OARacle Newsletter

Community-based interventions are limited for autistic adults. Could community programs fill some of the gap? Programs that foster self-expression, confidence, and leadership offer promising opportunities to help neurodivergent adults to develop skills they need to achieve their goals.

In their 2022 OAR-funded study, Amplifying Autistic Voices: Investigating the Impact of a Community-Based Public Speaking Program, researchers Yasamin Bolourian, Ph.D., and Sasha Zeedyk, Ph.D., evaluated whether participation in Toastmasters®—a public speaking and leadership development program—could be a meaningful and supportive experience for autistic adults. Their goals were to:  

• Explore whether and for whom participation in Toastmasters® benefited autistic adults. 
• Understand the challenges or barriers autistic individuals faced in the program.

Dr. Zeedyk is an assistant professor of child and adolescent studies, California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Bolourian is a post-doctoral researcher at University of California Riverside Graduate School of Education.

Methodology

The two-year study comprised two phases: 

• Phase 1: Interviewing 22 autistic individuals who had participated in Toastmasters® clubs and 11 caregivers or mentors of autistic Toastmasters®, exploring their perspectives on program benefits and limitations. The researchers used a community-based participatory research approach, engaging autistic adults as partners in interview design, coding, and interpretation. 
• Phase 2: Conducting a pilot trial with 18 newly enrolled autistic participants who completed a 10-week adapted Toastmasters® program, called Speechcraft. The researchers used interviews and focus groups to collect data on outcomes such as public speaking, leadership, loneliness, and anxiety.

As the study progressed, the research team modified the study design to better capture the lived experiences of autistic Toastmasters® members. The first modification increased focus on leadership, as phase 1 interviews revealed that many autistic participants struggled with assuming leadership roles within their clubs. The researchers developed a leadership survey to better understand what the barriers were. They also adapted survey measures in response to feedback in phase 1 to ensure that language and response options included and reflected autistic participants’ experiences.

The second modification arose from participant choice. Originally, the researchers intended to include data from caregivers for the study participants in phase 2. However, when they asked participants whether they wanted a parent or caregiver to participate in the survey and interview, only half opted to have caregivers participate. That made the sample too small for data analysis or to generalize about caregiver perspectives.

Outcomes

Study outcomes revealed both positives and negatives to participation in Toastmasters®. As predicted, many participants reported increased confidence and improved communication skills. However, some encountered challenges in leadership roles due to difficulties with social expectations, misunderstandings, and rigid rule-following within club structures.

Similarly, while researchers expected that Toastmasters’® structured format would help create autistic-friendly learning, study findings revealed that club environments varied. Some participants thrived in structured, supportive clubs, while others faced social challenges in clubs that lacked awareness of neurodiversity.

These findings highlighted the importance of club leadership and culture in shaping participants’ experiences.

In addition, researchers found that many participants developed a strong sense of belonging in specialty Toastmasters® clubs, particularly those with neurodiverse leadership or those exclusive to autistic members. These clubs provided a welcoming space where autistic members could engage in self-improvement without the pressures of masking or conforming to neurotypical social norms.

In clubs where neurodiversity was not acknowledged or supported, however, study participants experienced misunderstandings or exclusion. This finding reinforced the need for targeted training for club leaders to foster inclusive environments and accommodate diverse communication styles. Additionally, leadership opportunities were not always accessible to autistic participants, despite their interest and qualifications. Some individuals encountered barriers to leadership due to unwritten social rules or a lack of mentorship from club members.

Quantitative findings were promising, with significant improvement in public speaking and communication skills and trends toward improvements in leadership and reducing loneliness, and anxiety. Although not statistically significant, these trends, coupled with Phase 1 participants’ reflections on Toastmasters’® longer-term benefits suggest that the 10-week timeframe may have been too short to fully capture the program’s impact. Autistic adults who had participated in Toastmasters® in community-based clubs for longer durations frequently described transformative effects on their confidence, self-advocacy, and sense of belonging. 

These findings underscore the importance of longer follow-up periods and larger samples in future studies, as well as the need to examine how club culture and mentorship support influence outcomes.

Practical Findings

Study results offer valuable information for:  

• Autistic individuals: Toastmasters® can be a valuable tool for building confidence, communication skills, and leadership experience. However, club selection is an important consideration, as neurodiverse-friendly clubs tend to be more supportive. 
• Parents and caregivers: The Toastmasters® environment may require autistic individuals to advocate for themselves in expressing interest in leadership roles, offering an opportunity to build self-advocacy skills and confidence. Parents could consider providing external coaching to help autistic members navigate club dynamics. 
• Teachers and professionals: Public speaking practice can be integrated into educational and community programs to support self-expression and social participation. Educators and support professionals should consider partnering with Toastmasters® clubs to create neuroinclusive public speaking opportunities.

The researchers noted that future research should explore modifications to Toastmasters® to improve accessibility and inclusivity for autistic adults. Expanding research to test neurodiversity-informed leadership training within community organizations would also be a critical next step. Additionally, funding is needed to conduct a larger scale follow-up study, as well as to develop and implement neuroinclusive public speaking and leadership training programs that can be replicated across different settings. 

Sherri Alms is the freelance editor of The OARacle, a role she took on in 2007. She has been a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years.