Apparent differences in executive function can lead to challenges for students on the autism spectrum in mainstream settings. Difficulties with staying on-task and transitioning between tasks and task elements can interfere with students' participation in educational activities and lead to stress and anxiety. While the use of visual supports, such…

The purpose of this study is to reveal whether or not the social skills teaching program based on the direct instruction approach is effective on the ability of mentally retarded students in regular classroom settings to gain social skills such as apologizing, asking for help and finishing a task on time, and to generalize these abilities. This…

This article presents the findings of ethnographic case studies of three girls on the autistic spectrum attending mainstream primary schools and illustrates the difficulties they experience and the ways in which these are often unrecognised. The observations of the girls and subsequent individual interviews with their mothers, class teachers,…

The purpose of this study is twofold: to determine the instructional variables of the inclusive classrooms in Turkey and to investigate to what extent the student behaviors change according to eco-behavioral characteristics of inclusive classrooms. The study group consisted of 44 students between the ages of six and 12 with mild disabilities who…

Four middle school students with autism spectrum disorders participated in a brief functional analysis and a video Social Stories[TM] intervention to remediate attention-seeking and task-avoidance behaviors. Results indicated that matching video Social Stories[TM] to specific functions of behaviors increased task-engagement behaviors in the…

Background: Traditionally, special educational needs (SEN) were often defined in terms of child deficits. Recently, there has been a tendency to define SEN in terms of (additional) support needed in the classroom. However, little is known about how teachers define students with special educational needs. To close this gap, characteristics of…

This study extends teacher coaching with written performance feedback as a means to increase behavior-specific praise statements (BSPS) in inclusion classrooms at the high school level. Three inclusion math teachers increased their use of BSPS during mathematics instruction. On-task intervals and frequency of BSPS were measured throughout the…

The current study investigated the effects of Social Stories written according to Gray's specifications on on-task behavior in inclusive classroom settings in three children with autism. Using a multiple-baseline design across participants, modest improvements in on-task behavior were associated with implementation of an auditory-visual Social…

A comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered model (CI3T) of prevention is a framework for proactively meeting students' academic, behavioral, and social skills. At the tertiary (Tier 3) level of prevention, functional-assessment based interventions (FABIs) may be used to identify, develop, and implement supports based on the function, or purpose, of…

This study examined children's engagement in a primary school class when no additional help was present, when parents were involved normally, and when parents and staff were following RM (Room Management) procedures. Comparisons indicate useful gains in engagement when employing RM. (Author/CT)

Nine handicapped and nine nonhandicapped preschoolers were observed in three settings that differed in grouping, supervision, and teacher direction. Handicapped children spent less time on-task and interacted more frequently with adults and less frequently with peers than did nonhandicapped children. Furthermore, handicapped and nonhandicapped…

This study of 6 students with severe disabilities and 12 without disabilities in an inclusive elementary school found that both groups evidenced comparable levels of engaged time in general education classrooms. The quantity of time actually used for instruction was unaffected by the presence of students with severe disabilities. (Author/JDD)

The observational study investigated social interactions and on-task behavior of 20 severely multihandicapped children in a mainstreaming program. In comparison with nonhandicapped students, severely multihandicapped students interacted with teachers and aides more frequently but showed the same degree of on-task behavior. (Author/DB)

Elementary-school learning-disabled, emotionally disabled, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped students (N=122) were observed during written language instruction, to document writing tasks and student responding. Extreme variability was found in the amount of time individual students spent in writing activities or in receiving written…

This study compared the cooperation, aggression, and wandering behavior of 12 first-grade children with severe to profound hearing losses with that of 12 hearing children. No significant differences were found in amounts cooperation, aggression, or wandering behavior displayed by the two groups. However, children with hearing loss changed…