An expanding evidence base has advocated for delivery of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) within community systems, thus extending the reach of these practices to young autistic children. The current study examined provider-reported use of NBDIs within a Part C Early Intervention (EI) system and the extent to which…

Naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention is an emerging class of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. The present article is a meta-analysis of outcomes of group-design studies (n = 27) testing interventions using naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention strategies. Small, significant positive effects…

The purpose of this teacher inquiry is to explore the effects of signing and gesturing on the expressive language development of non-verbal children. The first phase of my inquiry begins with the observations of several non-verbal students with various etiologies in three different educational settings. The focus of these observations is to…

Accumulating studies are documenting specific motivational variables that, when combined into a naturalistic teaching paradigm, can positively influence the effectiveness of interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to compare two applied behavior analysis (ABA) intervention procedures, a…

The primary purpose of this study was to replicate and extend a study by Gravina, Austin, Schroedter, and Loewy (2008). A similar self-monitoring procedure, with the addition of self-monitoring accuracy training, was implemented to increase the percentage of observations in which participants worked in neutral postures. The accuracy training…

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of percentile schedules as a method of quantifying the shaping procedure in an educational setting. We compared duration of task engagement during baseline measurements for 4 students to duration of task engagement during a percentile schedule. As a secondary purpose, we examined the influence on…

Children with autism often have difficulty successfully applying newly acquired skills to novel situations. Naturalistic teaching procedures have been developed to help address this problem with generalization. These naturalistic procedures promote generalization through the use of natural consequences, diverse training, and the incorporation of…

Children with autism exhibit significant deficits in imitation skills which impede the acquisition of more complex behaviors and socialization, and are thus an important focus of early intervention programs for children with autism. This study used a multiple-baseline design across five young children with autism to assess the benefit of a…

Prior to the adoption of a Restrictive Procedures Guidelines Draft, baseline measures on the use of restrictive procedures were collected by observing selected retarded adult clients (N=13) in seven pre-selected settings (group homes or vocational shops) of the Vocational and Rehabilitation Research Institute (VRRI) in Calgary, Alberta. An…

Safety belt use with and without addition of an incentive strategy was observed among 8,635 drivers at a drive-through restaurant. During the promotional campaign, average rate of belt use tripled compared to baseline following the introduction of a contingent reward (a large soft drink), and declined during followup. (JW)

This article discusses three major purposes of observation in functional behavioral assessment: to describe and help analyze the classroom events leading to challenging behaviors, to develop and evaluate the accuracy of hypotheses about these triggers, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for challenging behavior developed from the…

This report summarizes the results of research studies on instructional practices that significantly affect the cognitive, language, or mental abilities of students with disabilities. The investigation reviewed current research on instruction of students with moderate disabilities and sought to identify effective instructional practices. The steps…