Autism and the transition to university from the student perspective

University provides individuals with the opportunity to develop greater independence in living skills and social networks, while also gaining valuable qualifications. Despite a high proportion of autistic individuals aspiring to attend university, many either do not seek or gain entry or drop out prematurely. Although some steps have been taken to develop effective support, a recent review highlighted the scarcity of research into programmes designed to support autistic students transitioning to university. In addition, few studies have examined the views of autistic students themselves. This study investigated the perspectives of autistic students transitioning to university. Three focus groups were conducted with 25 autistic students preparing to start university. Participants were asked about their hopes for starting university, as well as their worries and concerns. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, from which five main themes were identified: The Social World, Academic Demands, Practicalities of University Living, Leaving the Scaffolding of Home and Transition to Adulthood. The results provide an important account of the challenges autistic students face when transitioning to university, as well as their aspirations. These findings have a number of practical implications

Re-arrangement of atmospheric circulation at about 2.6 Ma over northern China: evidence from grain size records of loess-palaeosol and red clay sequences

Recent studies have shown that the red clay sequence underlying the Quaternary loess of the Chinese Loess Plateau is wind-blown in origin. Continuous atmospheric dust deposition in the past 7.0 Ma has been documented. To address the wind system that transported the Tertiary red clay, two north-south transects were studied in the Chinese Loess Plateau. One of the transects was designed to study spatial changes in grain size of the last glacial-interglacial loess records, and the other to observe particle changes of the Tertiary red clay underlying the Quaternary loess. The loess transect consists of nine sections, and the red clay transect of four sections. Analyses of closely spaced samples show that there is a strong southward decrease in grain size of both loess and palaeosol horizons of the Late Pleistocene, which is consistent with the idea that the aeolian materials of the Quaternary in the Loess Plateau are transported by the northerly winter monsoonal winds. Grain size distribution of the red clay sequences, however: does not show such a change. From north to south along the red clay transect, the particle size distribution is almost identical in the four sections, suggesting that the winter monsoonal winds might have played a less important role in transporting the red clay material. It is suggested that the red clay may have been transported by the westerlies from the dust-source regions of northwestern China onto the Loess Plateau. A remarkable re-arrangement of atmospheric patterns at about 2.6 Ma, therefore, has been recorded by the red clay-loess shift. It is speculated that this re-arrangement of atmospheric patterns may have been caused by the onset of glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Changes in sand content of loess deposits along a north-south transect of the Chinese Loess Plateau and the implications for desert variations

Geological records have shown that the deserts east of the Helan Mountains in northern China were covered by grass during the Holocene Optimum, whereas during marine oxygen isotope stages 2 and 4 distribution of the deserts was almost the same as at present. The wide advance-retreat cycles of the deserts may have exerted an important control on gram-size changes in the loess of the Loess Plateau by altering the distance between the source and the accumulation zone of the loess. This challenges the widely accepted model that winter monsoon winds were the sole factor responsible for spatial and temporal changes in loess texture. To observe spatial changes in sedimentological characteristics of loess during the last glacial-interglacial cycle, the texture of loess was measured along a north-south transect of the Loess Plateau, This transect consists of nine loess sections, starting at Yulin in the transitional region between the Loess Plateau and the Mu Us Desert and ending at Weinan in the southernmost part of the Loess Plateau. Southward changes in sand (>63 pm) content along the transect suggest that variations in desert extent have indeed played a significant role in loess grain-size distributions, particularly in the northern part of the Loess Plateau. It is proposed that sand content (>63 mu m%) of loess in the loess-desert transitional zone may be used as a proxy indicator for proximity to the desert margin, (C) 1999 University of Washington