College Prep Mentoring Program for HS Students with ASD

COLLEGE PREPARATION MENTORING PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER.

Ashleigh Hillier, Ph.D. (Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell) is offering the “Horizons” college preparation mentoring program.Horizons is designed to help high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn more about college and feel more confident about attending college in the future.

High school students with ASD who plan to go to college in the next year or two will meet with their mentor (a trained UMass Lowell student) once a week for an hour, for six weeks at a time convenient to them. Participants do not have to be considering UMass Lowell as one the colleges they are planning to apply to. The program curriculum includes topics such as “why go to college?”; “where should I apply?”; “what will a typical college day look like?”; “how do I manage my time in college?” etc. Meetings will start in mid-March.

There are two versions of the Horizons program that we would like to compare:

1) an in-person version of the program where students would meet with their mentor in-person at UMass Lowell; 2) an on-line version where students would meet with their mentor via Google Hangout. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of these versions, so you must be willing to do either the in-person or the online version. Both versions of the Horizons program have a $75 fee to participate (scholarships are available for those who cannot afford the fee).

Research component of the Horizons program:

We also want to investigate how useful the Horizons program is for those who participate – how much do students learn about college and whether their feelings about going to college change through participating in the Horizons program. We also want to see whether there are differences between the in-person and online versions of the program. It is not necessary to take part in the research component of the program to still participate.

High school students who participate in the research component will be asked to complete a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the program and complete brief weekly feedback surveys so we can make sure they are enjoying and benefitting from their meetings with their mentor.

Parents / guardians will be asked to complete a questionnaire and do a brief interview at the end of the program to let us know how they think their son / daughter responded to the Horizons program. Interviews can be done either in-person or over the phone. There is no compensation for completing the questionnaires or interview.

If you think you may be interested in participating in the Horizons program or have any questions, please contact Ashleigh Hillier by e-mail atAshleigh_Hillier@uml.edu

Ashleigh Hillier, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Director, Center for Autism Research and Education (CARE)
University of Massachusetts Lowell
113 Wilder Street, Suite 300

Lowell, MA 01854-3059
ashleigh_hillier@uml.edu
http://faculty2.uml.edu/ahillier
CARE: https://www.uml.edu/Research/autism
Visit our CARE Facebook page: Facebook.com/UmlCARE