Abstract: Self-reports are typically used to assess public speaking anxiety. In this study, we examined whether self-report, observer report, and behavioral and physiological reactivity were associated with ...

Abstract: The authors of this systematic review identified 20 individual single-subject studies examining the efficacy of Behavior Skills Training (BST) implemented with parents. Findings indicate that researchers have used BST to successfully train parents to implement a range of evidence-based practices (EBP) with their own children. Parents of children with autism or intellectual disability made up the large majority of participants in these studies. Applying the methodological quality standards set by What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), the authors detail the evidence from 67 individual cases provided by single-subject design research. Practitioners looking to train parents of children with disabilities to implement EBPs can be confident that BST is an effective training practice.

Abstract: This study reports outcome in adolescents with autism who in their childhood received Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI). Nineteen children (16 boys) who had received two years of EIBI starting at a mean age of 2-years-and-11-months were followed up, on average, 12 years later. Results showed the participants significantly increased their cognitive and adaptive standard scores during the two years of EIBI, and that these gains were maintained at follow-up, 10 years after the EIBI had ended. Participants also showed a significant reduction in autism symptoms between intake and follow-up. At follow-up, none of the participants had received any additional psychiatric diagnoses, and none were taking any psychotropic medication. Results indicate that treatment gains achieved in EIBI are maintained into adolescence.

Abstract: Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a prevalent condition with disabling occupational, educational, and social consequences. Exposure therapy is a commonly utilized approach for treating PSA. Traditio...

Abstract: Students who are eligible to receive special education and related services are entitled to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) including the necessary emotional, behavioral, and social supports to access the general curriculum. This study explores Individualized Education Program (IEP) plans of students with disabilities who have social, emotional, or behavioral needs served in five rural independent school districts. Specifically, the study sought to investigate (a) whether the present level of academic and functional performance (PLAAFP) and annual goals demonstrated congruence and (b) whether the degree to which the IEP documents conform to both procedural and substantive requirements for development. A review of 126 IEPs suggests that although IEPs are somewhat compliant, they fail to comprehensively address student needs or align across areas, violating the spirit of Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Recommendations and future areas of inquiry are provided.

Abstract: Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) include skin picking, trichotillomania, nail biting and cavitadaxia/lip-cheek biting, among other behaviors. For the first time, we compared three differen...

Abstract: Peers play a central role in supporting college access for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This review examines available research addressing the perspectives of co...

Abstract: Online acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is promising for treating a range of psychological problems. Component research can further clarify which components are needed for optimal outcomes in what contexts. Online platforms provide a highly controlled format for such research. In this pilot trial, 55 adults were randomized to: ACT-Open (i.e., acceptance, defusion components), ACT-Engaged (i.e., values, committed action), or ACT-Combined (i.e., acceptance, defusion, values, committed action). Each condition was 12 sessions over 6 weeks, with assessments at baseline, post-treatment, and 4-week follow-up. ACT-Open, ACT-Engaged, and ACT-Combined all significantly improved from pre- to post-treatment on mental health, psychosocial functioning, and components of psychological flexibility. Compared to ACT-Combined, ACT-Open improved less on psychosocial functioning at post-treatment, and ACT-Engaged worsened on functioning at follow-up. The platform was acceptable with high satisfaction ratings. Results support the feasibility of conducting online ACT component research, which will be tested in a fully powered non-inferiority trial.

Abstract: Timeout is an effective behavior-reduction strategy with considerable generality. However, little is known about how timeout is implemented under natural conditions, or how errors in implementation impact effectiveness. During Experiment 1, we observed teachers implementing timeout during play to evaluate how frequently the teachers implemented timeout following target behavior (omission errors) and other behaviors (commission errors) for four children. Teachers rarely implemented timeout; thus, omission errors were frequent, but commission errors rarely occurred. During Experiment 2, we used a reversal design to compare timeout implemented with 0% omission integrity, 100% integrity, and the level of omission integrity observed to occur during Experiment 1 for two of the participants. Timeout implemented with reduced-integrity decreased problem behavior relative to baseline, suggesting that infrequent teacher implementation of timeout may have been sufficient to reduce problem behavior.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an early numeracy Tier 2 intervention on the mathematics performance of second-grade students with persistent mathematics difficulties. Who...

