Norah Richards, Liz Pellicano, Emeline Han, Jess Spiegler & Laura Crane
https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543261442123
Norah’s first paper asks practitioners for two things in transitions out of school. To plan with, nor for autistic young people; and to measure success against what young people and families actually want. It is too easy for professionals to give too much value to cultural milestones (and metrics) like employment or independent living.
The team’s review of 25 reviews brings our attention to the lack of work on learning-disability and autism and even less on other intersectionalities like race, gender or income. These 25 reviews themselves covered 435 studies.
It is striking that very few of these considered long-term outcomes like education or employment, living arrangements, and quality of life. What is probably more worrying is that research continues to focus on individual and biological factors, instead of looking at what works in societies and environments. A lot of research is being done on large data models, but this hides the complexity of people’s lives; perhaps this is why ‘what works’ doesn’t get replicated, it misses the relationships and joined-up systems that give people choice and a voice.
Four themes were identified in this collection of research
- Voice and choice shape transition: despite autistic young people not often being involved in the analysis of their own accounts, some priorities can still be seen. They wish to be supported in making meaningful decisions. They want to be equal partners in planning. They value practical help and knowing who to turn to. But all these opportunities seem rare.
Alongside this, parents are essential; frequently carrying out coordination work when systems are not up to scratch. - Relationships and trust enable progress: young people value a support network that knows them well. Rapid staff turn-over can lead to instability. Much research in this area has been focused on single-site studies and simple measures, which leads to the conclusion that evidence about support interventions is inconsistent.
- Joined up systems create community: transitions work when there is collaboration across services, when they are not, support collapses. Most reviews show the problems with siloed supports.
- Access and advantage shape who benefits: those taking part in research were skewed towards being White, male and middle income. Higher family education was sometimes linked to more involvement in decision making and better transitions. There was only one review that looked at the intersection of ethnic minority autistic young people. Autistic people with a learning disability were also less likely to be part of research, limiting what we can say about whether support is effective.
Meta-reviews like this can help shape recommendations for practice, research and policy… as well as pointing out the gaps in what we know.
Richards, N., Pellicano, E., Han, E., Spiegler, J., & Crane, L. (2026). Transition Out of School for Autistic Young People: An Umbrella Review. Review of Educational Research.