Over the past 20+ years, researchers have worked toward identifying early behavioral predictors of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developing observation-based screeners to supplement existing parent-report methods. This study is a follow-up, 3 to 8 years later, with parents/caregivers of 57 children previously enrolled in a U.S.…

The establishment of reciprocal friendships is a challenge for many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social interaction difficulties emerge early, persist throughout development, and have widespread functional impact. As such, interventions focused on social functioning are needed in early intervention programs. This two-part study…

The present study evaluated the effects of the Superheroes Social Skills program, a social skills curriculum for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous research has found the curriculum to improve social engagements of children with ASD during unstructured recess periods but has been limited in research design and lack of…

This quasi-experimental study investigated behavioral intentions of 70 middle school participants toward engaging in activities with a student displaying characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a video vignette. Three video conditions were investigated: moderate to severe ASD, high-functioning ASD, and a typically developing control.…

There has been a slight increase in the number of studies focused on the strategies used to introduce content-based instruction to students with moderate/severe disability. However, interventions for students with significant intellectual disability (ID) are lacking adapted materials to make instruction available in all major academic areas…

Video self-modeling (VSM) uses a method called "feedforward" to provide children the opportunity to view themselves as they perform in a more advanced or appropriate manner than they do presently. Typically, this is accomplished through the careful editing of videos. Studies on VSM and social skills with children on the autism spectrum…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit generalization errors, but many instructional programs fail to address this deficit. Generalization errors encompass when the learner should extend the use of a newly taught behavior to other contexts but does not (under-generalization), as well as when he or she should not use the…

Telehealth training may benefit parents' use of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study is one of the few randomized trials to compare telehealth parent training in the Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) with a community treatment-as-usual, early intervention program. Parents were randomized to 12 weekly…

Social skills training programs have increasingly enlisted same-age typical peers as instructors in the teaching of social skills to children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The inclusion of peers in the teaching process has been found to be a critical component in these programs. Despite strong support for incorporating…

Studies comparing mathematical abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children are hitherto scarce, inconclusive, and mainly focusing on elementary school children or adolescents. The present study wants to gain insight into the foundation of mathematics by looking at preschool performances. Five early…

Children with autism have deficits in social communication and may engage in less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than children without disabilities. In this study, a classroom teacher implemented two interventions in the context of an alternating treatments design. Physical activity, engagement, and social behaviors were monitored…

The objectives of this study were (a) to evaluate parental stress in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD group) and compare it with the stress in parents of children with typical development (comparison group); (b) to study the relationship between parental stress, autism severity, and both verbal and performance IQ; and (c) to…

This study examined the perceptions of adulthood among 31 high-school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We had two research aims: (a) to report students' postsecondary expectations in terms of school, work, friendships, and living arrangement and (b) to describe how our sample defined adulthood. To better compare our sample's criteria…