Gail G. McGee

The Use of Single-Subject Research to Identify Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education:

Single-subject research plays an important role in the development of evidence-based practice in special education. The defining features of single-subject research are presented, the contributions of single-subject research for special education are reviewed, and a specific proposal is offered for using single-subject research to document evidence-based practice. This article allows readers to determine if a specific study is a credible example of single-subject research and if a specific practice or procedure has been validated as “evidence-based” via single-subject research.

An Incidental Teaching Approach to Early Intervention for Toddlers with Autism

In an effort to move incidental teaching research to practical applications for toddlers with autism, a comprehensive early intervention model was developed for use in the natural environments of a childcare center and childrens homes. Based on the premise that social readiness will best be achieved by providing early social learning opportunities, the center based component of the model targets the developmental needs of an inclusive group of children with and without autism. The home based component involves parents of children with autism as key participants in their childrens learning and prepares them to be effective advocates in their childrens futures. The curriculum addresses what it is that toddlers need to learn, what environmental arrangements provide the most powerful teaching opportunities, and how teachers and parents can most effectively teach children to progress at their optimum pace. Outcome data are presented that documents an impact on the language and social behavior of participating toddlers with autism. Two of the more controversial Walden curriculum components are discussed. Current impediments to system change are considered in the hope that appropriate and effective early intervention may become available to all children with autism.

Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: Empirically Validated Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Earlier autism diagnosis, the importance of early intervention, and development of specific interventions for young children have contributed to the emergence of similar, empirically supported, autism interventions that represent the merging of applied behavioral and developmental sciences. “Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI)” are implemented in natural settings, involve shared control between child and therapist, utilize natural contingencies, and use a variety of behavioral strategies to teach developmentally appropriate and prerequisite skills. We describe the development of NDBIs, their theoretical bases, empirical support, requisite characteristics, common features, and suggest future research needs. We wish to bring parsimony to a field that includes interventions with different names but common features thus improving understanding and choice-making among families, service providers and referring agencies.

Benchmarks of Social Treatment for Children with Autism.

Data on the social behavior of typical children may inform practitioners and researchers regarding the appropriate goals of intervention for children with autism. This study assessed the ongoing levels of naturally occurring social behavior in 64 preschool-aged children. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used to analyze population (children with autism and typical children) and age (3 years 3 months vs. 4 years 4 months) differences at the time of preschool entry. Predictable population differences were found for key social behaviors of proximity to children, social bids from children, and focus of engagement on children, as well as for behavioral context variables of verbalizations, adult focus, and atypical behaviors. No differences were found in the amount of time spent focused on toys or objects. There were also no differences in the presenting behaviors of younger and older children with autism. Results are discussed in terms of implications for establishing early social intervention goals.

Use of Classroom Materials to Promote Preschool Engagement.

The interaction between classroom materials and teacher contacts is important in efforts to promote engagement. Research has emphasized what teachers need to do but has given less attention to what resources teachers need to have. There is often an assumption that frequent teacher attention will reinforce childrens engagement. However, the movement toward integration of children with special needs has highlighted the fact that teacher attention alone may not be sufficient. Attractive materials must be available for each child, and classroom systems must help teachers select and dispense reinforcing materials. The procedures described in this article were developed through collaboration of teachers and researchers at the Walden Learning Center, a laboratory preschool that combines early intervention, social integration, and incidental teaching. The Walden project serves children with autism as well as children who have no disabilities. Because early intervention must be accomplished within a relatively short time frame, it is important to secure engagement and responsiveness to teaching contacts as quickly as possible. Social integration adds the challenge of providing classroom materials that address wide-ranging developmental levels. Incidental teaching involves teaching in

Incidental Teaching of Age-Appropriate Social Phrases to Children with Autism

Successful inclusion is facilitated when children with autism fit in and interact in meaningful ways with their typical peers. However, deficits in conversational language likely limit the social attractiveness of children with autism to their classmates. This study evaluated an incidental teaching approach to promoting use of age-appropriate social phrases by three preschool-aged boys with autism. A multiple baseline design demonstrated that introduction of incidental teaching yielded immediate use of the targeted social phrases (“All right” and “You know what?”) during instructional sessions, and children transferred use of the new social phrases to unprompted conditions. Initial instruction required somewhat artificial stimulus—response relationships to compensate for the lack of responsiveness to social consequences that characterizes autism. However, as in other studies in which conversational language was successfully taught to children with autism, systematic fading procedures facilitated transfer of stimulus control from the contrived cues needed to teach a child with autism to say age-appropriate social phrases to conditions that call for comments and queries in everyday situations.

Free Effects of Integration on Levels of Autistic Behavior.

The trend toward full inclusion of young children with autism raises questions as to whether there are any “free,” or unplanned, benefits of integration. This study explored whether differing levels of autistic behavior were associated with the presence of typical children or with the presence of other children with autism. Participants included 28 preschool-age children with autism. Videotaped observations of naturally occurring behavior were coded on measures of: (a) levels of autistic behavior, (b) the presence of typical peers, and (c) the presence of other children with autism. An ANOVA indicated that significantly decreased levels of autistic behavior corresponded to the close availability of typical peers. Because the database was obtained at the time of childrens entry into treatment, it is unlikely that the results were directly related to treatment interventions. However, practices of full inclusion of children with autism may yield additional unplanned treatment benefits.

Nonverbal Affective Decoding Ability in Children with Autism and in Typical Preschoolers

Twelve male children with autism and twelve male typical children viewed a series of videotaped vignettes in which two interacting children displayed differing facial expressions of happiness, sadness, or anger. To test their skills in decoding nonverbal facial expressions, participants were asked which of the two children was displaying a particular expression. Results showed that the typical children were more accurate in their decoding of expressions than were the children with autism for each of the three emotions studied. However, the children with autism did show certain decoding ability: they were able to identify happiness vignettes at above-chance levels. The results have implications for assessing and ultimately remediating nonverbal skill deficits in children with autism.

Incidental Teaching: Happy Progress

Incidental teaching is contextualized instruction that takes advantage of naturally occurring opportunities – “incidents” – to teach valued skills in the context of child preference and use. The aim of this chapter is to present the potential benefits of incidental teaching for increasing social competence for children with autism. Competencies are comprised of groups of behaviors under the conditions of use that lead to particular outcomes. In this context, social behavior covers a wide expanse and can include diverse skills such as orienting, imitating, communicating, sharing, and negotiating. The social outcomes resulting from our teaching success also cover a wide expanse, ranging from play partnerships to situational friendships to enduring and loving companionships. Specific competency goals will vary in the context of a particular child and the values and norms of their social community. Our examples and recommendations focus on social behaviors, with the understanding that the practitioner will place these goals in the context of meaningful competencies. The essence of incidental teaching for social skills is to make the most of motivating variables and present conditions to help the learner learn component social skills, to maintain social engagement, and to develop mutually beneficial relationships. In this chapter, we provide a description of the theoretical framework supporting incidental teaching, illustrate basic incidental teaching procedures, summarize the empirical evidence base, and end with key recommendations based on theory, research, and our clinical experience.