Explore the vast range of titles available.

Although peer support arrangements are a promising strategy to promote inclusion in general education classrooms, previous studies have not addressed how paraprofessionals might implement this strategy under typical circumstances without extensive researcher involvement. In this single-case design study, four special education teachers trained and supported four paraprofessionals to implement peer support arrangements through delivery of a professional development package consisting of an initial orientation, video modeling, and brief coaching with performance feedback. Teachers implemented the professional development accurately, paraprofessionals implemented peer support arrangements with fidelity, and three of the four middle school students with severe disabilities increased their social interactions with peers while maintaining previous levels of academic engagement. These findings suggest a possible avenue for equipping paraprofessionals to implement peer support arrangements. Recommendations for preparing teachers to train and support paraprofessionals to implement intervention strategies are offered along with directions for future research.

In 1975, federal law mandated that children with disabilities be educated in their least restrictive environment, or alongside peers without disabilities in general education classrooms to the maximum extent appropriate. More than 40 years later, I investigated how national trends in educational placement have changed over time for students with intellectual disability. Specifically, I examined the degree placements have trended toward less restrictive environments. I found historical trends of incremental progress toward less restrictive settings, but no evidence of such progress in recent years. Furthermore, most students were educated predominantly in segregated settings every year. I discuss how these findings relate to previous studies, as well as implications for individualized education program teams and advocates for educational inclusion.

Federal law in the United States requires that students with disabilities receive their education alongside their peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate given their individual circumstances. As a result, students with less support needs have enjoyed increasing amounts of time in the regular education classroom, while their peers with developmental disabilities are still largely served in separate educational settings. When these students are not included in the regular education classroom, they are not able to access the academic, social, and communication benefits of inclusion. The inclusion of students with developmental disabilities has long been a point of contention and disagreement among special education teachers, administrators, and scholars. It is the goal of this paper to carefully consider the perspectives and practical considerations that affect the placement of students with developmental disabilities and understand why these students spend less time in the regular education classroom than their peers with other disabilities. In addition, we weigh the relative advantages of inclusive and separate placements. After reviewing these issues, we believe that it is possible to simultaneously value a spectrum of placement options and advocate for increased inclusion in the regular education classroom. We discuss evidence-based practices to support inclusive placements and areas of future research to support inclusion of students with developmental disabilities in the regular education classroom.

Many early educators cite behavior management as a top professional development need. Evidence-based practices exist to address severe challenging behavior, but promoting implementation of these practices remains a challenge. In this single-case design study, two preschool teachers received coaching focused on implementing three evidence-based strategies—referencing a visual representation of expectations, systematic monitoring and positive reinforcement, and self-management. Coaching that featured modeling and performance feedback enabled the teachers to implement all three strategies for a child with severe challenging behavior. Although student behavior was not incorporated into the experimental design, descriptive data showed marked improvement that coincided with implementation of self-management procedures. These findings extend the coaching literature, and highlight the importance of implementing evidence-based practices to address the challenging behavior of young children.

Teachers are often tasked with training paraeducators to deliver instruction to students with significant disabilities, but there is little research that involves teachers training paraeducators. In this single-case design study, we supported teachers to deliver tiered training that first involved group training for teams of paraeducators, and then follow-up coaching for the subset who did not meet criterion-level implementation fidelity. Three teachers at three different schools delivered tiered training on systematic prompting to nine paraeducators who taught students with significant disabilities. After tiered training, all nine implemented simultaneous prompting in both targeted (d = 0.73) and generalization situations (d = 0.76), as well as least-to-most prompting in both targeted (d = 0.65) and generalization situations (d = 0.37). Five met criterion-level adherence with group training alone, and four required coaching. Eight of the nine paraeducators also improved their implementation quality. Students made progress on individualized goals aligned with paraeducator-delivered instruction both in targeted (d = 0.99) and generalization situations (d = 0.14). These findings suggest that teachers can effectively implement tiered training that enables paraeducators to deliver evidence-based instruction to students with significant disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to identify evidenced-based, focused intervention practices for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder. This study was an extension and elaboration of a previous evidence-based practice review reported by Odom et al. (Prev Sch Fail 54:275–282, 2010b , doi: 10.1080/10459881003785506 ). In the current study, a computer search initially yielded 29,105 articles, and the subsequent screening and evaluation process found 456 studies to meet inclusion and methodological criteria. From this set of research studies, the authors found 27 focused intervention practices that met the criteria for evidence-based practice (EBP). Six new EBPs were identified in this review, and one EBP from the previous review was removed. The authors discuss implications for current practices and future research.

The authors conducted 324 full-class-length observations of 108 high school students with severe disabilities in general education classes, focusing analyses on how often students were present during class and in proximity to peers without disabilities. Students were not present for a substantial proportion of the classes in which they were enrolled, and they were infrequently in proximity to classmates without disabilities when they were present. Observations of a comparison group of peers without disabilities enrolled in these same classrooms suggest missed social opportunities for students with severe disabilities. We also found that primary disability category (i.e., autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability) and type of class (i.e., academic, other) were associated with different patterns of presence and proximity.

Performance feedback has been identified as an evidence-based practice to improve teacher implementation fidelity. The efficacy of performance feedback might be enhanced with ancillary strategies such as goal setting. In this paper, we systematically reviewed 22 experimental studies in which a combination of goal setting and performance feedback was used to improve teacher implementation of practices. We summarized effects and explored which aspects of goal setting and performance feedback were associated with improved performance. Overall, we found the combination of goal setting and performance feedback was highly effective. We found that the features associated with consistent positive effects included visual presentation of data, verbal feedback, teacher-created goals, measurement of progress toward goals, and discussion of goals during feedback. We discuss why these particular features might be efficacious, and how administrators and teacher trainers can integrate them into their efforts to support teachers to improve their practice.

Many students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) struggle to appropriately interact and play with their peers at recess. In this pilot feasibility study, we tested the efficacy of practitioner-implemented, peer-mediated Pivotal Response Training (PRT) with 11 elementary and middle school students with ASD. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. We measured outcomes at multiple time points, and analyzed data using multi-level modeling with time nested within student. We demonstrated large and statistically significant increases in peer interaction (d = 1.13). Appropriate play with peers also increased substantially (d = 0.89). Practitioners and students provided positive feedback. These findings suggest school staff can feasibly facilitate peer-implemented PRT that improves social outcomes for students with ASD at recess.

For students with autism, recess is often a missed opportunity to develop social competence and relationships. Although interventions have been developed to promote interactions and social skills for students with average or above-average intellectual functioning, there has been less focus on students with autism who have below-average intellectual functioning or who meet the criteria for intellectual disability. In this single-case design study, we tested the efficacy of a combined peer-mediated and social skills instruction intervention on the interactions, play, and social skills of three students with autism who met their state's criteria for alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Social skills instruction featured video models that portrayed same-aged peers demonstrating individualized social skills on the playground. For all three students, there were substantial increases in interactions, play and social skills, and students and their peers provided positive feedback about the intervention.