Kindergarten transition programs support successful school transitions for families and may reduce disparities in academic readiness upon school entry. Yet, access and participation in high-quality summer transition programs are lower among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study examined the impact of a summer kindergarten transition…

College options for students with intellectual disabilities continue to grow. However, there is a gap among students and families about available college opportunities. This study provides evidence of a weeklong summer academy that bridges the gap between high school and college. Results showed the summer academy increased participants' awareness…

From its inception, the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary has been committed to the education of gifted students. Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska, founder of the CFGE, created a learning environment to work directly with gifted students and parents by providing diverse university-based pre-collegiate programs in both residential and…

Effective interventions are needed to help alternative high school teachers manage challenging student behaviors. One such intervention, class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT), is a classroom management program based on positive behavior interventions and supports principles. CW-FIT involves teaching appropriate classroom…

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) is an educational framework that illustrates how to foster educational excellence through a focus on cultural competence, critical consciousness, and academic success, which aims to empower students by making education more applicable and responsive to their lived experiences (Ladson-Billings, 1995). This study…

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…

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impacts of the Summer Preschools Program on 5-to-6-year-old Syrian refugee and local children from vulnerable communities of Turkey. Developed as a community-based contextually sensitive early intervention model, the program aimed to promote developmental well-being and school readiness of children from…

This promising practice describes the summer programming transformation at a rural, Title I school. After eliminating barriers to education and remediation overtones, the school now provides free transportation, meals, and books for all participants and engages them in research-based, enrichment-focused literacy learning. The program's first year…

This study tested the feasibility and initial efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral summer treatment (summerMAX[superscript yc]) for high-functioning young children, ages 4-6 years, with ASD (HFASD; without intellectual disability). The treatment was conducted 5 days per week, 6 h per day, over 5 weeks in the summer and included skills instruction…

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are more likely to have regression in acquired skills in summer than typically developing peers, while parents have also more limited options to provide summer alternatives for their children. This study aimed to understand perspectives of parents of children with ASD and pre-service teachers…

The current study examined the feasibility and initial efficacy of the Summer Treatment Program for Pre-kindergarteners (STP-PreK) with 37 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Parents and teachers reported on children's behavior, social/adaptive skills, and self-regulation. Children completed…

In order to prevent iatrogenic effects associated with interventions that aggregate youth with behavior problems and to promote the integration of these youth into normative peer groups, a comprehensive evidence-based prevention program, Early Risers "Skills for Success" (August et al. in Preventing substance abuse: science-based…

A variety of activities are used in camps to help promote positive youth development, improving social skills and self-esteem in campers. I expanded on previous camp research in this study to address the influence camps have on trust, belief in the honesty of others, empowerment, and care for others in youth in Eastern Europe. Since 1999, New…

This research provides preliminary results of an exploratory case study conducted of the Camps on TRACKS program in an inclusive, municipal day-camp program in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Positive changes are demonstrated in the social skills of nine day campers with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who participated in the program. In this…

Contemporary models highlight the need to cultivate cognitive and psychosocial factors in developing domain-specific talent. This model was the basis for the current study where high ability youth with self-reported social difficulties (n = 28, 12 with a coexisting disability) participated in a social skills and talent development intervention…