Matthew Carl Zajic

My primary research focuses on understanding and supporting the writing development of autistic individuals across the lifespan. A key goal of my research is to bridge foundational work to practice, ensuring findings are accessible and actionable for children, caregivers, and educational professionals. This work centers on four main pillars: theory, development, measurement and assessment, and instruction and intervention. I adopt interdisciplinary approaches from writing, autism, and literacy research to examine the intersections between the linguistic, cognitive, and social demands of writing and the diverse profiles of autistic learners. Methodologically, I draw on both quantitative and qualitative approaches, with specific expertise in mixture modeling, psychoeducational assessment, lifespan/longitudinal studies, and systematic reviews. In addition to my primary focus, I am also broadly interested in other areas of academic and skill development in autistic individuals (including reading and language); writing development for learners with other developmental or learning disabilities; neurodiversity-affirming frameworks for understanding and supporting autistic individuals; and advanced assessment, measurement, and quantitative methods in educational psychology and special education. Some recent and ongoing projects include the following: - Literacy and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating the literacy experiences of autistic youth (K-12) and their families before and during the pandemic, with a focus on the roles of caregivers and educators. - Teleassessment and Autistic Adolescent Writing: Using teleassessment methods to understand the school-based and personal writing experiences of autistic adolescents. - Writing Modality and Achievement: Examining how the mode of writing (e.g., keyboarding, handwriting, speech-to-text) impacts writing outcomes for neurodiverse student populations. - Personal Interests and Writing Achievement: Investigating the intersection of specialized interests and writing achievement in autistic youth.

Zajic, M. C., Gudknecht, J., & McIntyre, N. S. (2025). Characterizing the special education goals of autistic students: Latent class analysis with demographic and developmental covariates. Exceptional Children. Advance Online Publication. McIntyre, N. S., & Zajic, M. C. (2025). Prevalence and predictors of caregivers' reports of academic, language, social, and behavior Individualized Education Program goal areas among school-age autistic children. Journal of Special Education. Advance Online Publication. Zajic, M. C., & Gudknecht, J. (2024). Person- and identity-first language in autism research: A systematic analysis of abstracts from 11 autism research journals. Autism: International Journal of Research & Practice. Advance Online Publication. Troia, G., Ciullo, S. P., Wolbers, K. A., & Z