The National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), a consortium funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), prepares special education leaders to become experts in research on intensive intervention for students with disabilities who have persistent and severe academic (e.g., reading and math) and behavioral…

Three autistic children (ages 9-11) received spontaneous communication training using a time delay, modeling, and food reinforcement procedure. Results showed gains in 2 spontaneous responses ("please" and "thank you") and 1 verbally prompted response ("you're welcome"). Gains were validated socially with 10 adults. (Author/JDD)

Four preschool children with autism played "Follow-the-Leader," in which a normal peer demonstrated and physically prompted a variety of actions and object manipulations that defined the activity. Following training, all four subjects generalized their imitative skill to a new setting involving new actions and object manipulations. (Author/JDD)

A system of graduated guidance was used to teach three children (ages six through nine) with severe multiple disabilities to don and remove their jackets and coats independently. The training approach involved initial use of oversized garments, fading of guidance, and individualized reinforcement. Skill maintenance and generalization were also…

This booklet identifies and discusses methods and procedures to facilitate appropriate social interactions between children and youth with autism and classroom teachers and other school personnel. It is designed to provide information and techniques that are useful in developing social interaction programs. An overview of four approaches commonly…

Four mentally retarded children (ages 4-11), 3 with autism, were successfully taught various adaptive behaviors for self-care skills. Training procedures involved the whole-task method and included modeling, verbal instructions, prompting, and edible and social reinforcement. (Author/JDD)

Compares two instructional strategies, prompting and direct instruction, to determine which produces dialogical reasoning in written essays concerning controversial issues. Participants were 45 sixth graders. Finds both strategies equally productive and concludes that the emphasis should be on providing thought-provoking, issues-oriented social…

This guide presents strategies to teach students with mental retardation to request their preferences, protest non-preferred activities, and clarify misunderstandings. The strategies were field tested with more than 200 children and adults in community, residential, vocational, and educational settings. Suggestions are included for instructing…

This set of materials is designed to assist in creating productive, safe, and respectful learning environments for students at risk. The materials are designed around the concepts of treating students with dignity and respect, developing students' skills for success, emphasizing positive interactions, using misbehavior as a teaching opportunity,…