The impact of social media on teens' mental health and development raises the need for educational interventions that equip them with the knowledge and skills to cope with dangerous situations. In spite of the growing effort to expand social media literacy among youngsters, social media interventions still rely on conventional methods that tend to…

We used a script-fading package to teach children with autism to initiate social interactions across various activities in the school setting, and we programmed for generalization in the untrained home setting with a sibling. The three participants, ages 8 to 10 years, demonstrated deficits in social initiations with their peers. During baseline,…

Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate behavioral deficits and excesses that can adversely affect their play skills. Teaching children with ASD to use activity schedules with embedded scripts have led to increased appropriate game play with other children with autism and typically developing peers; however, there is sparse…

Research demonstrates young children with autism and other developmental disabilities can benefit from participation in play activities with peers. Play provides opportunities to increase social skills across developmental domains in an integrated manner and provides opportunities to develop a sense of belonging and friendship; these goals…

A critical component of teaching social skills to people with autism is the generalization of behavior change across a variety of untrained situations during which social skills are appropriate. The script-fading procedure is an effective technology for teaching social skills to people with autism, but few researchers have established cues in the…

Many studies have examined ways to improve social functioning of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Some common strategies include: (1) social stories strategy; (2) social scripts strategy; (3) power card strategy; (4) cognitive behavioral modification; and (5) the "I Will" card strategy. The "I Will" card strategy utilizes components…

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has emerged as one of the most effective empirically based strategies for instructing individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Four ABA-based strategies that have been found effective are video modeling, visual strategies, social script fading, and task analysis. Individuals with ASD often struggle with…

This article provides an overview of 3 approaches to peer-mediated intervention that have been effective in improving the social and communicative interactions among young children with autism and other developmental disabilities and their classmates without disabilities. These empirically supported peer-mediated interventions involve teaching…