The problem of this investigation was to compare the linguistic competence of learning disabled and emotionally disturbed pupils by means of two performance tasks. Sixty subjects, seven-and-eight-year old monolingual public and private school pupils, were assigned to three groups of twenty subjects each, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed and normally achieving children. The majority of those in the learning disabled and the normally achieving groups were from middle-class families, with the majority of fathers owners of small businesses. A majority (17) of the emotionally disturbed group attended the public schools.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show significant deficits in communication, emotion recognition, perspective taking, and social skills. One intervention gaining increased attention is the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) to teach social, emotional and perspective-taking skills to individuals with ASD with the purpose of improving theory of mind skills. This study evaluated the effectiveness of CAI for improving theory of mind skills in four children with high functioning autism ages 5 to 12 years. A single-subject multiple baseline research design across participants was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of CAI. The software contained 22 instructional scenarios that asked participants to identify emotions of characters based on situational cues displayed in line drawn pictures and audio feedback for correct and incorrect responses. Mind-reading skills were assessed using ten randomly selected scenarios for various emotions and no audio feedback. Visual analysis of the data revealed that all four participants increased mind-reading skills during the CAI condition. Additionally, this study evaluated levels of task engagement during experimental conditions. Three of the four participants showed an increase in task engagement during CAI compared to paper-based social stories used during baseline. Generalization of skills was assessed through the use of social scenarios acted …

With the advent of recent federal mandates, special educators have been inundated with a plethora of intervening strategies, conceptual models, and theories for use in the classroom. The result is manifest in a strong bias among special educators that is not conducive to the student's learning style. Educators, today, are not only being called upon to teach functional academics to emotionally disturbed youth, they are also asked to ameliorate the debilitating effects of emotional disturbance. Thus, educators are presented with unparalleled change from the world of traditional public school education. Unfortunately, teachers of the emotionally disturbed are not meeting that challenge, and often are providing a confused environment for the student. Students perhaps need a synthesis between directive and nondirective teaching styles. The problem under investigation in this study is the effect of a learning condition in which the teacher determines the limits of the classroom in a directive setting and the degree to which the student sets the limits of the classroom in a nondirective setting. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of a directive and nondirective learning environment on the student's acquisition of academic behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to explore the developmental characteristics of young children (ages 11-60 months) with prenatal substance-exposure. A developmental rating scale, the Developmental Checklist (DC) of the Developmental Observation Checklists (DOCs) was utilized. The DC measures the domains of language, motor, social/behavioral, and cognition, as well as overall developmental status.

Research with parents on managing child problem behavior typically measures either child or parent behavior. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of training parents to implement a function-based behavior intervention plan (BIP) in a non-trained natural environment utilizing a Multiple Probe Design across Participants. Participants included four parent-child dyads. Measurement variables included parents' use of effective and ineffective strategies and child problem behavior. Intervention involved training parents to understand and implement the BIP using effective strategies, modeling the effective procedures, and providing feedback following parent implementation of procedures. Results showed that the intervention was very effective in promoting skill generalization of parents and decreasing child problem behavior. The findings have implications for research and clinical practice.

This study examined the current status of schoolwide positive behavior support efforts in Texas. The study specifically (a) examined the impact of statewide positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) training on the rates of discipline records, in-school ¬suspensions, out-¬of¬-school suspensions, disciplinary alternative education placements, and expulsions of public schools in Texas; (b) investigated the overall effectiveness of schoolwide positive behavior support; and (c) determined the differences between rates of discipline records, in-school ¬suspensions, out-¬of¬-school suspensions, disciplinary alternative education placements, and expulsions in schools participating in the Texas Behavior Support Initiative (TBSI): Schoolwide PBS Project when compared with matching schools who did not participate in the project. This study demonstrated that schools can significantly reduce problem behavior in their schools when implementing PBIS with fidelity. Creating effective systems of PBIS required training, coaching, and on¬site technical assistance by trained and experienced PBIS facilitators.

