Food selectivity is a common problem among children and youth who have intellectual and developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorders. Whereas most intervention research has been conducted under simulated conditions in clinic and hospital settings, this study evaluated teacher implemented procedures at a specialized school. The…

We evaluated a social skills intervention with four children who had autism during interactive play with typical peers at a public elementary school. Paraprofessional staff (classroom assistants) used preteaching, rewards, and prompting to increase social initiations by the children toward peers. The children's social responses to peer initiations…

A 4-year old boy with autism was exposed to a multicomponent intervention plan that targeted his verbal and physical sharing among typical peers in an integrated preschool class-room. Preceding daily play sessions he practiced sharing with one peer, and an instructor who directed and demonstrated desirable behaviors (priming). During actual play,…

We evaluated an abbreviated performance feedback intervention as a training strategy to improve discrete trial instruction of children with autism by three paraprofessional staff (assistant teachers) at a specialized day school. Feedback focused on 10 discrete trial instructional skills demonstrated by the staff during teaching sessions. Following…

This case study evaluated an antecedent intervention for tantrums by a five year-old girl with cognitive, language, and motor problems. Functional assessment correlated tantrums with high-demand activities but not with novel staff. Intervention placed novel staff in charge of high-demand activities and successfully eliminated tantrums, which…

The research evaluated whether extremely brief durations of overcorrection could be utilized efficaciously with two severely handicapped students displaying high rates of stereotypic behavior. In both studies, effects of intervention were durable. Findings suggested that very brief durations of overcorrection can be therapeutically effective while…

A brief positive practice overcorrection procedure was effective in reducing inappropriate social behavior and increasing spontaneous toy play in a multiply disabled child. (Author/CL)

In this case study, a six-year-old, multihandicapped child was treated for self-injurious arm-biting using two response contingent deceleration procedures and two forms of sensory extinction. Only the sensory extinction procedure with protective cuffs reduced arm-biting to manageable levels. (Author/DB)