Applying Data Science Practices to Identify Characteristics of Postsecondary Autism Support Programs From Their Websites
West, M., Tincani, M., Hantula, D., Hong, S. R., Vucetic, S., & Dragut, E. (2025). Applying Data Science Practices to Identify Characteristics of Postsecondary Autism Support Programs From Their Websites. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-07065-7
This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:
Authors
Abstract
Abstract Purpose An increasing number of autistic students in the United States are seeking post-secondary education. In response, some post-secondary institutions have established Autism Support Programs (ASP) to address the comprehensive needs of this population. There is little up-to-date, comprehensive information about which institutions host these programs, what types of services they offer, and what is required to access them. Methods Expanding on previous research, we introduce a new method, which utilizes established data science techniques, to identify ASPs at post-secondary institutions in the U.S. Our technique also allows us to identify the characteristics of the ASPs, including admissions requirements, cost, structure, and supports offered. Results Results highlight our method is more efficient and more robust than previous methods from the literature. For example, we identify 49 schools hosting ASPs that were not identified in past literature searches. We report on the characteristics of identified ASPs such as application process, most common supports and program cost. Conclusion The bi-directional change in the number of ASPs shows that this is an evolving field, requiring automated tools to enable regular updates to data. Although it is promising that a relative handful of U.S. schools have established these programs, a large majority of post-secondary institutions have not, and for those that host them, barriers to access exist, including the necessity of an ASD diagnosis, coupled with up-front and ongoing costs.
Bibliography cited by this reference
Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.
Cited bibliography overview
These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 08:13.
- With a DOI
- 49
- Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
- 12
- References with detected author names
- 55 / 62 (88.7%)
- Without detected author names
- 7
- Without a structured title
- 11
- Without a stable identifier
- 11
- References with raw author names still to review
- 6
- References with external metadata lookup issues
- 0
- From DOI or external metadata
- 228
- From validated raw bibliography text
- 0
- Raw names already validated
- 0
- Raw names still to review
- 11
-
Nicholas Gelbar , A Shefcyk , Brian Reichow (2015). A comprehensive survey of current and former college students with autism Spectrum disorders . Yale J Biol Med, 88(1), 45.Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W44911854OpenAlex
-
Amy Accardo , S. Jay Kuder , John Woodruff (2019). Accommodations and support services preferred by college students with autism spectrum disorder . Autism, 23(3), 574-583. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Amber D. Lambert , Patrick T. Terenzini , Lisa R. Lattuca (2006). More than meets the eye: Curricular and Programmatic Effects on Student Learning . Research in Higher Education, 48(2), 141-168. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Ru Ying Cai , Amanda Richdale (2016). Educational Experiences and Needs of Higher Education Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(1), 31-41. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Anastasia H. Anderson , Jennifer Stephenson , Mark Carter (2017). A systematic literature review of the experiences and supports of students with autism spectrum disorder in post-secondary education . Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 39(1), 33-53. Elsevier BV.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Shervin Minaee , Nal Kalchbrenner , Erik Cambria , Narjes Nikzad , Meysam Chenaghlu , Jianfeng Gao (2022). Deep Learning--based Text Classification . ACM Computing Surveys, 54(3), 1-40. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon (2009). Fostering Student Success in the Campus Community (review) . Journal of College Student Development, 50(3), 350. Project MUSE.Crossref OpenAlex
-
Anastasia H. Anderson , Mark Carter , Jennifer Stephenson (2018). Perspectives of University Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(3), 651-665. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Theo Bakker , Lydia Krabbendam , Sandjai Bhulai , Sander Begeer (2019). Background and enrollment characteristics of students with autism in higher education . Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 67, 101424. Elsevier BV.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Sharon Gower Small , Larry Medsker (2014). Review of information extraction technologies and applications . Neural Computing and Applications, 25(3-4), 533-548. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Kristy A. Anderson , Collette Sosnowy , Alice A. Kuo , Paul Shattuck (2018). Transition of Individuals With Autism to Adulthood: A Review of Qualitative Studies . Pediatrics, 141(Supplement_4), S318-S327. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Nick Craswell , Onno Zoeter , Michael A. Taylor , Bill Ramsey (2008). An experimental comparison of click position-bias models . Proceedings of the international conference on Web search and web data mining - WSDM '08, 87. ACM Press.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Autism-Specific College Support Programs (ASPs). (2025). College Autism Network. https://can.softr.app/#aspType: OtherCrossref
-
