Exercise is necessary for healthy living, yet individuals with intellectual disability (ID) remain strikingly inactive compared with nondisabled peers. To improve this outcome, individuals with ID can exercise independently by self-instructing. Self-instruction is considered a pivotal skill once it generalizes to untrained stimuli. This study used…

Background & aims: Although the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been demonstrated to be an effective intervention to teach people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder a functional communication system, the research indicates variability in PECS outcomes across people and studies. Therefore, the purpose of the current study…

Difficulties with social conversation can be a direct result of the social skills deficit in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The popularity of hand-held devices and the development of commercial apps has expanded the scope of teaching social skills via this modality. This study extends an earlier pilot study in which a…

A substantial number of multicomponent interventions have been developed to address social functioning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For multicomponent interventions, identifying critical elements of the intervention related to behavior change is critical and may potentially improve the social validity of interventions. Such…

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent peer-mediated intervention (PMI) on teaching adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) how to show interest in peer conversation partners by asking partner-focused questions about the person, their interests, or their experiences and by making partner-focused…

Emotion recognition has been identified as critical in the development of social communication and interaction with individuals having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the effects of the intervention and moderator factors with quantitative research. To carry out an analysis of effect size on the intervention emotion…

This study evaluated the effects of progressive time delay (PTD) to teach four elementary students with intellectual disability on how to self-instruct using a video activity schedule. A single-case multiple probe across participants design with a multiple probe across environments design for each participant was used to assess the generalization…

Daily living skills deficits are strongly associated with poor adult outcomes for individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, and yet, there are no group interventions targeting daily living skills. Seven adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their parents participated in a feasibility pilot of a 12-week manualized group…

This study used a randomized controlled trial to compare two distinct models of group social skills interventions with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants had a confirmed diagnosis of ASD, had an IQ greater than or equal to 70, and were educated in the general education setting. Data from 62 adolescent participants who…

Interventions to enhance cognitive and executive function performance are essential for the child's performance in current and future occupations. Occupational therapy practitioners are critical members of early intervention, education, and healthcare teams. Practitioners are distinctly qualified to address cognitive functioning within the context…

Although low levels of memory strategy use have been found in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), few studies have explored the effectiveness of interventions for improving strategy use with this population. In two studies, we examined the short- and longer term effectiveness of rehearsal strategy training. In Study 1, children with…

To date there are no evidence-based comprehensive interventions for use in school settings. There are numerous barriers to delivery of high-quality interventions in schools that have limited the transfer of research-based interventions to school settings. "Modular Approach to Autism Programing for Schools (MAAPS)" is a framework for…

The purpose of this study was to validate a procedure for sufficient exemplar training that can potentially lead to generalized responding. Based on this procedure, we taught four children with autism, generalized use of regular past tense verbs. We applied a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across the participants. The dependent variable…

Self-instruction is a pivotal skill that promotes independence and self-determination by allowing individuals to independently access prompts during the acquisition of new skills while decreasing the need for support from another person. Self-mediated video modeling (SMVM) and video self-prompting (VSP) are two methods of video-based…

The study compared the effects of using commercially available and custom-made video prompts on the completion of cooking recipes by four high school age males with a diagnosis of autism. An adapted alternating treatments design with continuous baseline, comparison, final treatment, and best treatment condition was used to compare the two…