Laura C. Chezan

Impact of Alternate Assessment on Curricula for Students With Severe Disabilities Purpose Driven or Process Driven

In this article, the authors highlight the impact of alternate assessment on curriculum content for students with severe disabilities. Alternate assessment is a requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Ammendments of 1997 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 to ensure that students with the most significant disabilities are included in system accountability measures (Thompson, Lazarus, Clapper, & Thurlow, 2006). The authors review and analyze the purpose and processes of alternate assessment.

Mand Training An Examination of Response-Class Structure in Three Children With Autism and Severe Language Delays

Our primary purpose in this study was to examine the structure of a response class when new members are acquired through mand training. To do this, we replaced existing mands (e.g., reaching) in three children with autism with two new functionally equivalent mands. Next, we examined their responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Then, we assessed generalization to novel social partners. We employed a reversal design to examine the effectiveness of mand training and to assess responding under both immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Our results suggest that all children acquired the new mands and that two of the children emitted these responses as replacements when the social partner did not provide access to the reinforcer contingent on the child’s first mand. Generalization data indicate that all three children emitted the new mands and two of the children alternated between the new mands with novel social partners. We discuss the clinical implications and the conceptual significance of teaching multiple replacement mands to children with autism and severe language delays.

A Report on Using General-Case Programming to Teach Collateral Academic Skills to a Student in a Postsecondary Setting

The authors’ purpose in this report is to examine the application of general-case programming to teach collateral academic skills to a student with pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and with a mild intellectual disability who was attending college. The authors use data drawn from their work with Tom to explain and illustrate how a general-case approach may be developed and implemented effectively. The authors’ experience provides initial support for the utility of general-case programming for teaching acquisition and generalization of collateral academic skills. They make recommendations to guide researchers in future investigations of the application of the general-case programming to teach skills that enhance the successful integration of students with disabilities in postsecondary programs.

Negatively-Reinforced Mands: An Examination of Resurgence to Existing Mands in Two Children With Autism and Language Delays

In this study, we extended the literature on negatively-reinforced mands by teaching multiple novel, socially appropriate alternative mands to two young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). First, we replaced existing mands (e.g., pushing away) with two novel, socially appropriate, negatively-reinforced mands. Next, we examined responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions to assess resurgence to existing mands and to determine whether the function of the communicative behavior influences the consistency with which different mands are emitted. Finally, we examined generalization to different social partners. Our data suggest that both children acquired the new mands and used them to avoid nonpreferred items. Resurgence to existing mands during delayed-reinforcement conditions was documented for one child, and the sequence in which mands were emitted within a response class was not influenced by the function of the communicative behavior. Generalization data indicate that both children emitted the new mands and one of the two children alternated between the two mands with a social partner who was not involved in the training. We discuss the importance of teaching multiple negatively-reinforced alternative mands to children with autism in applied settings.

Pairing vocalizations with preferred edibles and toys may produce a modest increase in the frequency of vocalizations in three young children with autism

Abstracted from: Esch, B. E., Carr, J. E., & Grow, L. L. (2009). Evaluation of an enhanced stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure to increase early vocalizations of children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 225–241. Source of funding: No source of funding reported.

The Virginia Applied Behavior Analysis Consortium: Preparing Behavior Analysts Using a Collaborative Model

The development and the evolution of the Virginia Applied Behavior Analysis Consortium, a collaborative project between four institutions of higher education in the state of Virginia, are described. The main goal of the program is to address the shortage of certified behavior analysts by preparing special education teachers and autism specialists to implement effective behavior-analytic interventions in natural environments. In this article, we briefly discuss the history and the purpose of the program, its components, the evolution of the program, the advantages and outcomes of a collaborative model, and future directions for improvement.

Measuring Outcomes in Schools

In light of their training in psychometrics, evaluation, and statistical analysis, school psychologists may have the most knowledge, of any professional in the school setting, of evaluating the impact of educational and psychotherapeutic interventions. School settings provide a natural opportunity for important, real-world, and meaningful data that will enhance the delivery of interventions and decision-making as to who benefits from what intervention under what conditions. In this chapter, we provide detailed guidelines for strategies for the working school psychologist to measure system-level change, classroom-wide change, and individual change. We first present various methodologies for collecting data to evaluate change at all levels of intervention implementation. Next, we describe in detail straightforward approaches to calculate the effectiveness of an intervention. Throughout the chapter, we also review the practical barriers that may exist in the Australian educational system that challenge the collection of outcome data, and we present potential strategies to help manage these barriers.

A Meta-Analysis of Functional Communication Training Effects on Problem Behavior and Alternative Communicative Responses

We conducted a meta-analysis of single-case research design (SCRD) studies on functional communication training (FCT). First, we used the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards to evaluate each study. Next, we calculated effect sizes using Tau-U. Then, we aggregated the effect sizes across the studies to produce an omnibus effect size. Results indicate that more than half of the SCRD studies met the WWC Standards and that FCT was effective in decreasing the level of problem behavior and in increasing the level of the alternative communicative response (ACR), but effectiveness varied according to such factors as type of disability and age. Furthermore, the results of visual analysis corresponded with Tau-U effect sizes in more than half of the cases. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Using linear mixed effects models: A single-case experimental design meta-analysis of functional communication training

Abstract In this study, we extended the meta-analytic literature on single-case experimental design (SCED) studies on functional communication training (FCT) using a linear mixed effects model (LMEM). First, we evaluated the methodological adequacy of each study using the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards. Second, we calculated a standardized rate difference (SRD) between the rates of alternative communicative responses and problem behavior. Third, we estimated a LMEM using SRD as the dependent variable to examine the effect of FCT across participants with different disabilities. Finally, we estimated a LMEM including only studies in which participants had a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), without standardizing the rate difference. Results indicate that FCT was effective in increasing the SRD as suggested by the greater number of alternative communicative responses compared to the number of problem behaviors over time. Results also suggest that FCT is an effective intervention for participants with ASD and that it might not be necessary to standardize scores when using LMEMs to analyze data from participants with the same disability. We discuss the utility of analyzing SCED data using LMEMs and make recommendations for an SCED data warehouse protocol.

Discrimination and Generalization of Negatively-Reinforced Mands in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In this study, we extended the literature on the generalization of negatively-reinforced mands in three young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). First, we used example and nonexample stimuli embedded in mand training to teach a new, socially appropriate, negatively-reinforced mand to reject unpreferred food items while continuously assessing mand discrimination. Second, we evaluated the discriminated generalization of the newly acquired mand by using untrained example and nonexample stimuli. Finally, we conducted maintenance probes to examine if the new, discriminated mand occurred over time in the absence of training. Results suggest that our mand training produced acquisition of a discriminated negatively-reinforced mand in all three children. Data indicate that the newly acquired, discriminated mand generalized to untrained food items and was maintained after training was discontinued. We discuss the conceptual significance and clinical implications of using example and nonexample stimuli to produce acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of negatively-reinforced mands in young children with ASD and language delays.