Background: The job interview can be challenging for autistic adolescents considering the required social communication skills. Further, having decreased awareness of personal strengths may make it difficult to advocate for oneself to a future employer. The purpose of the current pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to examine the…

Introduction: This paper aims to identify to what extent staff training interventions are successful in enhancing the development of communication skills in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Methods: A systematic review was undertaken, conforming to PRISMA guidelines. English language, peer reviewed, empirical studies of…

Behavioral readiness can take the form of communication and self-control skills during challenging situations that are correlated with the development of problem behavior. A skill-based approach can teach behavioral readiness using procedures that involve synthesized reinforcement, probabilistic reinforcement, and contingency-based delays;…

At all levels of healthcare, providers are experiencing rising levels of professional burnout. For healthcare provider leaders, burnout is particularly critical since leaders must maintain healthy and trusting relationships with patients and their teams of healthcare professionals. This utilization-focused evaluation study explores an arts…

Conversational skills, which are essential for effective social interactions and typically pose difficulties for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), include abilities such as initiating topics, engaging in back-and-forth dialog, and responding to conversational cues. Chatbots have been used in mental health fields, and the development…

Effective support for autistic individuals is lacking in Brazil. Few centres offer services and those that do are limited in therapeutic options and geographical location. Paediatric Autism Communication Therapy is a low-intensity, evidence-based parent-mediated social-communication intervention that may be useful for this scenario. This…

Peer collaboration is a foundational skill that emerges in early childhood. Children spend significant time in early educational settings, making it an important setting where young children can learn how to collaborate with peers. However, research on how to support children's collaboration effectively is limited and findings in this area have…

This study examined the effect of Pivotal response treatment (PRT) to improve verbal initiations in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, age 6-12 years old, using a Randomized Clinical Trial design. Intervention was conducted three times a week for 2 months, for a total of 24 one-hour sessions. The PRT intervention taught a variety of questions…

As early identification of autism improves, there is a critical need for interventions to support the development of social communication skills in toddlers. Caregiver coaching and parental involvement is crucial for improving outcomes and providing children with adequate hours of planned active engagement. This pilot study assessed a 4-week…

Using a single-case multiple baseline (MBL) across behaviors design, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the PEERS® for Young Adults manualized intervention on the acquisition of introductory conversational skills by five adults on the autism spectrum. Five participants attended the PEERS® group in a classroom at a rural…

Young children's linguistic and communicative abilities are foundational for their academic achievement and overall well-being. We present the positive outcomes of a brief tablet-based intervention aimed at teaching toddlers and preschoolers new word-object and letter-sound associations. We conducted two experiments, one involving toddlers…

This systematic review evaluates single-case research design studies investigating applied behavior analytic (ABA) interventions for people with Down syndrome (DS). One hundred twenty-five studies examining the efficacy of ABA interventions on increasing skills and/or decreasing challenging behaviors met inclusion criteria. The What Works…

Communication skills are important in life, especially in a clinical setting. The NVC (non-violent communication) model facilitates communication skills in schools, hospitals, and other environments. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of NVC in fostering the communication skills of nursing students. The study included a…

This action research study explores the impact that a nonverbal communication intervention could have on confidence levels of women with a mental diagnosis during the job interview process. The subjects of the pilot intervention were six women who were associated with the organization and who volunteered to participate in the study. These six…

Background: Training parents to implement language and communication intervention strategies is an effective approach to promote language development for children with language delay. Aims: This study introduces an online parent training program conducted in Hubei province, China, which was designed to help parents of language-delayed children…