A Qualitative Examination of the Impact of COVID-19 on Transition Services for Autistic Youth

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread disturbances in many human and social service programs. Several studies have examined special education programming adaptations since the onset of the pandemic; however, there has yet to be documentation of pandemic-related changes to transition programming and the impact of these changes for autistic youth. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine changes in transition programming for autistic youth amid the changing educational landscape. We conducted 12 interviews with caregivers (n = 5) and school providers (n = 7) about transition programming for autistic youth and the COVID-19 impact to these services. The pandemic had positive and negative effects on many aspects of transition programming, including student-focused planning, student development, interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration, family involvement, and program structure and attributes. Elucidation of the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted transition programming from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders has important implications for school personnel and can help to inform the future directions for the field of transition programming research.