A hallmark of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulties with social communication, and some learners with ASD experience additional deficits in expressive and/or receptive language that impair their ability to interact with others. However, a strength observed in many learners with ASD is responding to visual cues and structure. The use of…

Changes in legislation and the policies of education (e.g., NCLB 2002, IDEA 2004), the potential benefits of response-to-intervention (RTI), and government funds to support early intervention have made RTI a prominent issue in current education. To prepare teachers for implementing RTI, there are several government-sponsored online professional…

An implementation science framework is used to differentiate between two types of practices (implementation and intervention) and to describe how the fidelity of the two practices are related and would be expected to influence outcomes of interest. The two practices are the methods and procedures used by implementation agents (e.g., a coach) to…

Prior research on treatment integrity has focused on either the lack of measurement of the independent variable (Peterson, Homer & Wonderlich, 1982; Gresham, Gansle & Noel, 1993; Wheeler, Baggett, Fox & Blevins, 2006; McIntyre, Gresham, DiGennaro & Reed, 2007; Sanetti, Gritter & Dobey, 2011) or on methods to increase overall…

The successful implementation of school-based behavioral interventions requires school personnel to be competent with program content and procedures. An unfortunate trend within school-based behavioral intervention research is that the core intervention components and implementation features are often not fully described. Without clear…

The purpose of this special issue is to provide readers with a greater awareness of the processes involved in dissemination, as well as existing supports that help disseminate and sustain evidence-based interventions. Although dissemination research is limited in most disciplines, it is particularly lacking in the social science field. Many…

Background: Declines in physical activity (PA) in children and youth have contributed to increases in childhood overweight and obesity. The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program was developed to promote school active transportation (AT) and reverse the trend. Methods: Adopting concepts of a realist approach, this article seeks to understand…

Integrating practice and research is vital in all helping professions in order to offer the most ethical, evidence-informed interventions to clients. This article describes some avoidable distractions that hinder integration, discusses controversies related to integration, and describes options for moving forward, including making wasted resources…

Ensuring all youth, including youth with disabilities, graduate high school prepared to live independent, productive lives is the ultimate goal of high schools in the 21st century. Being prepared for post-school life means being college and career ready. Being college and career ready has been defined as "being prepared for postsecondary…

Deficits in self-regulatory skills underlie or contribute to a range of adverse developmental problems and disorders, including ADHD (Barkley, 1997), eating disorders (Attie & Brooks-Gunn, 1995) and risk -taking behaviour (Cantor & Sanderson 1998; Eisenberg et al., 2005). Self-regulation has been recognised as an important factor in aiding…

Based on the results of the Surrogate Decision-Making Self Efficacy Scale (Lopez, 2009a), this study sought to determine whether nurses working in the field of intellectual disability (ID) experience increased confidence when they implemented the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) Seizure Algorithm during telephone triage. The…

Faculty development efforts have had varying success in changing the culture of a department or institution. In this paper, we describe a faculty development program using a residents as teachers (RATS) curriculum that we believe effected educational change in a department with a history of suboptimal student evaluations on the clerkship and an…

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a systems approach to supporting the social and emotional needs of all children utilized by more than 21,000 schools across the nation. Data from numerous studies and state projects' evaluation reports point to the impact of SWPBIS on student outcomes (office discipline referrals…

Evidence-based prevention and wellbeing programs offer a great deal of promise to support the health and wellbeing of North Carolina children, youth, families, and communities. In fact, many funders and service providers in North Carolina are shifting towards models that have demonstrated positive impact through rigorous evaluations. However,…

The social sector's hottest "impact investing" product--the social impact bond (SIB)--has generated a range of reactions, from excitement to angst. An SIB uses private funds to pay for a social, educational, or health program, and the government repays investors (plus a return) only if the program achieves prespecified results. The…