Search

Although research shows early intensive behavioral intervention is efficacious when delivered in university or private intervention centers, little is known about effectiveness or feasibility of disseminating early intensive behavioral intervention to larger communities. The Michigan State University Early Learning Institute was developed to address gaps in distribution of early intensive behavioral intervention to community settings, with an emphasis of serving children and families on Medicaid. This short report describes the Early Learning Institute's approach and preliminary utilization data among Medicaid families. Results suggest the model has potential for dissemination within community settings and promote utilization among Medicaid children.

Behavior analysts visually analyze graphs to interpret data in order to make data-based decisions. Though front-line employees implement behavioral interventions on a daily basis, they are not often trained to interpret these data. A clinical decision-making model may aid front-line employees in learning how to interpret graphs. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a clinical decision-making model on the percentage of correct responses when interpreting line graphs. All of the participants increased their percentage of correct responses after the introduction of the clinical decision-making model. Two of the eight participants required additional feedback. The implications of these findings are discussed.

By engaging with family members through video-chat technology, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may access additional opportunities to develop social connections to build familial cohesion and access emotional support. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a behavioral intervention package in teaching social conversation via video-chat. Using a non-concurrent multiple-baseline across participants with an embedded alternating treatments design, three seven-year-old males with ASD were taught two variations of a social conversation. Their conversation skills generalized to unfamiliar adults, some of whom had no prior experience with children with ASD. When visual supports were removed, participants appropriately varied their social conversations. Social conversations continued to occur 2 weeks following the completion of the study. Results and implications are discussed.