Parents' Educational Expectations for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Among typically developing children, many characteristics have been associated with parents' expectations for their children's adjustment to school and academic progress. Despite the history of increased parental involvement in the education of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to parents of children without ASD, there is little research on the educational expectations that parents hold for their young children with ASD and how they are formed. In the current study, we addressed this gap by using a mixed methods design to examine the association between parents' expectations for the level of success their children would achieve during the current school year, and multiple child-, parent/family-, and teacher/school-level factors, among parents of 4 to 7 year olds with ASD (N = 121). When these different factors were considered simultaneously, children's externalizing behaviors, parents' educational level, and parents' employment status were found to be significantly associated with parents' expectations of schooling.