Abstract: This simultaneous replication single-case design study investigated a vocabulary and main idea intervention with an aspect of text choice provided to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Five middle school students with ASD participated in two instructional groups taught by school-based personnel. Results were initially mixed. These results were followed by upward and stable trends, indicating a functional relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Social validity measures indicated that students appreciated the opportunity to make choices on text selection.

Abstract: Response effort refers to the distance, force/pressure, or number of discrete behaviors required to engage in a response. In applied behavior analysis, response effort has been used as an independe...

Abstract: The importance of social studies and civics education is increasing, as evidenced by the growing number of states requiring coursework in this area for graduation and its growing presence in school accountability frameworks. Social studies instruction is critical for all students so that they may understand their roles, rights, and responsibilities as citizens and how their actions can influence their communities. Students who exhibit antisocial behaviors, such as those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), may especially benefit from social studies and civics education as it promotes college and career readiness and provides opportunities to engage in social problem solving and perspective taking. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the social studies and civics intervention research for students with EBD. We sought to describe and evaluate the extant literature, identify promising practices, and suggest areas for future research. A total of 17 intervention studies were identified. Overall, 10 out of the 17 studies met What Works Clearinghouse Design Standards with or without reservations. Eight of the 10 studies were eligible for effect size calculation, resulting in an overall large effect (g = 0.83). Study limitations, implications for school practice, and directions for research are discussed.

Abstract: Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often have deficits in interpersonal skills due to limited social-communication opportunities. Knowing how to engage in "small talk" or simple social conversational exchanges can be beneficial in postsecondary schooling, employment sites, community environments, and social gatherings. Recently, covert audio coaching (CAC) showed a positive impact on increasing conversational exchanges. As the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for remote delivery tools, we explored the effectiveness of remote audio coaching (RAC) to teach this skill to college students with IDD. We used a multiple baseline design across participants to examine whether RAC might increase on-topic, small talk conversational exchanges. Results demonstrated that RAC effectively increased small talk skills between participants and a confederate. Upon removal of RAC, all participants still performed above their baselines, with two participants maintaining near mastery levels 2 weeks after the intervention was removed. Limitations and future research are discussed.

Abstract: Firefighters demonstrate high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Research has yet to compare how these diagnoses and their co-occurrence relate to firefig...

Abstract: Quality standards for single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) recommend inspecting six data aspects: level, trend, variability, overlap, immediacy, and consistency of data patterns. The data aspect consistency has long been neglected by visual and statistical analysts of SCEDs despite its importance for inferring a causal relationship. However, recently a first quantification has been proposed in the context of A-B-A-B designs, called CONsistency of DAta Patterns (CONDAP). In the current paper, we extend the existing CONDAP measure for assessing consistency in designs with more than two successive A-B elements (e.g., A-B-A-B-A-B), multiple baseline designs, and changing criterion designs. We illustrate each quantification with published research.

Abstract: Token economy systems have been widely used as an evidence-based classroom management strategy to reinforce and improve prosocial responses. While token economies have been widely applied to educat...

Abstract: Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) has been recommended as a meta-analytic technique for the quantitative synthesis of single-case experimental design (SCED) studies. The HLM approach is flexible and can model a variety of different SCED data complexities, such as intervention heterogeneity. A major advantage of using HLM is that participant and-or study characteristics can be incorporated in the model in an attempt to explain intervention heterogeneity. The inclusion of moderators in the context of meta-analysis of SCED studies did not yet receive attention and is in need of methodological research. Prior to extending methodological work validating the hierarchical linear model including moderators at the different levels, an overview of characteristics of moderators typically encountered in the field is needed. This will inform design conditions to be embedded in future methodological studies and ensure that these conditions are realistic and representative for the field of SCED meta-analyses. This study presents the results of systematic review of SCED meta-analyses, with the particular focus on moderator characteristic. The initial search yielded a total of 910 articles and book chapters. After excluding duplicate studies and non peer-reviewed studies, 658 unique peer-reviewed studies were maintained and screened by two independent researchers. Sixty articles met the inclusion criteria and were eligible for data retrieval. The results of the analysis of moderator characteristics retrieved from these 60 meta-analyses are presented. The first part of the results section contains an overview of moderator characteristics per moderator level (within-participant level, participant level, and study level), including the types of moderators, the ratio of the number of moderators relative to the number of units at that level, the measurement scale, and the degree of missing data. The second part of the results section focuses on the metric used to quantify moderator effectiveness and the analysis approach. Based on the results of the systematic review, recommendations are given for conditions to be included in future methodological work.

