Background: Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) meet other children with PIMD in day care centres or schools. This study explores the peer-directed behaviours of children with PIMD, the peer interaction-influencing behaviour of the direct support workers and the children's positioning. Method: Group activities for…

Peer support arrangements are an evidence-based practice for increasing interactions between students with severe disabilities and their peers in general education classrooms, but it is unclear how interactions vary across instructional formats or generalize outside the classroom. In this single-case design study, we tested the efficacy of peer…

The intervention of Intensive Interaction is gaining attention for its demonstrated effectiveness in promoting social engagement in individuals with severe communicative impairments. The present study sought to extend the evidence base for this intervention by investigating the rapidity with which an increase in engagement becomes apparent.…

The 1% of US students with labels of severe disabilities including mental retardation have been historically excluded from "inclusive" education, and from the important epistemological, political, pedagogical, and pragmatic currents in systemic education reform. They have been also been excluded from the design of, and participation in, the…

The study examined the dyadic relationship between two nonverbal, severely handicapped children (5 and 6 years old) and their mothers. Ss were videotaped in a classroom at an early intervention program, and approximately 110 maternal verbalizations were transcribed. Among findings were that the dyads used little eye contact while communicating;…

Direct observation procedures were utilized in assessing the social interactions of 37 adults with severe disabilities in 18 employment programs, representing 3 different supported employment contexts (individual, enclave, and work crew). The data gathered focused on: (1) job engagement time; (2) extent of interaction with work supervisor, human…

The purpose of this manual, the culmination of a graduate project begun at the University of Kansas, is to assist individuals with severe, multiple disabilities and their service providers in learning to utilize nonsymbolic behaviors in an expanded, facilitative manner that leads to more consistent and predictable communication functioning. The…

Eight high school students who were peer tutors in a classroom for students with severe disabilities were matched in pairs and then randomly assigned to interact with and serve as a partner for a classmate with severe disabilities. One participant in the pair received social interaction training, and one participant did not. Statistical analysis…