Jennifer M. Asmus

The Use of an Antecedent-Based Intervention to Decrease Stereotypic Behavior in a General Education Classroom A Case Study

The incidence of children identified as having autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is increasing (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, 2003). Many of these children are enrolled in general education settings, posing an ever-groWing challenge for the teachers in those settings. There is a critical need to develop interventions for students With ASD that can be used in general education classrooms. The current case study addressed this issue by implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of an antecedent-based intervention on the stereotypic behavior of a student With ASD Who Was fully included in a kindergarten classroom. FolloWing a functional analysis indicating that the stereotypic behavior Was maintained by automatic reinforcement, an antecedent intervention Was designed that included the use of visual cues to indicate activity times When it Was acceptable and When it Was not acceptable for the student to engage in stereotypic behavior. Effectiveness of the intervention Was examined using an alternating treatment design (BarloW & Hayes, 1979). FolloWing implementation of the intervention, the students stereotypic behavior decreased during the times indicated by the visual cue that it Was unacceptable to engage in stereotypy. A replication Was conducted transferring the implementation of the intervention to the teachers assistant in the classroom.

Randomized Evaluation of Peer Support Arrangements to Support the Inclusion of High School Students With Severe Disabilities

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.

Presence, Proximity, and Peer Interactions of Adolescents With Severe Disabilities in General Education Classrooms:

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.

Use of a concurrent operants paradigm to evaluate positive reinforcers during treatment of food refusal

The authors evaluated the responsiveness of 4 preschool-aged children to positive reinforcers within a concurrent operants paradigm during mealtimes. The children were presented with two identical, concurrently available sets of food. Each set differed in quantity and quality of positive reinforcement paired with acceptance of each bite of food or in the number of bites of food required to obtain positive reinforcement. Experiment 1 evaluated 1 child’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement while permitting escape from bite offers. Experiment 2 evaluated 2 children’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement when escape extinction occurred. Results from these experiments suggested that the children were responsive to positive reinforcers and chose more often the bites paired with the greater quantity and/or quality of reinforcement. Experiment 3 evaluated 1 child’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement both without and with escape extinction. Results suggested that positive reinforcement affected choice behavior and that escape extinction affected amount of food consumed.

Antecedent Classroom Factors and Disruptive Behaviors of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study examined relationships between antecedent classroom factors and the disruptive behaviors of five elementary-aged students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A descriptive analysis was conducted to determine the influence of four types of molar antecedent classroom factors (i.e., instructional setting, instructional activity, availability of materials, and adult proximity) occurring within the general education classroom on target childrens disruptive behavior. Sequential analyses were conducted to identify possible influences of these factors on the relationship between adult directives and subsequent target child disruptive behavior. Results showed different antecedent classroom factors influenced the occurrence of and the strength and direction of the sequential relationships between teacher directives and child disruptive behavior across participants. Although idiosyncratic findings occurred, for the majority of participants, specific antecedent factors decreased the rate of disruptive behavior including: a group setting, academic adult-directed activities, no materials present, and no adult proximity. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.

Combining Descriptive and Experimental Analyses of Young Children with Behavior Problems in Preschool Settings

This investigation shows the merits of preceding experimental analyses with descriptive analyses of functional variables with preschool children who engage in problematic behavior. A twophase descriptive analysis was conducted in daycare settings with three children. In Phase 1, the authors assessed the relation between child behavior and structural events. During Phase 2, the same behavior was replotted by functional variables. The results showed that when the descriptive data were plotted via functional variables, specific hypotheses could be generated regarding the variables controlling appropriate behavior. This procedure permitted the subsequent use of very brief experimental analyses to further identify functional relations. The use of descriptive analyses of functional rather than structural variables may be an important component in the assessment of problem behavior in community settings.

Promoting Inclusion, Social Connections, and Learning Through Peer Support Arrangements:

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.

A functional approach for ameliorating social skills deficits in young children with autism spectrum disorders

The number of children in school-based settings diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder has been increasing, according to U.S. Department of Education (2002) statistics. Although many researchers have written extensively on the benefits of inclusion for children with autism spectrum disorder, social behavior idiosyncrasies exhibited by these children can limit its potential benefits. The purpose of this article is to describe a systematic, functional assessment approach for identifying environmental contextual factors related to the occurrence of peer-related social interactions and the outcomes (ie, functions) that maintain those behaviors. In particular, 2 descriptive assessment tools, the Social Skills Interview and the Snapshot Assessment Tool, both developed by the authors will be explained and illustrated. Both the tools were developed to be classroom-friendly instruments to assist with the objective description of environmental contextual factors that may influence the social behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder. A case example is presented to demonstrate how the use of these 2 instruments led to the development of an assessment-based intervention to improve the social behaviors of a young child on the autism spectrum.

Assessing the Social Skills and Problem Behaviors of Adolescents With Severe Disabilities Enrolled in General Education Classes

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.

Social Outcomes and Acceptability of Two Peer-Mediated Interventions for High School Students With Severe Disabilities: A Pilot Study

Abstract Adolescents with severe disabilities often have few opportunities to learn alongside and connect socially with peers without disabilities at their high school. In this pilot study, nine hi...