Noncompliance with adult instruction is a common problem exhibited by individuals diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The high-probability (high-p) request sequence was designed to increase compliance with low-probability (low-p) instructions by rapidly presenting high-p instructions immediately prior to the targeted low-p…

Background: Ongoing debate about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has not resolved ambivalent teacher beliefs about ADHD. This is an important matter since teachers' beliefs influence their pedagogy, classroom management, and their referral procedures for formal diagnoses of ADHD. They therefore must be provided with up-to-date…

Recent research has shown the effectiveness of literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) as an instructional strategy for a host of skills and routines, including employment skills. This study compared the effects of three LBBI storybook formats (print, e-book, and e-book enhanced with video clips) on the accuracy and independent completion…

We evaluated the effects of tact training when instruction was presented in English only compared to tact training in a bilingual format (in English and the home language, Portuguese) for a participant diagnosed with a communication disorder. The participant's parents completed a questionnaire describing his exposure to both languages prior to the…

The ability to engage in positive social interactions is an important goal for young children with developmental disabilities (DDs). Peer-mediated intervention (PMI), one category of interventions often employed with those who show social skill deficits, involves use of typical peers who live model appropriate behaviors. A second frequent category…

An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the efficacy of echoic and textual prompts to teach three students with autism (ages 8-15) to ask questions related to two pre-selected topics of conversation. Participants were first required to answer questions related to the topics to determine whether accurate responses were within…

We evaluated a self-instructional training manual for conducting multiple-stimulus without replacement stimulus preference assessment. The manual was compared to a method description, adapted from the method sections of previous published research articles, in an unbalanced crossover design with 18 undergraduate university students, randomly…

The present study compared a spelling practice intervention using a tablet personal computer (PC) and picture cards with three students diagnosed with developmental disabilities. An alternating-treatments design with a non-concurrent multiple-baseline across participants was used. The aims of the present study were: (a) to determine if…

This study evaluated two methods of training staff who were working with individuals with developmental disabilities: pyramidal training and consultant-led training. In the pyramidal training, supervisors were trained in the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and in delivering feedback. The supervisors then trained their direct-care…

Mainstream technologies are widely being employed in inclusive and special education classrooms to accommodate the learning needs of students. As the evidence of their effectiveness evolves, educators and school-based therapists need tools and documentable strategies for their implementation. This research presents an evaluation protocol to guide…

Problem-solving skills are imperative to a child's growth and success across multiple environments, including general and special education. Problem solving is comprised of: (a) attention to the critical aspects of a problem, (b) generation of solution(s) to solve the problem, (c) application of a solution(s) to the identified problem, and…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of simultaneous prompting instruction with high and low treatment integrity on the learning of children with developmental disabilities. Low treatment integrity was defined as not delivering a controlling prompt during 30% of the teaching trials. Three preschool children with autism and…

There is limited research demonstrating direct instruction (DI) as an effective language intervention for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities (DD). Existing research has shown that instruction using partial implementation of DI programs resulted in student learning (Ganz, 2007) and instruction using whole…

Background: Children who have a combination of language and developmental disabilities with autism often experience major difficulties in learning relations between objects and their graphic representations. Therefore, they would benefit from teaching procedures that minimize their difficulties in acquiring these relations. This study compared two…

This dissertation reviewed experimental studies centering on the Lovaas Method (LovM), reviewed experimental studies centering on Verbal Behavior Approach (VBA) and/or studies that focused on the primary verbal operants, and compared the effects of LovM and VBA on the development of tact repertoires of three 11 to 12-year-old students with…