

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