Studies showed that children with Developmental Disabilities (DD) have communication and social difficulties; consequently, they are more likely to display disruptive behaviors. During daily interactions, disruptive behaviors can pose difficulties for individuals such as siblings, peers, parents, and educators. In KSA, parental involvement in…

Children with developmental disabilities and complex communication needs who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) have limited opportunities to communicate and few trained conversation partners to interact with. Research literature on interventions utilizing AAC devices and systems to increase communication skills overwhelmingly…

Access to employment opportunities is associated with increased quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; however, many adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities struggle to find employment. One reason they may have difficulty achieving employment is an inability to work independently.…

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) frequently engage in escape-maintained problem behavior, which can limit their access to academic instruction and lead to placement in more restrictive educational settings. While there are function-based interventions to treat escape-maintained problem behavior, these interventions…

Communication skills are critical for young children with developmental disabilities or delays (DD) to increase their inclusion in school and community settings. Thus, many early intervention (EI) services focus on improving children's communication skills. The involvement of the caregivers, the natural change agents, in EI sessions could…

The Preschool Life Skills program is an intervention package designed to teach functional skills to prevent problem behavior in typically developing children. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of the instructional package (renamed "Life Skills") with children with developmental disabilities. The program…

Parent training can help support the development of communication skills for young children with complex communication needs (CCN). Online delivery of such training may alleviate some of the burden on families, thereby increasing participation and outcomes. To determine the effectiveness of online parent training in communication partner…

Purpose: To examine patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., hyperresponsiveness, hyporesponsiveness, and sensory seeking) as factors that may account for variability in social-communicative symptoms of autism and variability in language, social, and communication skill development in children with autism or other developmental disabilities…

This article reviews 43 U.S. studies assessing adaptive and challenging behavior outcomes associated with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who moved from institutions to community residential settings. These studies were published between 1977 and 2010. Longitudinal and comparison group studies were selected based on a…

Communication skills are of great importance for children with developmental disabilities to be functional and independent in their own lives. This paper provides results of a comprehensive literature review on current researched-based intervention strategies that appear effective to increase communication skills for students who have severe…

A study of a man (age 19) with severe developmental disabilities evaluated the effects of implementing extinction for some problem behaviors of a functional response class, with and without reinforcement of an alternative communication response. Results found that using extinction and functional communication training reduced all topographies of…

This study investigated effects of social interactive strategies (such as, contingent imitation, natural reinforcement contingency, and time delay) in promoting early social-communicative skills of a preschool child with developmental disabilities during daily classroom activities. Results indicated that the child's eye contact, joint attention,…

Autism is a life-long, complex developmental disorder that causes impairment in the way individuals process information. Autism belongs to heterogeneous categories of developmental disabilities where neurological disorders lead to deficits in a child's ability to communicate, understand language, play, develop social skills, and relate to others.…

We examined some conditions under which a response acquired as a tact might facilitate the establishment of a mand. We taught 3 participants with developmental disabilities to tact the items ranked highest and lowest in a preference assessment and subsequently tested to see if the responses occurred as mands. All participants manded for the highly…

Five teachers serving 26 children (ages 3-15) with developmental disabilities received training on creating opportunities for requesting (missing item, interrupted chain, delayed assistance). The strategy was effective in helping teachers increase the number of functional communication requesting opportunities and the number of correct student…