Self-monitoring involves teaching students to be aware of their own behavior, and be able to record whether the behavior happened or not. The present study uses meta-analysis of single case design (SCD) studies to evaluate the effectiveness of self-monitoring interventions that use electronic devices during implementation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eligible studies were accessed to determine design quality, and examine the use of self-monitoring for individuals diagnosed with ASD. Studies were evaluated against inclusion-exclusion criteria. The studies that met inclusion criteria (n = 15) were assessed with the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards for methodological rigor. The WWC standards were applied to baseline and intervention phases. There were a total of 12 studies with 32 students diagnosed with ASD that met SCD standards without, and with reservations. The 12 studies were evaluated using the Tau-U effect size metric to quantify the percentage of change that was attributed to the self-monitoring intervention. Overall, omnibus Tau-U was 0.96 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.89, 1.0]). Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The present study utilized multiple-baseline and multi-probe across participants designs to measure both fidelity and efficacy of caregivers as primary interventionists when using trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) procedures. Participants included any caregiver of a child with a medical or educational diagnosis of autism and challenging behavior. Caregiver fidelity of implementation of TBFA procedures was measured across three phases: baseline, training, and independent implementation or generalization. Within the implementation phase, caregivers independently conducted TBFAs on their respective children within the home setting. Fidelity, efficacy, and social validity across each participant were measured. Each caregiver was able to reach fidelity during the training phase, and three out of five caregivers were able to identify a clear behavior function for their child's behavior within the implementation phase of the study. Social validity was evaluated. Results indicate that caregivers may be able to supplement traditional interventionists during the TBFA process. Implications for future practice are reviewed.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have challenges with communication, changes in routine, and processing social information and communication that can affect their ability to learn and respond successfully to safety threats. When given behavioral skills training (BST), children with and without ASD have demonstrated gains in safety responding skills. Although the prevalence of ASD has risen, few studies exist on the acquisition of fire safety skills for children with ASD. This study built on current literature by utilizing a multiple probe design across participants to teach a precursor fire safety evacuation procedure using BST. Additionally, it evaluated if the behaviors gained generalize to another environment and maintain over time, as generalization and maintenance are critical for real-world application of the safety skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if an intervention using BST for teaching a precursor fire alarm evacuation procedure was effective for children with ASD in acquiring, maintaining, and generalizing the procedure. The study showed that the BST procedure for teaching precursor fire safety skills was effective for three of four participants. Only 50% of participants demonstrated generalization of skills learned to an alternate location and fire alarm sound, and 75% of participants maintained …

The purpose of the study was to investigate how parents of students with autism perceived individualized education program (IEP) meetings. I determined factors that contributed to the belief held by parents that their children were or were not being properly served by IEP meetings. Parental relationships with educators, IEP meeting experiences, IEP outcomes, and treatment by educators were revealed through participant input. Parents were asked to share their experiences of previous IEP meetings. Additionally, parents provided input regarding practices that school districts could take to improve IEP meetings, and actions that parents could take to serve as better advocates for their children. Research findings indicated that parents did not perceive themselves as being treated as equals during IEP meetings. Parents believed that their input was not valued or welcomed by educators. Not having an equal voice toward their child's education prevented parents from positively influencing outcomes in their child's IEP meetings in terms of obtaining quality services and building positive relations with educators. Parents further revealed that educators failed to implement proper IEP protocol. According to parents, student objectives agreed upon in IEP meetings were often not always fully implemented for students receiving special education services. Research findings concluded that …

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that public schools provide appropriate school programs and transition services for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD), and the law specifically names schizophrenia as a disability for which services are to be provided. To date, little, if any, research has been conducted on schizophrenia in the field of special education. New antipsychotic medications for schizophrenia are controlling the positive symptoms of hallucinations, illusions, and the severest of delusions, thus enabling these students to remain in school. However, many interfering negative symptoms remain (e.g., loss of goals, loss of former interests, cognitive regression). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to identify the negative symptoms of schizophrenia that interfere with a student's academic and social success, primarily within a school setting, but also as they affect functioning within the family and the student's transition into the community. In addition, specific factors that act as exacerbators or diminishers of these symptoms were identified through this study. Research participants included 5 students who developed schizophrenia from the ages of 12 to 22, their parents, and their teachers. They were interviewed using a semi-structured approach resulting in over 30 hours of taped interview data. …

In order to assess the extent and quality of special education services in charter schools in north Texas, the researcher examined data submitted to Texa Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), and conducted qualitative interviews with selected charter school administrators. Five cornerstones of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): zero reject, individualized education program (IEP), appropriate assessment, free appropriate public education (FAPE), and least restrictive environment (LRE), were utilized in the assessment of quality. Levels of expertise in federal disability law and fiscal barriers were explored, as well.