There is an increasing number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) entering an inclusive setting. This creates an equal increasing demand of current inclusion instructional practices. It was not known how general educators perceive inclusion instructional practices when serving the developmental needs of students with ASD. The purpose…

Schools are the primary setting in which autistic youth receive intervention, yet fidelity to implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for autism in schools varies. Fidelity is an important metric to determine whether educators are delivering EBPs as designed, and there are many different factors that predict fidelity to EBP…

Although research shows that students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can develop abilities and skills associated with self-determination (e.g., decision making, problem solving, goal setting and attainment) when opportunities and supports are provided, students with ASD tend to show lower levels of self-determination compared to their peers…

A systematic review was completed to identify assessments used with children with intellectual disabilities to assess adaptive behaviour, challenging behaviour and autism-related behaviour and consider their appropriateness for use by special education teachers with autistic pupils. The findings of this review led to the recommendation that the…

Researchers have widely reported using technological interventions to support young children with autism spectrum disorder. Given the abundance and diversity of research on the topic, the authors conducted a scoping review of 158 studies published from 1994 to 2019 to provide a current state of the literature and guide future research. Overall,…

This study examined the clinical levels of depression and stress associated with raising a child with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A range of factors, such as aberrant and challenging behaviors, measures of severity of ASD, and increasing child care responsibilities contribute to paternal stress. In addition fathers may experience high levels…

Virtual reality (VR) is rapidly becoming a popular tool for use in the classroom. VR technology has been available for years, but education stakeholders struggled with adoption due to the high costs and complexity. As VR technology has evolved, a broad spectrum of VR has been developed for use including non-immersive to fully-immersive VR. While…

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) benefit from early intervention, specifically applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA is often implemented by paraprofessionals who are known as registered behavior technicians (RBTs). For many years, educators have known the value of corrective feedback in relation to skill acquisition. In this…

Gifted students with high functioning autism (gifted-HFA) are being excluded from gifted programs in one public school setting in the Southeastern United States designed for gifted and high-achieving students. Although the literature indicates teacher self-efficacy in working with this group can contribute to this problem, it was unclear whether…

In special education there are disabilities and health concerns teachers have to keep at the forefront when working with autistic students. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to gain knowledge and understanding regarding special education teachers' perceptions of the stressors they experience when interacting with students…

Autistic students often face stigmatization surrounding their autism diagnosis, especially in academia, which can cause depression, lower self-esteem, or suicidal ideation and lead to lower academic success. The problem of insufficient research-based effective practices to guide support services for autistic students in their post-secondary…

Humans need empathy to promote social interactions and to display prosocial behavior. Therefore, it is not surprising that low empathy skills are commonly seen as diagnostic features in several mental disorders. Empathy is an interesting topic in autism, since low empathy skills are responsible for the social difficulties that individuals with…

Formal preference assessments are commonly implemented as a way to evaluate potential reinforcers for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. Today there are numerous formal preference assessments that can be used clinically, and which have been evaluated empirically.…

Quality of life (QoL) is a key outcome used to monitor service planning and delivery for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Unfortunately, many current instruments used to measure QoL have psychometric and content limitations and none are suitable for use with individuals with the lowest levels of functioning and…

This study reviews the literature on reading instruction consistent with the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) for children with autism spectrum disorder, using the Evaluative Method for Determining Evidence-Based Practices in Autism to assess research quality…