(2012). 2.64% of South Korean children aged 7 to 12 have autism spectrum disorders . Evidence Based Mental Health, 15(1), 11-11. BMJ.Type: Article DOI: 10.1136/ebmental-2011-100289 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10101532OpenCitations
-
Anne M. Roux , Paul Shattuck , Benjamin P. Cooper , Kristy A. Anderson , Mary Wagner , Sarah C. Narendorf (2013). Postsecondary Employment Experiences Among Young Adults With an Autism Spectrum Disorder . Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(9), 931-939. Elsevier BV.OpenAlex
-
Li-Hsueh Chen (2019). Do colleges around low income areas accept more low income students? Evidence from California State Universities . Applied Economics Letters, 26(7), 601-603. Informa UK Limited.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Gena P. Barnhill (2016). Supporting Students With Asperger Syndrome on College Campuses . Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 31(1), 3-15. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Theo Bakker , Lydia Krabbendam , Sandjai Bhulai , Martijn Meeter , Sander Begeer (2023). Predicting academic success of autistic students in higher education . Autism, 27(6), 1803-1816. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Scott L. J. Jackson , Logan Hart , Jane Thierfeld Brown , Fred R. Volkmar (2018). Brief Report: Self-Reported Academic, Social, and Mental Health Experiences of Post-Secondary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(3), 643-650. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Mai Dwairy , Anthony C Dowell , Jean-Claude Stahl (2011). The application of foraging theory to the information searching behaviour of general practitioners . BMC Family Practice, 12(1), 1. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Donald Hantula , Diane DiClemente Brockman , Carter L. Smith (2008). Online Shopping as Foraging: The Effects of Increasing Delays on Purchasing and Patch Residence . IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 51(2), 147-154. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
S. Pilling , I. Anderson (2012). TREAD adds little to the evidence . BMJ, 345(jul03 1), e4490-e4490. BMJ.OpenAlex
-
Joseph B. Berger (2002). The Influence of the Organizational Structures of Colleges and Universities on College Student Learning . Peabody Journal of Education, 77(3), 40-59. Informa UK Limited.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Tiago S. Jesus (2022). Rigour and transparency in the family of systematic reviews: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management encourages prospective protocol registration . The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 37(5), 2523-2527. Wiley.OpenCitations
-
J Brunton (2018). Brunton, J. (2018). The administrative home for university sport and active recreation: One approach doesn’t fit all. Journal of Higher Education Management, 33(2), 47–61. Journal of Higher Education Management, 33(2), 47.Type: OtherCrossref
-
Matthew J. Maenner , Zachary Warren , Ashley Robinson Williams , Esther Amoakohene , Amanda V. Bakian , Deborah A. Bilder et al. (2023). Prevalence and Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2020 . MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 72(2), 1-14. Centers for Disease Control MMWR Office.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Ernst VanBergeijk , Ami Klin , Fred Volkmar (2008). Supporting More Able Students on the Autism Spectrum: College and Beyond . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(7), 1359-1370. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Sloane Burgess , Robert E. Cimera (2014). Employment Outcomes of Transition-Aged Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A State of the States Report . American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 119(1), 64-83. Informa UK Limited.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Stephen R. Porter (2006). INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT . Research in Higher Education, 47(5), 521-558. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
S. Pilling , Simon Baron-Cohen , O. Megnin-Viggars , R. Lee , Carol Taylor , on behalf of the guideline development group (2012). Recognition, referral, diagnosis, and management of adults with autism: summary of NICE guidance . BMJ, 344(jun27 1), e4082-e4082. BMJ.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Brett Ranon Nachman *Autistic author. Learn more… , Catherine McDermott , Bradley E. Cox *Autistic author. Learn more… (2022). Brief Report: Autism-Specific College Support Programs: Differences Across Geography and Institutional Type . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(2), 863-870. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
-
College programs. (2023). College Autism Spectrum. https://collegeautismspectrum.com/collegeprograms/Type: OtherCrossref
-
Paula J Rudall (2020). Colourful cones: how did flower colour first evolve? Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(3), 759-767. Oxford University Press (OUP).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Veronica P. Fleury , Susan Hedges , Kara Hume , Diane M. Browder , Julie L. Thompson , Kathy Fallin et al. (2014). Addressing the Academic Needs of Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder in Secondary Education . Remedial and Special Education, 35(2), 68-79. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Bradley E. Cox *Autistic author. Learn more… , Kerry Thompson , Amelia Anderson , Amanda Mintz , Taylor Locks , Lindee Morgan et al. (2017). College Experiences for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Personal Identity, Public Disclosure, and Institutional Support . Journal of College Student Development, 58(1), 71-87. Project MUSE.
