Editorial
Robert L. Koegel and Robert L. Horner
Longitudinal outcomes of functional behavioral assessment-based intervention.
Lee Kern, Patricia Gallagher, Kristin Starosta, Wesley Hickman and Michael George.
A critical measure of intervention effectiveness is durability over time. Still, few studies have examined the long-term outcomes of support derived from a functional behavioral assessment as well as enablers and barriers that contribute to or impede successful outcomes. In the current study, a functional behavioral assessment was conducted with a 10-year-old boy with developmental disabilities who engaged in high-rate aggression. Based on the assessment results, a comprehensive support plan was developed and implemented, which resulted in a decrease in aggression and increase in activity engagement. His subsequent progress was followed for 3 consecutive school years. This longitudinal follow-up indicated that components of the plan remained effective; however, illness and implementation lapses resulted in decrements in progress.
Including parent training in the early childhood special education curriculum for children with autism spectrum disorders.
Brooke Ingersoll and Anna Dvortcsak.
Parent training has been shown to be a very effective method for promoting generalization and maintenance of skills in children with autism. However, despite its well-established benefits, few public school programs include parent training as part of the early childhood special education (ECSE) curriculum. Barriers to the provision of parent training include the need for parent education models that can be easily implemented in ECSE programs and the need for preparation of special educators in parent education strategies. This article describes a parent training model for children with autism developed for use in ECSE programs. The implementation of the program, teacher preparation, and preliminary outcomes and challenges will be discussed.
Effects of response cards on disruptive behavior and academic responding during math lessons by fourth-grade urban students.
Michael Charles Lambert, Gwendolyn Cartledge, William L. Heward and Ya-yu Lo.
The authors evaluated the effects of response cards on the disruptive behavior and academic responding of students in two urban fourth-grade classrooms. Two conditions, single-student responding and write-on response cards, were alternated in an ABAB design. During single-student responding, the teacher called on one student who had raised his or her hand to answer the question. During the response-card condition, each student was provided with a white laminated board on which he or she could write a response to every question posed by the teacher. Nine students were targeted for data collection because of their history of disciplinary issues in school and frequent disruptive behavior in the classroom. Data revealed substantial reductions in disruptive behavior and increases in academic responding during the response card condition compared to single-student responding. The findings are discussed in terms of the beneficial effects of direct, high-response strategies for urban, low-achieving learners.
An evaluation of the predictive validity of confidence ratings in identifying functional behavioral assessment hypothesis statements. Chris Borgmeier and Robert H. Horner.
Abstract: Faced with limited resources, schools require tools that increase the accuracy and efficiency of functional behavioral assessment. Yarbrough and Carr (2000) provided evidence that informant confidence ratings of the likelihood of problem behavior in specific situations offered a promising tool for predicting the accuracy of function-based hypotheses developed from staff interviews. The current study evaluated conditions in which a similar rating of informant confidence was effective in predicting the accuracy of functional assessment hypothesis statements. Nine students with problem behavior were identified, and functional behavioral assessment interviews with confidence scores were completed with 58 staff members. Between five and eight adults were interviewed about each student. The adults were selected based on their range of contact with the student (0 to 10+ hours per week) and their self-assessed knowledge about behavioral theory (no knowledge to extensive knowledge). Functional analyses were conducted to assess agreement with functional assessment hypotheses and the predictive value of confidence ratings. Results suggested limitations to the general use of confidence ratings in distinguishing accurate from inaccurate functional hypotheses across school staff with a broad range of contact with the target student. The study did find that informants who were both highly confident and who identified accurate functional assessment hypotheses had significantly higher levels of contact with the student in the target routine than those informants who had low confidence ratings and/or identified an incorrect function for the problem behavior.
Effects of video modeling and video feedback on peer-directed social language skills of a child with autism.
Liana Maione and Pat Mirenda.
Abstract: Identifying practical strategies for teaching children with autism to use social language with their peers is a challenge for professionals designing treatment programs. The purpose of this multiple baseline study was to assess the effectiveness of video modeling and video feedback for teaching a child with autism to use social language with typical peers during play. Video modeling was effective in increasing social language in two of the three activities. Video feedback and prompting were required in the third activity to effect a stable rate of increased social language. Unscripted verbalizations predominated across all three activities, as did initiations. The results are discussed with reference to previous research, future directions, and implications for practice.
Developing a student respite provider system for children with autism.
Daniel Openden, Jennifer B. Symon, Lynn Kern Koegel and Robert L. Koegel. (Forum Article)
