The Vocational and Educational Index: An Update to the Vocational Index to Reflect Contemporary Postsecondary Educational Options for Autistic Adults.

The Vocational Index, a tool to reliably capture the range of vocational and educational activities in which adults with autism engage, is regularly used in studies of adult outcomes in autism. However, recently it has been noted that there are some activities (primarily postsecondary education opti...

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Published in:Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders Vol. 56; no. 7; pp. 2780 - 2790
Main Authors: Taylor, Julie Lounds, Carlson, Sarah Roberts, DaWalt, Leann Smith, Burke, Meghan M., Herbert, Grace A., Mailick, Marsha R.
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature Jul2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jul2026
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        atl: The Vocational and Educational Index: An Update to the Vocational Index to Reflect Contemporary Postsecondary Educational Options for Autistic Adults.
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          Taylor, Julie Lounds
          Carlson, Sarah Roberts
          DaWalt, Leann Smith
          Burke, Meghan M.
          Herbert, Grace A.
          Mailick, Marsha R.
        affil: https://ror.org/05dq2gs74 Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
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        subj:
          Autism Spectrum Disorder
          Persons with Disabilities
          Vocational Education
          Coding
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Benchmarking
          Employment of Persons with Disabilities
          Cross Sectional Studies
          Interviews
          Questionnaires
          Descriptive Statistics
          Interrater Reliability
          Funding Source
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: The Vocational Index, a tool to reliably capture the range of vocational and educational activities in which adults with autism engage, is regularly used in studies of adult outcomes in autism. However, recently it has been noted that there are some activities (primarily postsecondary education options) that were infrequently available when the index was developed and thus are not fully represented in the current categories. The purpose of this report is to describe the process and results of updating the Vocational Index coding categories to reflect this wider range of activities. An iterative process was used to develop updated codes (called the Vocational and Educational Index). The original Vocational Index and updated Vocational and Educational Index codes were applied to a sample of 384 autistic young adults, and differences between original and updated codes were described. The major changes to the codes involved the development of a parallel educational dimension, benchmarked to the vocational dimension in level of integration, supports, and number of hours. Applying original Vocational Index and updated Vocational and Educational Index codes resulted in few differences in the overall distribution of codes but provided additional information about the contribution of vocational versus educational activities to the overall code. Limitations of the Vocational and Educational Index and future directions for research are discussed.
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    language: English
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