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Despite a growing number of autistic children completing high school and venturing into college and vocational settings, their rates of postsecondary attendance, graduation, and vocational success still lag behind those of their nonautistic counterparts. This study surveyed 162 autistic and nonautistic high school students about internal and external factors that may increase or decrease their motivation to succeed academically. Results of this study suggest that autistic students rated neither internal nor external factors as significantly contributing to their academic success when compared to their nonautistic peers. Moreover, when compared to their nonautistic peers, autistic high school students were less likely to endorse motivators to their academic success that were future-oriented toward college and career success and more likely to favor factors related to seeking approval from others and validating their own capability for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increasing number of autistic children entering and graduating from high school, there remains limited research in this area. This study surveyed 162 autistic and nonautistic high school students. Participants were asked about their perceptions regarding their compensatory strategies, everyday hindrances, and areas of perceived strength. In controlling for background characteristics of gender, minority status, and age, results revealed that autistic and nonautistic students identified similar compensatory strategies, experienced similar obstacles, and drew on similar sources of strength to remain academically successful. Differences between autistic and nonautistic students are discussed along with differences between male and female respondents. Practitioner Points: Autistic and nonautistic high school students appear to use similar methods to ensure their academic success.Compared to nonautistic students, autistic high school students were significantly more likely to report that working with others was an obstacle to their academic success.Female and male autistic students did not differ significantly in the compensatory strategies that they used and the barriers that they encountered to ensure their academic success in high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]