We investigated instruction of independent creation of picture activity schedules (PASs) and how four middle school students with intellectual disability used them to complete tasks independently. A withdrawal design (A-BC-B-A-B) was used to evaluate whether the intervention had an effect on the dependent variable and to test for generalization to…

Literacy in science is important for all students and is one component of access and progress in the general education curriculum. One barrier to science literacy for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the extensive amount of vocabulary involved in comprehending science content. Based on the inherent link between vocabulary knowledge…

General education placement of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has increased at a rate faster than all other disability categories combined. As more children are diagnosed with ASD and expected to meet the same academic standards as their neurotypical peers, there is a demand for effective educational strategies. Using a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a modified system of least intrusive prompts on text-dependent listening comprehension for four middle-school-aged students with intellectual disability and autism during read-alouds of adapted grade-level biographies. A system of least intrusive prompts was modified by inserting a rule…

Supervision and coaching strategies that provide immediate feedback can help improve instruction for novice teachers. In this study, feedback was provided to teachers using "bug-in-ear" technology to coach them to deliver effective instructional interactions: "learn units." Three novice teachers in K-8 classrooms with students with disabilities…

The purpose of this study was to train teachers to follow a task analysis to teach a story-based literacy lesson using adapted, grade-appropriate middle school literature to students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities. A multiple-probe-across-participants design was used to examine the effects of training teachers to follow a…

Definitions of literacy that focus solely on reading words provide too narrow a framework for many students with severe disabilities. Obtaining information from the environment may be accomplished in a variety of modes, such as visual literacy, which is the ability to discern meaning conveyed through images. A component of visual literacy is…

Task completion time was substantially decreased for two middle school students with a diagnosis of moderate mental retardation and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) following the presentation of high-preference items and choice via a computer-based video program. The study used an ABAB design to evaluate the effects of the program compared to…

This exploratory study investigated gender and grade level factors in friendship expectations of middle school students toward their peers with severe disabilities. A total of 65 students from two middle schools were surveyed using a specifically designed instrument called the Middle School Friendship Survey. Results indicated that typical middle…