Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Sociometric ratings assigned by and to high school youth with and without educable mental retardation were compared. Twenty-seven resource room students with mental retardation, who attended regular classes for portions of the school day, were matched with an equal number of nonhandicapped (NH) students in 5 schools. The Ohio Social Acceptance Scale was administered in 18 physical education classes enrolling students with mental retardation. Results indicated the subjects with mental retardation, in comparison to matched NH students, rated their peers more negatively, and received more negative classroom ratings. Moreover, the matched subjects did not differ in assigned or received high acceptance and mild rejection. In general, however, the comparison groups differed considerably in many aspects of assigned, received, and reciprocal social status. The findings are discussed with regard to the need for examining the social dynamics of integrated classrooms in a comprehensive fashion.

The effects of three interventions delivered by nonhandicapped students on the social initiation behavior of untrained peers toward a student with severe handicaps were examined. A multiple schedule design was used to assess the effects of peer initiation, reinforcement, and prompt procedures administered by trained nonhandicapped peers on the percentage of positive social interactions toward the student with handicaps by untrained nonhandicapped peers. The results indicated that the prompt procedure produced the highest levels of positive social initiations from untrained nonhandicapped participants. The results provide tentative support for the use of prompt procedures to enhance social relationships between children with severe handicaps and nonhandicapped individuals.

The effects of an overcorrection procedure on stereotypic behavior of two students with severe multiple handicaps were investigated in a cooperative school/home program. A multiple-probe variation of a multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate experimental control. Results support use of overcorrection as a technique for reduction of long-standing stereotypic behaviors. Furthermore, professionals, paraprofessionals, and parents successfully implemented overcorrection in both school and home settings. Implications for education of persons with severe multiple handicaps in least restrictive environments are discussed.

This study was conducted to assess instructional program preferences of staff and management personnel of 74 potential community training sites in a city and surrounding county in Virginia. Eight categories of community establishments were identified including restaurants, stores and shops, consumer services, welfare-social services, religious organizations, educational programs (other than public school), health services, and recreational services. Survey responses were used to guide community based trainers in making instructional decisions and selecting training techniques that would suit the site as well as the trainees.

Investigators have demonstrated that increased teacher wait-time is effective in increasing frequency of responses of non-handicapped children. When provided with an extended wait-time, non-handicapped students answer teacher questions more appropriately and volunteer answers more frequently. To date, investigators have not studied the effect(s) of teacher wait-time on responses of developmentally delayed children under the age of three. In this study, the effects of teacher wait-time of one second and teacher wait-time of five seconds on the responses of two developmentally delayed children (i.e., one child with Down syndrome and one child with cerebral palsy) and one non-delayed child were compared. All subjects were between two and three years of age. The subjects’ performances were evaluated by two means: a) frequency of responses and b) accuracy of responses. Teacher wait-time of five seconds was found to be superior to teacher wait-time of one second in increasing frequency of responses of the two developmentally delayed subjects. A difference in accuracy measures, in favor of the five second wait-time interval, of the developmentally delayed subjects was also noted. There appeared to be little differences between frequency or accuracy measures of the non-delayed child on any of the tasks.

This study examined students’ perceptions of their high school curricula as part of a more general research program on the evaluation of special education. Interviews were conducted with 106 handicapped and nonhandicapped high school juniors and seniors who were enrolled in either academic courses of study, occupational education programs, or special education programs in public school or center-based settings. Students were asked to identify the vocational, leisure, domestic, and school skills that they thought were most important, the criteria they used to make these judgments, and the skills they used most frequently. Results indicated that the greater the difference in the course of study (e.g., academic vs. work-study) and the school setting (e.g., public school vs. center-based), the less the agreement on what was considered important. Results also indicated that nonhandicapped students generally selected skills that were “general” vs. “specific”, and used “future” to judge importance more than the “present.” The study also found that there was no consistent relationship between frequently used skills and important skills. The present investigation indicates the need to consider the students’ perceptions when evaluating the significance of educational programs.

Public Law 94-142 has specified that all handicapped children must receive appropriate instruction in physical education. Many handicapped children, particularly mildly handicapped children, are placed in regular physical education classes before being assessed to determine what type of P.E. placement is the most appropriate. This study compared qualitative fundamental motor skill performances of 170 non-handicapped (NH) and 138 educable mentally impaired (EMI) students. NH students performed significantly better than EMI students on each of seven skills assessed. Further analyses demonstrated that performances of NH and EMI students improved with age, and when gender differences were present, differences were in favor of male students.

Staff training is one method of improving quality of services provided to individuals receiving services in special education settings. This article provides a review of behavioral staff training in special education settings, primarily institutions, by focusing on antecedent, contingency management, and multi-faceted procedures. Each of these techniques is discussed and reviewed according to the following criteria: (a) evaluation of staff behavior, (b) assessment of changes in client behavior, (c) inclusion of follow-up observations, and (d) evaluation of consumer satisfaction with procedures. Recommendations for future research are made.