-
Dushyant Sharma , Rishabh Shukla , Anil Kumar Giri , Sumit Kumar (2019). A Brief Review on Search Engine Optimization . 2019 9th International Conference on Cloud Computing, Data Science & Engineering (Confluence), 687-692. IEEE.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Young Shin Kim , Bennett L. Leventhal , Yun-Joo Koh , Éric Fombonne , Eugene Laska , Eun-Chung Lim et al. (2011). Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Total Population Sample . American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(9), 904. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.Crossref OpenAlex
-
Mariya T. Davis , Gavin W. Watts , Eric J. López (2021). A systematic review of firsthand experiences and supports for students with autism spectrum disorder in higher education . Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 84(1), 101769. Elsevier BV.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Amit Kumar Jaiswal , Prayag Tiwari , M. Shamim Hossain (2023). Predicting users’ behavior using mouse movement information: an information foraging theory perspective . Neural Computing and Applications, 35(33), 23767-23780. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Katherine E. Pickard , Brooke R. Ingersoll (2015). From Research Settings to Parents . Clinical Psychological Science, 3(2), 256-269. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Derek K. Nord , Roger J. Stancliffe , Kelly Nye-Lengerman , Amy S. Hewitt (2016). Employment in the community for people with and without autism: A comparative analysis . Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 24, 11-16. Elsevier BV.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
NW Gelbar (2015). Gelbar, N. W., Shefcyk, A., & Reichow, B. (2015). A comprehensive survey of current and former college students with autism spectrum disorders. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 88(1), 45. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 88(1), 45.Type: OtherCrossref
-
K. E. Weick (1974). Amendments to Organizational Theorizing. Academy of Management Journal, 17(3), 487-502. Academy of Management.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Ralph Grishman (2015). Information Extraction . IEEE Intelligent Systems, 30(5), 8-15. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Marc Najork (2009). Web Crawler Architecture . In Encyclopedia of Database Systems (pp. 3462-3465). Springer US.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Holly Hodges , Casey Fealko , Neelkamal Soares (2020). Autism spectrum disorder: definition, epidemiology, causes, and clinical evaluation . Translational Pediatrics, 9(S1), S55-S65. AME Publishing Company.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Debbie Spain , Jacqueline Sin , Kai B. Linder , Johanna McMahon , Francesca Happé (2018). Social anxiety in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review . Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 52(9), 51-68. Elsevier BV.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U. S. C. § 1400 (2004).Type: OtherCrossref
-
Omer Nevo , Diary Razafimandimby , Juan Antonio James Jeffrey , Stefan Schulz , Manfred Ayasse (2018). Fruit scent as an evolved signal to primate seed dispersal . Science Advances, 4(10), eaat4871-eaat4871. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
C King (2021). King, C., & Piotrowski, C. (2021). Navigating the ADA accessibility requirements and legal pitfalls in online education. College Student Journal, 55(2), 127–134. College Student Journal, 55(2), 127.Type: OtherCrossref
-
Omer Nevo , Kim Valenta , Diary Razafimandimby , Amanda D. Melin , Manfred Ayasse , Colin A. Chapman (2018). Frugivores and the evolution of fruit colour . Biology Letters, 14(9), 20180377. The Royal Society.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Le, Q., & Mikolov, T. (2014). Distributed representations of sentences and documents. In International conference on machine learning (pp. 1188–1196). PMLR.Type: OtherCrossref
-
M Mitchell (2019). Mitchell, M., Leachman, M., & Saenz, M. (2019). State higher education funding cuts have pushed costs to students, worsened inequality. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 24, 9–15. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 24, 9.Type: OtherCrossref
-
Lori A. Wischnewsky (2023). Empowering Autistic College Students: Recommendations Based on a Review of the Literature and Existing Support Programs . Journal of College Academic Support Programs, 6(1), 10. Texas State University.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). IPEDS. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Type: OtherCrossref
-
Kathleen D. Viezel , Elizabeth Williams , Wesley H. Dotson (2020). College-Based Support Programs for Students With Autism . Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 35(4), 234-245. SAGE Publications.Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Peter L. T. Pirolli (2007). Information Foraging Theory . Oxford University Press.Type: Book DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173321.001.0001 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4292862031Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
-
Matthew J Page , David Moher , Patrick M Bossuyt , Isabelle Boutron , Tammy C Hoffmann , Cynthia D Mulrow et al. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews . BMJ, 372, n71. BMJ.Crossref OpenAlex
-
Ellen Bara Stolzenberg , Melissa C. Aragon , Edgar Romo , Victoria Couch , Destiny McLennan , M. Kevin Eagan et al. (2019). The American freshman: National norms fall 2019 . The American freshman: National norms fall 2019.Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3118982419Crossref OpenAlex
-
Nogueira, R., Yang, W., Lin, J., & Cho, K. (2019). Document expansion by query prediction. arXiv:1904. 08375.Type: OtherCrossref
-
Steven Campbell (2015). Center on Budget and Policy Priorities . The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty. SAGE Publications, Inc.OpenAlex
-
AM Roux (2013). Roux, A. M., Shattuck, P. T., Cooper, B. P., Anderson, K. A., Wagner, M., & Narendorf, S. C. (2013). Postsecondary employment experiences among young adults with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatRy, 52(9), 931–939. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatRy, 52(9), 931.Type: OtherCrossref