Do Post-Secondary Students With ASD Process Information More Slowly Than Others? Implications for Accommodations of Extra Time

Given the frequency with which students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) receive extended time accommodations in post-secondary settings, this study examined whether students with ASD—alone or with comorbid conditions—perform below peers without neurodevelopmental diagnoses on speeded tasks. A total of 729 post-secondary students who completed psychoeducational assessments were divided into four groups: ASD only ( n = 56), ASD with Learning Disorder (LD; n = 58), ASD with ADHD and/or mental health conditions (MH; n = 27), and a No Diagnosis (No Dx) group ( n = 588). Participants completed a flexible battery of individually administered tests assessing intellectual ability, processing speed, speed of retrieval, efficiency of cognitive flexibility and academic fluency. Overall, students in the ASD groups did not perform significantly below the No Dx group on most speeded cognitive and academic tasks. Further, mean scores on measures of speeded cognitive and academic functioning generally fell in the Average range across study groups. As such, the results did not suggest a need for extended time accommodation based on a diagnosis of ASD alone. The results reinforce the need for performance-based data to understand the diverse cognitive and academic profiles among students with ASD to guide appropriate supports.