Language and drawing each have their own sets of symbols that they use to convey messages. It is still unclear whether the development of these two expression mechanisms is similar or distinct. There are various approaches to supporting language and communication skills, including structured and naturalistic methods. The goal of this in-depth case…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit difficulties with social communication skills that negatively impacts quality of life. Training parents to implement effective interventions that improve the social communication skills of children with ASD may facilitate parent-child interaction and ameliorate the impact of social…

In the current study, we describe a study of the Internet-based Parent-implemented Communication Strategies-Storybook (i-PiCSS). I-PiCSS is an intervention program designed to train and coach parents to use evidence-based naturalistic communication teaching (NCT) strategies (i.e., modeling, mand-model, and time delay) and reading techniques while…

In this investigation, we surveyed 51 faculty members who were involved in teacher preparation programs in the area of extensive support needs (ESN) across a range of institutions of higher education. We asked participants to respond to questions related to the quality and quantity of program content focused on communication instruction and…

Naturalistic behavioral interventions increase the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of child social communication skills among children with developmental delays (DD). Teaching Assistants (TAs) are ideal interventionists for delivering social communication interventions because of the significant amount of time they spend working…

Measuring treatment fidelity is an essential step in research designed to increase the use of evidence-based practices. For parent-implemented communication interventions, measuring the implementation of the teaching and coaching provided to the parents is as critical as measuring the parents' delivery of the intervention to the child. Both levels…

Extension educators are continually seeking ways to make instruction more effective and engaging. This study evaluated the Attention, Interact, Apply, and Invite -- Fact, Think, Feel, Do (AIAI-FTFD) Start-to-Finish Teaching Model for human service educators in an ongoing Extension educational program to determine the effectiveness of this model in…

This paper describes an intervention to enhance students' learning by involving students in brainstorming activities about sustainability concepts and their implications in transportation engineering. The paper discusses the process of incorporating the intervention into a transportation course, as well as the impact of this intervention on…

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of Story-Based Social Skills Training Program on the social skill development of 5-6 year-old children. In the study, the pre-test/post-test and retention test experimental design with a control group was used. 5-6 year-old 60 (30 experimental, 30 control) preschool children participated in the…

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of using tiered instruction to increase the frequency of conversational turn taking (CTT) among preschoolers with and without disabilities in an inclusive setting. Three CTT interventions (Universal Design for Learning, Peer Mediated Instruction, and Milieu Teaching) were…

The VPK Learning Center Activities included with this guide are aligned with the Language, Communication and Emergent Literacy Domain within the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for Four-Year-Olds (2011). Although the goal was not to create an activity to represent each and every standard and benchmark, most standards are…

Standards drive critical elements of the American educational system--the curricula that schools follow, the textbooks students read, and the tests they take. Similarly, standards establish the levels of performance that students, teachers and schools are expected to meet. To succeed in the 21st century, all students will need to perform to high…

The best way to learn is by having a good teacher and the best language learning takes place when the learner is immersed in an environment where the language is natively spoken. 3D multi-user virtual worlds have been claimed to be useful for learning, and the field of exploiting them for education is becoming more and more active thanks to the…

The author describes the use of action plans to support 2 teachers' post-in-service implementation of communication strategies with 3 children who are deafblind. In the action plans, the teachers recorded changes in thinking and instructional practices under the 4 aspects of communication: form, function, content, and context. They also recorded…

Integration of language/communication objectives across the preschool day involves 6 steps: (1) determining language/communication objectives of students, (2) determining most appropriate model for integrating each language/communication objective, (3) determining settings for integration, (4) assigning staff responsibilities, (5) developing and…