Andrea, working with you at the Center for Academic Success really led me to this dissertation topic; during our meetings we had discussed the majors and outcomes of students with disabilities and those conversations really informed my research idea. It has been a long road and extremely challenging at times, but you all continued to encourage me to continue in this endeavor and provided an abundance of reassurance. The current study used data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study – 2, a longitudinal study of a nationally represented sample of students with disabilities between the years 2000 and 2010.
It was hypothesized that individuals with ASD would prefer courses of study where there was limited social interaction to a greater extent than those with LD or ADHD. In addition, it was hypothesized that students with ASD would be more likely than their LD and ADHD peers to choose fields of study in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Consequently, it appears that other factors or a combination of factors better account for the postsecondary outcomes of students with disabilities.
Moreover, it does not seem justified to direct students with disabilities to choose specific types of academic majors simply because it is assumed that pursuing those majors will result in better postsecondary outcomes.
Introduction
More recent research confirms that completing college continues to be a source of concern for students with disabilities. As a result, it is unclear whether previous results correspond to today's population of students with disabilities. However, recent research using the National Longitudinal Transition Study – 2 (Lee, 2011) suggests that students with disabilities are more likely than students without.
However, previous data show that students with disabilities have slightly different lifetime career achievement goals than those without disabilities. Students with disabilities seem to prioritize social concerns and creative contributions more than their peers without disabilities. Consequently, among the general population of students, this trend appears to affect students with disabilities.
In the Science and Computer Science majors, the concentration of students with ASD was particularly high.
Literature Review
In addition, Lee (2011) cited transition planning provisions in individualized education plans (IEPs) of students leaving high school as a reason for increased rates of students with disabilities in higher education. Without help, students with ADHD are likely to struggle with many. The survey, which only included students with special needs, also found that completing a postsecondary education lessens the financial burden.
This is in contrast to 37% of students with disabilities who identified as Hispanic and 33% who. Horn and Berktold (1999) specifically indicated that students with disabilities are more likely to delay their enrollment in higher education by at least a year. This recommendation is especially true for students with disabilities, as they were more likely to misfit than their peers without disabilities.
As a result of federal legislation, students with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations from institutions of higher education. Consequently, much of the research in the field has evaluated services provided to students with disabilities. Approaches that change students, in particular, have been linked to the success of students with disabilities.
Method
In this study, all remaining NLTS2 field of study categories were considered non-STEM majors. In the analyses, the mean communication scores (see Appendix D) for each field of study were used. Defining the scope of study based on the amount of social interaction required also resulted in some variability.
Consequently, using field of study as a proxy variable the indirect effect of disability on degree. It was predicted that the domain of study for those with ASD would be significantly different from those with LD and ADHD. In addition, the direct effect of ADHD instead of ASD on the domain of study based on the required level of social interaction was also evaluated in path model 1.
Consequently, the difference in study area between those with LD and ADHD based on social interaction was not expected. The direct effect was determined based on the path coefficient for the straight arrow pointing from LD to the study area based on social interaction. A significant path coefficient would indicate that there was a significant difference in the study area regarding the level of social interaction between those with LD and ADHD.
The direct effect was determined based on the path coefficient of the straight arrow leading from LD and pointing to the STEM or non-STEM field of study. Significant path coefficients would indicate significant differences in degree completion based on whether a student chose a STEM or non-STEM field of study or the amount of social interaction required in the chosen fields of study. First, using Path Model 1, the indirect effect of LD, as opposed to ASD, on degree completion based on choice of STEM or non-STEM field of study was estimated.
Similarly, the indirect effect of LD rather than ASD on degree completion, based on the social interaction required within a study area, was evaluated. In addition, the indirect effect of LD, in contrast to ADHD, on degree completion based on the social interaction required for fields of study was also assessed.
Results
Since there was no variation in the results using different methods, the results described are based on the models originally proposed. However, it is important to note that ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the models rather than binary logistic regression as suggested. When attempting to analyze the path models using binary logistic regression, they would not run, so comparisons using both least squares and binary logistic regressions with simpler models were analyzed.
There was no variation in the results, so the path models were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression. A description of the specific findings for each of the research questions and hypotheses follows. The first path coefficients analyzed involved determining whether disability type was related to career.
Disability type in relation to career interest
Given the characteristics and diagnostic criteria for LD and ADHD, it seemed unlikely that social interaction would be inherently challenging for individuals with these disorders. As hypothesized, the selection of postsecondary fields of study based on level of social interaction did not differ based on whether a. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that students with visual spectrum disorders would choose STEM-related fields of study more often than their counterparts with LD and ADHD.
Using ASD as the reference category, the present results indicated that those with LD as opposed to ASD did not differ significantly in their choice of STEM or non-STEM fields of study (β = .114; p = .907). Non-significant results (β = 0.094; p = 0.947) were also found when assessing the direct effect of ADHD instead of ADHD on choice of STEM or non-STEM major. Research regarding STEM majors among students with LD and ADHD is limited, and as a result, no hypotheses have been formulated regarding preferences for these student populations.
Thus, the large choice in terms of STEM-related fields does not seem to be related to the presence of ADHD or LD. The second research question assessed whether disability type was related to successful completion of postsecondary education.
Disability type in relation to postsecondary success …
Area of study in relation to postsecondary success
With regard to the selection of study areas based on social interaction, the results were similar. Major based on social interaction had no significant relationship with students' ability to graduate, rather than persist or withdraw (β = .066; p = .981), or withdraw from their program, as opposed to graduating or continuing (β = .311). ;p=.927). Consequently, the choice of field of study did not appear to be related to the postsecondary success of students with disabilities.
Mediation of area of study on disability type and postsecondary success …. 69
The purpose of the current study was to determine whether students with ADHD, ASD, and LD differ in terms of their choice of postsecondary field of study and postsecondary success. First, by using the NLTS2 dataset, participants in the current sample are nationally representative of students with disabilities in the United States. Lee (2011) used NLTS2 and the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS 02/06) to evaluate differences between students with and without disabilities in pursuing STEM fields of study.
In contrast, the present study used only students with disabilities to make comparisons between disability categories. Therefore, Lee's (2011) finding that students with disabilities were more likely to pursue STEM fields of study may be different from the current study, because in this. In addition, while the present study examined all the possible majors available to students with disabilities in the NLTS2 data set, Wei et al. 2013) compared the same STEM majors with only two non-STEM categories: social sciences and health.
Although previous research has not yet addressed the relationship between field of study and degree completion for students with disabilities, the results of this study provided results. There has also previously been limited research on the relationship between race and field of study for students with disabilities. Descriptive analyzes by Newman et al. (2011) showed that students with disabilities who identified as White had the highest degree completion rates.
Given the nonsignificant findings of the current study, future research should further examine what contributes most to postsecondary success among college students with disabilities. However, in reality, many college students with disabilities are affected by more than one disorder. Within and since that period, there has been significant growth in the prevalence of university students with disabilities.
Accordingly, students with disabilities will be better served if they are advised in the same. A comparison of postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrollment for students with and without disabilities. What do students with disabilities tell us about the importance of family involvement in the transition from school to adulthood.
Cognitive, academic, and attitudinal predictors of college students' grade point averages with learning disabilities.
Discussion
