Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

In the present study, we aimed to make an evaluation, conduct comprehensive descriptive analyses, and calculate the effect sizes of studies which compare AAC applications designed according to single-subject research designs and conducted for individuals with ASD. Within the scope of this aim, 21 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were determined among the studies obtained by the systematic review. Firstly, the descriptive analysis of the included studies was conducted, and then they were evaluated in terms of the “Quality Indicators of Single-Subject Experimental Research Studies” and “acceptability” criteria suggested by Horner et al. (2005). The improvement rate difference effect sizes of 11 studies that were assessed as “acceptable” were calculated, and they were evaluated according to the design standards of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC, 2017). The obtained findings were discussed in the light of the literature, and various suggestions were presented for future studies and practices.

The authors in this study used a pre-posttest experimental design with random assignment to treatment or control group to assess the use of an electronic editing cognitive strategy. The participants were 16 college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities enrolled in a 2-year postsecondary program at a Midwestern institute of higher education. Students who were taught the strategy received eight 50-minute lessons once a week for eight weeks. Each strategy lesson was driven by the strategy mnemonic and incorporated an explicit instruction format with modeling, guided practice with feedback, and independent practice. Strategy instruction included students using desktop PCs and Microsoft Word to identify and correct editing errors in electronic passages. Posttests revealed a significant difference in favor of the treatment group for total editing errors corrected and specific error types corrected for spelling, punctuation, and substance. No significant difference was found for overall appearance and capitalization errors. Two weeks following posttest, a maintenance probe revealed that students in the treatment group corrected a significantly higher number of editing errors than those in the control group.

Virtual manipulatives are an emerging intervention to support students with disabilities in mathematics. Through a multiple probe across participants design, researchers examined use of an intervention package consisting of a virtual manipulative (i.e., the Two-Color Counter app-based manipulative) and the system of least prompts (SLP) to support students' acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of solving addition of integers problems. Researchers found a functional relation between the intervention package and middle school students' accuracy. All three students acquired the skill, with two able to consistently generalize as well as maintain adding integers. The three students were also generally independent when solving the problems with the app.

Although it is critical for students with autism to be included in large-scale assessment and accountability systems, it is not clear how to best measure their underlying academic skills and knowledge. Additional empirically-supported guidance is necessary to assist school teams that need to make decisions about how to best include students with autism in such systems. Test accommodations may be needed to ensure appropriate measurement on large-scale tests, but it is important to empirically explore whether they are meeting this intended purpose. In the current study, existing statewide test data were analyzed to determine the extent to which measurement comparability was apparent for students with autism receiving and not receiving accommodations on a math test used for accountability purposes. Limited differential item functioning (DIF) was identified for all comparisons, suggesting that existing school-based decisions to include students with autism in regular accountability testing do not correspond to serious measurement concerns. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Pragmatic language difficulties of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can significantly impact their ability to engage in socially appropriate conversations and form peer relationships. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, this study evaluated the effects of a novel peer-mediated intervention (PMI) on improving the social conversation of three high school students with ASD who engaged in high rates of inappropriate communication acts (e.g., perseveration, abrupt topic shifts). The PMI incorporated peer training, graphic/text cues and direct instruction for the students to reduce inappropriate communications while supporting appropriate initiations and topic maintenance responses. Results revealed that the PMI was highly effective in reducing the inappropriate communication acts of three students and increasing the appropriate communication acts of two students. Conversation gains generalized to untrained peers for all student participants. Social validity outcomes assessing intervention acceptability and conversation were highly positive. This study provides additional evidence that PMI can be individualized to address the unique pragmatic language needs of high school students with ASD.

The education offered for the parents of individuals with intellectual disability improves the quality of life of the families, and thus the quality of life of the individuals with intellectual disability in the long term. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the Parent Training Program for Supporting the Preparation of Individuals with Intellectual Disability for Adulthood (PSIDA) that was developed based on the requirements of the families of individuals with intellectual disability on the quality of life perceptions of the families. The families of adults with intellectual disability require support concerning adaptation to adulthood, preparation for the future, coping with future stress, social support, employment and legal rights. PSIDA was developed based on these requirements. The study was conducted with a pre-test/post-test control group design. Eighteen mothers (nine experimental, nine control group) participated in the study. The findings demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups, and the quality of life perceptions of the parents that participated in the training improved. This improvement was observed in the subdomains of parenting and emotional well-being dimensions in the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale.

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities-Revised (ABLA-R) is an assessment tool used by applied behavior analysis (ABA) service providers for determining the learning ability of clients with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder ASD. In this study, we combined an ABLA-R self-instructional manual (DeWiele et al., 2014) with video modeling and evaluated the effectiveness of the training package for teaching ABA service providers to administer the ABLA-R to the experimenter who role-played a child with ASD and to a child with ASD. We evaluated the training package using a single-subject, modified concurrent multiple-baseline (MB) design across a pair of participants, replicated across three other pairs of participants, plus a modified nonconcurrent MB design across a pair of participants, replicated across one other pair. Participants demonstrated a significant increase in the accuracy with which they administered the ABLA-R to an experimenter from baseline to post-test, and conducted the ABLA-R with high accuracy in a generalization assessment with a child with ASD. An implication of this research is that the self-instructional training package is an effective tool for training ABA service providers to accurately administer the ABLA-R to children with ASD.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of early childhood adapted physical education (APE) and caregiver-implemented homework on the gross motor skill development of 19 young children with Down Syndrome (DS). The results of three groups were compared: (a) APE only, (b) APE plus picture card homework, and (c) APE plus instructional online video homework. The Test of Gross Motor Development-Second Edition (TGMD-2;Ulrich, 2000) was used to determine pretest, posttest, and retention scores following a 12-week intervention. Quantitative data were analyzed using mixed-design factorial ANOVA. All groups made significant gains in object control skill scores; there was no significant difference between groups. Qualitative data analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) of the family questionnaire responses, supported the use of homework for young children with DS.