Many differences exist between preschool and kindergarten classrooms, including the type and time spent on fine motor activities. Children at risk for developmental delays and learning challenges as they transition to kindergarten often require direct support during preschool to learn new skills needed for kindergarten. This study expanded the…

Young children who cannot use their natural speech to communicate their daily wants, needs, thoughts, and opinions often rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies that frequently use graphic symbols to assemble messages. Early intervention strategies typically focus on visual scene displays (VSDs) to place target messages…

Purpose: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and complex communication needs are increasingly taught to use tablet-based speech-generating devices (SGDs). An important issue in designing such interventions is the selection of an appropriate format for displaying vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) whether young…

Traditional drill and practice (TDP) is a sight word intervention that is well supported in the literature as being both effective and efficient. However, with growing demands in school systems, there is increased pressure to employ interventions that enhance learning outcomes with less instructional time. WordSheets (WS) was created as a method…

Problem Statement: Literacy skills are extremely important for all individuals, especially children with autism, because these skills provide a channel for educational assessment and learning as well as enhance vocational opportunities, promote self-expression, and facilitate independent living. Some individuals with autism cannot acquire academic…

This study of the effects of intensive multisensory speech training on the speech production of a profoundly hearing-impaired child (age nine) found that the addition of Visual Phonics hand cues did not result in speech production gains. All six target phonemes were generalized to new words and maintained after the intervention was discontinued.…

A 12-year-old boy with severe disabilities was taught street-crossing skills through the use of photographs with verbal rehearsal of appropriate street crossing, followed by community-based instruction. The skills were acquired, maintained at follow up, and generalized to new streets. (JDD)

This study investigated whether a person with profound mental retardation could effectively learn specific requests using two different communication modes, both including the same set of graphic symbols. It also sought to compare whether the participant showed a preference for one modality over the other and to determine whether the participant…