Why High-Functioning Autistic Adolescents Leave Secondary School: Educational Structures, Contributing Mechanisms, Student Voices, and Pathways Toward Retention
Abstract
Bruce H. Knox
Secondary school disengagement among adolescents with Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), historically referred to as “high-functioning autism,” represents a significant educational and public health concern. Autistic children and adolescents experience elevated school absence compared with peers, and New Zealand population-level evidence demonstrates reduced likelihood of regular attendance among autistic students [1,4]. Although many autistic students demonstrate average or above-average intellectual ability, withdrawal from schooling may arise less from academic incapacity than from a misalignment between neurodevelopmental needs and educational environments [2,3,5,6,8,9]. This paper synthesises educational, psychological, and medical literature concerning sensory processing, social participation, executive functioning, anxiety, school structures, absenteeism, transition, and cumulative disengagement among autistic adolescents [1-9].
Composite lived-experience narratives are used illustratively to demonstrate recurrent themes in the literature, these are not presented as verbatim participant quotations. A Capability Without Fit construct and the Knox Educational Adaptation Framework (KEAF) are proposed as conceptual and practical responses to autistic school disengagement.