Abstract: Firefighters are chronically exposed to potentially traumatic events, augmenting their risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study aimed to examine the incremental as...

Abstract: The purpose of this review was to quantitatively synthesize studies using acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NNDs), their parents, and staff...

Abstract: Although there is a substantial body of observation research investigating the manner in which reading instruction is provided to students with learning disabilities, there is little research in this area involving students with and at risk for emotional disturbance. The purpose of this investigation was to contribute to the limited corpus of observation studies investigating school-based practice in reading for this student population. In this investigation, 11 teachers from two states were systematically observed while providing reading instruction over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. Participating students were also observed over the course of the year and completed two standardized reading assessments at the beginning and end of this investigation. Teachers were also interviewed to identify contextual factors that promote or impede the provision of high quality reading instruction to this student population. Study findings suggest that teachers are in need of additional training, support, and resources to maximize instructional time. Students in this sample tended to make no or minimal progress in reading and were frequently observed displaying low levels of academic engagement across settings. Implications for school practice and areas for future research are discussed.

Abstract: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) typically show weak long-term memory (LTM) skills. Understanding verbal LTM processes and searching for effective mnemonics in this population is important, to improve intervention programs. The current study aimed to assess verbal LTM abilities of adults with mild ID of mixed etiologies, and to offer a simple memorization technique based on vocal production. Participants (n = 55) learned lists of different study materials (images of familiar and unfamiliar objects, written words, and sentences) by vocal production (saying or reading aloud) or by no-production (looking, listening, or reading silently). Memory tests followed. Better memory was found for vocally produced images of familiar objects, written words, and sentences. The results show that adults with mild ID can benefit from the relative distinctiveness of items at study. Hence, vocalization may be used in educational and therapeutic contexts for this population, improving memory performance.

Abstract: Researchers examined the effects of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) to teach students with learning disabilities (LD) to compose persuasive quick-writing about text. The study included a multiple-baseline design with multiple probes for eight students with LD in grades four and five. Researchers observed a functional relationship by systematically replicating the intervention across all student participants. Following SRSD instruction for paraphrasing text and persuasive quick-writing, students increased their persuasive writing outcomes. Improvements were also noted for essay quality and writing length. Implications for future integrated writing and reading interventions are provided.

Abstract: We replicated previous research using behavioral skills training (BST) to teach four children with autism to engage in a safety response following lures from civilian strangers. This study extends ...

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of peer training implemented alone and the effect of combining contingency contracting with peer training on promoting social interactions among...

Abstract: Inclusive postsecondary education programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are proliferating across the United States. Although college can be a formative time for any student, there has been limited research on the growth that college students with IDD may experience during their time on campus. We address this gap by using a longitudinal design to examine the adaptive behavior, self-determination, executive functioning, and social skills of college students with IDD across three points in time-upon initial entry into the program, at the end of their first year, and at the end of their second year. Analyses suggested significant improvements in adaptive behavior and self-determination across the first year of the program. We offer recommendations for research and practice aimed at documenting and promoting growth for students with IDD throughout their collegiate experience.

Abstract: Research suggests that including typically developing siblings in interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be beneficial. However, studies have predominantly involved only participants with mild symptoms of ASD and have not also reported outcomes for the typically developing sibling. The purpose of this study was to address these gaps by replicating and extending an intervention package consisting of structured, interest-based play activities, adult instruction and modeling, and response to child questions. A reversal design across two sibling dyads was used to demonstrate the effects of the intervention on the social interaction behaviors of the child with ASD and typically developing sibling. Social interaction increased for both sibling dyads, results generalized for one dyad, and multiple measures indicated a high level of social validity. Recommendations for practitioners and caregivers working with children with ASD and potential areas of future research are discussed.

Abstract: Anxious children report a more negative perception of their social performance and increased nervous behaviors. The video-feedback with cognitive preparation allows children to contrast and modify ...

Abstract: Research has directed surprisingly little attention to the quality of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a potential predictor of outcome. Therefore...