Individual education programs (IEPs) are the cornerstone of special education programs. The persistence of poor in- and post-school outcomes for students with significant disabilities highlights the importance of developing well-designed IEPs to address their multifaceted needs. We conducted a content analysis of IEPs for 150 high school students receiving special education services under the categories of autism (ASD) and/or intellectual disability (ID) and had significant cognitive impairments. The focus of these educational plans was quite diverse and spanned multiple domains. Moreover, we found that students with intellectual disability with or without autism tended to have similar areas of emphasis, with the exception of the domains of communication and challenging behavior. We offer recommendations for research and practice aimed at strengthening the quality of educational programming for transition-age students with significant disabilities.

Schools need effective, generalizable, and socially valid social skills interventions to better support the social inclusion and peer relationships of their students on the autism spectrum. We evaluated a Pivotal Response Treatment-based, naturalistic social skills intervention implemented daily by school personnel in reverse inclusion school settings with four students on the autism spectrum (K-2nd grade). Using a single-case experimental design, results indicated that the students on the autism spectrum showed increases in the percent of time engaged in cooperative play with peers during the intervention (p = .0026) and moderate changes in social interactions were determined through systematic visual analysis. However, these changes in social behaviors did not generalize to natural inclusive school settings.

Through this meta-analysis, we sought to examine the prevalence of, risks for, and factors associated with bullying involvement (victimization, perpetration, perpetration-victimization) among students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, we attempted to examine sources of variance in the prevalence and effect sizes of bullying in students with ASD across studies. Systematic database and literature review identified 34 relevant studies (31 for Western countries, three for Eastern countries). Pooled prevalence estimates for victimization, perpetration, and perpetration-victimization in general were 67%, 29%, and 14%, respectively. The risk of victimization in students with ASD was significantly higher than that in typically developing students and students with other disabilities. Further, deficits in social interaction and communication, externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and integrated inclusive school settings were related to higher victimization, and externalizing symptoms were related to higher perpetration. Finally, moderation analyses revealed significant variations in the pooled prevalences thereof depending on culture, age, school settings, and methodological quality and in the pooled effect sizes according to publication year and methodological quality. Our results highlight needs for bullying intervention for students with ASD, especially those who are younger, are in an inclusive school setting, and have higher social difficulties and externalizing/internalizing symptoms; for intensive research of bullying experiences among students with ASD in Eastern countries; and for efforts to improve the methodological quality of such research.

The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research community is increasingly considering the importance of measuring outcomes that are meaningful to individuals with ASD and their families. The 2017 IMFAR preconference aimed to gain the perspectives of how to define and measure “meaningful outcomes” from 280 participants, including people with ASD and their families, service providers, and researchers. Six themes were identified: (a) the definition of “outcome” varies by context and perspective; (b) the need to broaden the scope of what researchers measure; (c) the need for new assessment tools; (d) the need to expand data analytic methods; (e) where to focus (with emphasis on considering different developmental stages and aspects of diversity); and (f) a need for community partnerships to bridge research and daily practice. The challenge that the research community now faces is how to move the evidence base for clinical practice forward while keeping alive the divergence of views and considerations that are relevant for thinking about complex outcomes for the highly heterogeneous group of individuals with ASD. This commentary provides recommendations, with an emphasis on lifespan viewpoints that encompass individual strengths and preferences. Autism Research 2018, 11: 1446–1454. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryThe 2017 IMFAR preconference aimed to gain the perspectives of how to define and measure “meaningful outcomes” from a variety of stakeholders. This commentary outlines the six themes identified from keynote and panel presentations and audience‐participated discussions. Recommendations are made to emphasize perspectives that look across the lifespan and encompass individual strengths and preferences.

This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of peer network interventions to improve the social connections of 47 high school students with severe disabilities. School staff invited, trained, and supported 192 peers without disabilities to participate in individualized social groups that met throughout one semester. Compared to adolescents in the "business-as-usual" control group (n = 48), students receiving peer networks gained significantly more new social contacts and friendships. Although many peer relationships maintained one and two semesters later, their spill over beyond the school day was limited. Students and staff affirmed the social validity of the interventions. We offer recommendations for research and practice aimed at improving the implementation and impact of peer network interventions in secondary schools.

Although enhancing the social competence of students with severe disabilities has long remained a prominent focus of school-based intervention efforts, relatively little attention has focused on identifying the most critical social and behavioral needs of students during high school. We examined the social skills and problem behaviors of 137 adolescents with severe disabilities from the vantage point of both special educators and parents. We sought to identify areas of potential intervention need, explore factors associated with social skill and problem behavior ratings, and examine the extent to which teachers and parents converged in their assessments of these needs. Our findings indicate teachers and parents of high school students with severe disabilities rated social skills as considerably below average and problem behaviors as above average. In addition, lower social skills ratings were evident for students with greater support needs, lower levels of overall adaptive behavior, and a special education label of autism. We found moderate consistency in the degree to which teachers and parents aligned in their assessments of both social skills and problem behavior. We offer recommendations for assessment and intervention focused on strengthening the social competence of adolescents with severe disabilities within secondary school classrooms, as well as promising avenues for future research.

