Impact of Setting and Instructional Context for Adolescents With Autism

The present study describes the instructional contexts and activities of adolescents with autism in inclusive and self-contained settings for mathematics and language arts instruction using a descriptive statistics design. In the study, 15 adolescents with autism, and 30 peers of these students, participated. All students were observed over the school year in 50-min intervals each during math and language arts instruction to document student participation in learning situations as well as learning partners, curriculum usage, and instructional formats for students with and without autism in different education settings. Findings indicate between-group differences for those adolescents participating in inclusive and self-contained settings, notably the amount of time spent on breaks and engaged in curricular activities, although differences between students with autism and their peers were not significant. Implications and future directions are discussed.