Social deficits are often a core area of development for students in special education, thus schools are charged with providing social skills interventions. Although many strategies are available, few schools successfully employ evidence-based interventions for students with autism and related disabilities. A way to address these concerns while…

A literature review of evidence-based social skills curricula that support adolescents with autism and developmental disabilities (ASD/DD) is presented. This article provides an overview of peer-reviewed articles and evaluation of the feasibility of implementing evidence-based interventions for social skills within the academic setting for…

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.…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) offer substantial benefits to middle school, high school, and post-secondary students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, with no valid and reliable measure to capture the ways in which the peers without disabilities are impacted, far less is known about the outcomes for these…

Background: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often demonstrate difficulties in social skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a comprehensive intervention program on the acquisition of social skills among students with mild IDD. Method: Single subject multiple baseline design across situations…

This study examined the effectiveness, generalization, and maintenance of a multi-element intervention consisting of brief direct instruction social skill lessons, a prompting procedure, and a fading procedure to promote social engagement in an integrated lunchroom and playground setting for three elementary age students with developmental…

Early interventions with the goal of altering the trajectory of social skill acquisition are needed in order to establish social competence in young children with developmental disabilities. This study used a unique play-based intervention (the Early Childhood Storybook Intervention) to teach social skills to young children with developmental…

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…

This study examined the effects of a multicomponent social communication intervention to promote language learning and peer-directed social interactions in preschool children with disabilities. Participants were eight children with developmental disabilities who met the specified criteria for the study. The intervention consisted of three…

Widely regarded as the standard clinical reference, this volume provides the best current knowledge about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, adolescents, and adults. The field's leading authorities address all aspects of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, including psychological therapies and pharmacotherapy. Core…

While deficits in social interaction are central to autism, the sibling relationship has been found to provide a key medium for the development of such skills. Naturalistic observations of sibling pairs including children with autism and controls with Down syndrome were made across two time periods, twelve months apart. Consistent with the…

Exposure to alcohol in utero is considered to be the leading cause of developmental disabilities of known etiology. The most severe consequence of such exposure, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), is characterized by a distinct constellation of characteristic facial anomalies, growth retardation, and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Some…

Incorporating group socialization procedures into a classroom with young children with developmental difficulties requires identifying target children, implementing the procedures, and evaluating the procedures. Socialization activities may include encouraging children to interact with one another, frequent modeling of prosocial behavior, frequent…

Five adults with developmental disabilities were trained on six interactional skill areas using the "Sorry" game format. The study involved natural environment training, role playing, and modeling of correct responses only as an error correction procedure during training. All participants increased their use of trained behaviors during…

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.…