Document Type
Article
Abstract
Objectives
Relatively few young adults with fragile X syndrome (FXS) meet the normative expectations of adulthood, although there is heterogeneity in this regard. The present study examined the preparation for the transition to adulthood experienced by young adults with FXS and their parents.
Methods
Thirty-nine young adults with FXS and their primary caregiving parents participated. Those with FXS were in their last year of, or had recently left, high school or a formal transition program. Parents completed surveys about the formal transition planning process. We examined the role of the young adults’ adaptive behavior skills in transition planning.
Results
Among other things, parents of young adults with more advanced adaptive skills had higher expectations regarding the latter’s employment capabilities, although employment preparation did not differ for the two subgroups of young adults. Parents were generally satisfied with their own involvement in transition planning, except as regards employment where they wanted more input. The social networks of participants with FXS, especially those with less developed adaptive skills, were limited.
Conclusions
Transition planning for individuals with FXS should be designed with greater attention to matching employment and social experiences to the young adult’s ability and to soliciting parental input about employment.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2026.
Rights
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
APA Citation
Abbeduto, L., Klusek, J., Taylor, J. L., & Thurman, A. J. (2026). Planning for the Transition to Adulthood: Parent Perspectives on the Planning Process and Experiences of Young Adults with Fragile X Syndrome. Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders.https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-026-00488-y