Enhancing the social and learning experiences of students with severe disabilities in inclusive classrooms has been a long-standing focus of research, legislative, and advocacy efforts. The authors used a randomized controlled experimental design to examine the efficacy of peer support arrangements to improve academic and social outcomes for 51 students with severe disabilities in high school general education classrooms. Paraprofessionals or special educators recruited, trained, and supported 106 peers to provide individualized academic and social assistance to students with severe disabilities throughout one semester. Compared to students exclusively receiving adult-delivered support ( n = 48), students participating in peer support arrangements experienced increased interactions with peers, increased academic engagement, more progress on individualized social goals, increased social participation, and a greater number of new friendships. Moreover, an appreciable proportion of relationships lasted one and two semesters later after the intervention had concluded. These findings challenge prevailing practices for supporting inclusive education and establish the efficacy and social validity of peer support arrangements as a promising alternative to individually assigned paraprofessional support.

T EA C H IN G E xc ep ti on al C hi ld re n , V ol . 48 , N o. 1 , pp . 9 – 18 . C op yr ig ht 2 01 5 T he A ut ho r( s) . D O I: 1 0. 11 77 /0 04 00 59 91 55 94 78 4 Ensuring students with severe disabilities access the rich relationship and learning opportunities available within general education classrooms is an important—but challenging— endeavor. Although one-to-one paraprofessionals often accompany students in inclusive classrooms and provide extensive assistance, the constant presence of an adult can inadvertently limit the social interactions and engagement of adolescents with severe disabilities within high school classrooms. Peer support arrangements can be a practical and promising alternative to exclusively relying on paraprofessionaldelivered support. We draw on our recent partnership with schools implementing these interventions for more than 50 high school students with severe disabilities and involving more than 100 peers without developmental disabilities. This article outlines practical steps for establishing these interventions in inclusive classrooms.

Students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit rigidity, which can lead to difficulties with transitions. Such difficulties can explain why students with ASD are placed in more restrictive educational environments. This review offers a quantitative synthesis of effects of interventions aimed to improve transitions of students with ASD and provides a descriptive overview of the quality of the included studies. Analyses focused on the main component of the intervention, topography of challenging behavior, and the type of transition expected of students with ASD. Activity schedules were most prominently used and most successful to ease transition difficulties. Strategies that align with preferences of students with ASD also successfully improved transitions. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are provided.

Children with developmental disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often engage in challenging behavior when presented with academic demands. Parents of school-age children with such diagnoses are commonly asked to assist their child with academic tasks but may struggle to do so as a result of challenging behavior. This study evaluated the effects of a parent education intervention on the challenging behaviors and task engagement of three school-age children with disabilities during academic activities. Parent education consisted of (i) weekly didactic instruction; (ii) modeling; (iii) role-play; and (iv) in vivo coaching and performance feedback. Using a non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants with embedded individual multi-element design, this study demonstrates that a parent education intervention results in decreases in challenging behavior and increases in task engagement. These results suggest that parent education focused on addressing challenging behavior during one-to-one instruction may facilitate completion of academic tasks. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

edited by L. Miller, 2010, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 171 pp. + index, AUS$39.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-84-905038-8 Children and teens with autism often engage in challenging behaviours ...

School recess is an opportunity to include students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with their typically developing peers and is a setting in which instruction can occur. However, the educational opportunities for children with ASD within recess are often overlooked and recess time is being reduced or eliminated in the United States. This review involved a systematic search and analysis of 15 studies that utilized recess to implement academic, social, or behavioral interventions for students with ASD. Each identified study that met pre-determined inclusion criteria was analyzed and summarized in terms of: (a) participant characteristics, (b) intervention procedures, (c) dependent variables, and (d) intervention outcomes. This review has three main aims: (a) to evaluate and synthesize the evidence-base, (b) to inform and guide teachers interested in utilizing recess time for educational purposes, and (c) to stimulate and guide future research in this area. Results demonstrate that recess time can indeed be used to teach target behaviors to students with ASD.

Various explanations have been offered in the literature on the underlying cause of joint attention deficits in autism. One possible explanation is that children with autism are capable of producing joint attention but lack the social motivation to share their interests with others. The current study used a single-subject reversal design with alternating treatments to examine whether joint attention initiations for social sharing would occur as a collateral effect of utilizing the motivational techniques of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) in conjunction with perseverative interest stimuli for three young nonverbal children with autism. Results indicated an immediate increase in joint attention initiations when perseverative, or highly preferred, interests were incorporated within the motivational techniques of PRT. Additional findings included collateral increases in joint attention initiations toward less preferred interests, as well as improvements in the quality of interaction between the children and caregivers. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the role of motivation in the development of joint attention in autism.