Author: Cameron Sturgeon   Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Cameron Sturgeon

My name is Cameron Sturgeon and I am a graduating senior studying Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Human Development and Family Sciences. During the Spring and Fall semesters of 2020, I began conducting research under my mentor, Dr. Kimberly Frazier. My research was done in a group with two other students in my major. Dr. Frazier and my peers have taught me so much and we have worked so well together. Our research is on the transition process of life after high school for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We collected qualitative data on the individual’s experiences and if they felt well prepared to move on to the next step of their life. We collected this data via a Qualtrics survey that was sent to families that have children with ASD that have completed high school. This semester we
focused on wrapping upon data collection, coding the data, and presented at the University’s Honors Research Symposium. Dr. Frazier has been incredibly helpful throughout the entire process and provided us with any support or help we needed!

Working on this research these past few semesters has taught me a lot about individuals with ASD as well as teaching me things about myself. Individuals with ASD, especially those that are entering/already have entered the stage of life after high school, are often not prepared and even forgotten about. We also learned that the parents of children with ASD often don’t have a voice during transition or their point of view is often overlooked, so it was important for us to get the parent’s perspective when collecting our data. This has been an eye-opening process because these are things I never knew regarding the ASD community. This research has taught
me a lot about myself as well. I have learned that I am academically capable of a lot more than I thought I was. Since joining the Honors College and working on this research, I have pushed myself and have been able to excel more than I ever thought possible. I am so grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to see the future research that expands on this topic and population.

One thing that has been challenging during our time on this research project, especially due to COVID-19, is the fact that we had to change our data collection from an interview process of families that have children with ASD to an online survey. This change of plans was challenging, but we were able to obtain more data because we were able to send the survey to more families than we originally planned. One other thing that was challenging or changed is that our research group was set to go to Milan, Italy to present at a diversity conference in June
2020. We were very saddened that we weren’t able to attend, but our research was able to be shared at the online conference that was held last summer. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to work on this project and the experiences that came along with it! I am so thankful for Dr. Frazier and my peers for letting me be a part of this and for all they have done throughout this process.