During small group instruction, two groups of children--each group comprised of one child with a disability and two without disabilities--were taught to read words using a progressive time delay procedure (PTD). Apart from the children with disabilities, two typically developing peers in each group were taught to comment on tokens given for…

Many studies have shown that small-group direct instruction is effective and efficient for teaching students with and without disabilities, although relatively few studies have been conducted with heterogeneous groups of preschool participants. In addition, previous studies have primarily assessed whether observational learning occurred for…

Research was reviewed on small-group instruction for learners with disabilities. The review was conducted for articles published between 1990 and 2010 on the application of small-group direct instruction to teach discrete skills using prompting procedures. A total of 47 articles with 197 participants and 687 replications of effects was located.…

The authors describe an intervention for 3 preschoolers with disabilities who had low peer-related social competence. The intervention taught academic skills tailored to the need of each target student in small groups (triads) with two typically developing peers, using a progressive time delay procedure. Prior to instruction and separate from the…

A multiple probe design was used to examine the relation between teachers' use of the system of least prompts, contingent imitation, and praise, and the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of pretend play by 4 children with disabilities. The teachers' use of the intervention package was functionally related to increases in the children's…

In this article, the authors focus on issues of instruction in classrooms. Initially, a brief definitional and historic section is presented. This is followed by a discussion of four assumptions about the current state of affairs: (a) evidence-based practices should be identified and used, (b) children's phase of performance should dictate…

The purpose of this study was to analyze literature regarding interventions for promoting pretend play in children with disabilities. Sixteen studies were found using experimental designs to evaluate pretend play interventions with children with disabilities. The results were analyzed across the targeted pretense behaviors, participants,…

Experimental research involves comparing two or more conditions. One of those conditions in single subject research is often the baseline. Adequate description of the baseline conditions is necessary for evaluating the effects of independent variables, drawing generalizations from studies, and providing information for subsequent replication…

A study found that 4 boys (age 11) with mild disabilities were able to acquire the behaviors for instructive feedback stimuli when the stimuli were presented after trials on any of a set of target behaviors and could acquire instructive feedback behaviors during acquisition of or mastery of target behaviors. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This article discusses knowledge gaps that exist in the instruction of preschoolers with disabilities, in terms of the curriculum content, procedures used to individualize instruction, instructional procedures designed to ensure acquisition, and strategies used to ensure skill use or generalization. Barriers to generating such knowledge and…

The effects of teaching mothers to imitate their young children during play sessions were studied with children (18 to 36 months old) who exhibited developmental delays in cognition, gross/fine motor skills, speech/language, self-help, and social skills. Mothers were taught to imitate, through providing a description of verbal and nonverbal…

Four paraprofessional staff members in a mainstreamed day care program were trained to engage in positive interactive behaviors during diaper changing. Results indicated that staff increased frequency of game playing and other interactive behaviors during diapering, but increases were not generalized to feeding routines. (Author/JDD)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of progressive time delay in teaching three male preschoolers with disabilities to imitate their peers during arts and crafts activities. The subjects were enrolled in a half-day, mainstreamed program designed for children with autism. Teacher-delivered peer-mediated trials were embedded into a daily arts and…