This article was written as a response to Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, and Sievers (2011) who commented on the degree to which promoting the teaching of functional skills had a higher probability of leading to a more independent life for students with severe disabilities. In doing so, the authors take issue with the use of a standards-based curriculum…

Shared stories have been shown to help increase emerging literacy skills in students with significant intellectual disabilities. One important literacy skill is the development of listening comprehension. In this study, least-to-most prompt system was used to promote listening comprehension during shared stories for two students with significant…

Active student responding (ASR) has been shown to be an effective way to improve the mathematical skills of students. One specific method of ASR is the use of response cards. In this study, a system of least prompts combined with response cards was used to increase mathematical knowledge, and number identification, of three elementary students…

Federal mandates as well as the National Science Education Standards call for science education for all students. IDEA (2004) and NCLB (2002) require access to and assessment of the general curriculum, including science. Although some research exists on teaching academics to students with significant disabilities, the research on teaching science…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of training paraeducators on (a) paraeducator prompting use of augmentative communication (AAC) systems, (b) paraeducator responding to student requests, (c) student use of AAC, and (d) student problem behavior via a series of multiple probe designs. Participants were three paraeducators and…

The study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of two procedures--"backward chaining" and "total task"--for training eight severely retarded adults to assemble two vocational tasks via a multielement design. From an analysis of the results, it was concluded that for rate of learning the total task procedure was superior. (Author/CL)

Studies that have compared forward, backward, and total task chaining procedures are reviewed along the dimensions of independent variables, dependent variables, subject variables, apparatus variables, design, and method of analysis. In general, results of studies are mixed. Potential explanations of differences are offered. (Author/CL)

The study involved a 3 1/2 year retrospective analysis of a transdisciplinary peer review committee in a residential facility for the mentally retarded including 141 restrictive behavior management programs. Data are presented on three variables: (1) "turn around" time, (2) average number of reviewers, and (3) reviewer comments. (Author/DB)

A panel of experts identified 13 seminal literature contributions in the area of educating persons with severe disabilities, and the 13 works were then rank ordered by a self-identified panel. The study also conducted content analyses and examined the particular journals publishing the classic articles. (Author/JDD)

A retrospective evaluation of restrictive behavior programs in a state residential facility for persons with mental retardation found beneficial behavioral effects. The behavior programs reviewed utilized isolation timeout, exclusion timeout, response cost, prone restraint, seated restraint, timeout device, nonexclusion timeout, standing…

The study taught three moderately mentally retarded adolescents to: (1) communicate an emergency (dial 911), (2) apply first aid for minor injuries, (3) apply a plastic bandage to a minor injury, (4) apply first aid for choking. The maintenance of skills rarely practiced is discussed. (DB)