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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social interactions that manifest in specific social situations. These challenges may inhibit them from developing sustained friendships with school-age peers, resulting in their exclusion from group-based leisure activities. To aid this population in developing friendships, there is a crucial need to evaluate interventions designed to teach social skills during group-based leisure activities. The power card strategy (PCS) is a strength-based intervention that incorporates a child's special interest to help them navigate challenging social situations. Using a multiple-probe design, we evaluated the effects of the PCS with three students diagnosed with ASD who displayed difficulty with social commenting during group-based leisure activities. For all three individuals, the PCS resulted in increased appropriate social comments during game play that included both taught and novel comments. These findings maintained over time and generalized to a novel gaming activity with classmates in the community.

The use of mobile devices has become a major medium of leisure engagement for the general population. However, individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience disparities in technology access, which may limit their engagement in mobile device-based leisure. Little research has examined procedures for teaching individuals with ID to engage in leisure activities with technology. Employing an iPad2, the present study examined the effects of an intervention package with most-to-least prompting on independent leisure engagement of six adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ID. In addition, the impact of teaching visual schedule use to increase their independence in leisure engagement was assessed. Results indicated that the interventions were effective in increasing the participants' independent leisure engagement and their duration of leisure engagement. Caregivers reported high degrees of satisfaction with the interventions.

Publication bias is the disproportionate representation of studies with large effects and statistically significant findings in the published research literature. If publication bias occurs in single-case research design studies on applied behavior-analytic (ABA) interventions, it can result in inflated estimates of ABA intervention effects. We conducted an empirical evaluation of publication bias on an evidence-based ABA intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, response interruption and redirection (RIRD). We determined effect size estimates for published and unpublished studies using 3 metrics, percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND), Hedges' "g," and log response ratios (LRR). Omnibus effect size estimates across all 3 metrics were positive, supporting that RIRD is an effective treatment for reducing problem behavior maintained by nonsocial consequences. We observed larger PND for published compared to unpublished studies, small and nonsignificant differences in LRR for published compared to unpublished studies, and significant differences in Hedges' "g" for published compared to unpublished studies, with published studies showing slightly larger effect. We found little, if any, difference in methodological quality between published and unpublished studies. While RIRD appears to be an effective intervention for challenging behavior maintained by nonsocial consequences, our results reflect some degree of publication bias present in the RIRD research literature.

Manding for preferred items and activities is a critical skill for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little research has evaluated procedures to teach children with ASD to mand with their peers. This study evaluated the effects of a teaching package involving least-to-most prompting to increase peer-directed vocal manding using carrier phrases (e.g., "I want ...") of three preschool-aged children with ASD in a classroom setting. Following a preference assessment and baseline, experimenters taught children to vocally request toys from their peers through a combination of least-to-most prompting and differential reinforcement of peer-directed manding. Results indicated that each child acquired independent, peer-directed vocal manding with carrier phrases; manding responses generalized across different peers; and manding responses maintained in the classroom setting up to four weeks after the study concluded.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social skills when interacting with peers, which can affect their ability to form friendships and participate in inclusive settings. This study evaluated text messaging prompts and prompt fading delivered by a smart watch to increase social initiations of three adolescent students with ASD and their peers without ASD. We used a single‐case, multiple probe across participants design to assess participants' level of and type of independent and prompted appropriate social initiations without and with the intervention. Textual prompts substantially increased each participant's social initiations compared to baseline. Two participants remained reliant on textual prompts to make initiations, whereas the third was less reliant on prompts and continued to make independent initiations after prompts were completely faded. Participants' social skills gains maintained up to 3 weeks following intervention and participants and parents reported agreement with the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open science practices are designed to enhance the utility, integrity, and credibility of scientific research. This article highlights how preregistration in open science practice can be leveraged to enhance the rigor and transparency of single‐case experimental designs within an applied behavior analysis framework. We provide an overview of the benefits of preregistration including increased transparency, reduced risk of researcher bias, and improved replicability, and we review the specific contexts under which these practices most benefit the proposed framework. We discuss potential concerns with and unique considerations for preregistering experiments that use single‐case designs, with practical guidance for researchers who are seeking to preregister their studies. We present a checklist as a tool for researchers in applied behavior analysis to use for preregistration and provide recommendations for our field to strengthen the contingencies for open science practices that include preregistration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that response cards (RC) enhance academic performance of low-achieving students with mild to moderate disabilities. Learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) often have difficulties with communication, which limit their participation in group lessons and limit their access to the general education curriculum. RC are potentially advantageous for students with ASD and ID as they enable students with communication difficulties and low levels of active responding to more fully participate during group lessons. Yet, there is limited research on the effects of RC with these children. This study evaluated effects of teacher-implemented, preprinted RC on participation and correct responding of two students with ASD and one student with ID during group instruction. RC produced large increases in students' participation and large increases in students' correct responding compared to traditional hand raising. These findings extend previous research supporting the benefits of RC to students with ASD and ID in accessing the general education curriculum.

A controversy has emerged about the relationship between positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis. Some behavior analysts suggest that positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis are the same (e.g., Carr & Sidener, 2002). Others argue that positive behavior support is harmful to applied behavior analysis (e.g., Johnston, Foxx, Jacobson, Green, & Mulick, 2006). Further, some proponents of positive behavior support describe it as a new science, evolved from yet different than applied behavior analysis (Carr et al., 2002). These varying positions have accompanied confusion among behavior analysts about positive behavior support and its impact on the field. This article attempts to clarify this confusion by presenting one perspective on positive behavior support and its relationship to applied behavior analysis.

Demonstration of experimental control is considered a hallmark of high-quality single-case research design (SCRD). Studies that fail to demonstrate experimental control may not be published because researchers are unwilling to submit these papers for publication and journals are unlikely to publish negative results (i.e., the file drawer effect). SCRD studies comprise a large proportion of intervention research in special education. Consequently, the existing body of research, comprised mainly of studies that show experimental control, may artificially inflate efficacy of interventions. We discuss how experimental control evolved as the standard for high-quality SCRD; why, in the era of evidence-based practice, rigorous studies that fail to fully demonstrate experimental control are important to include in the body of published intervention research; the role of non-replication studies in discovering intervention boundaries; and considerations for researchers who wish to conduct and appraise studies that fail to yield full experimental control.

Sexual development is a complex but vital part of the human experience. People with significant disabilities are not excluded from this principle, but often may be prevented from receiving high-quality and comprehensive instruction necessary for a healthy sexual life. The functional model of self-determination emphasizes increasing knowledge, access to environments, and positive self-perceptions and may be an effective framework for the delivery of sexuality education to people with significant disabilities. We explored ways in which self-determination and sexuality education for people with significant disabilities are aligned. We also conducted a systematic review of sexuality education intervention research for this population and found significant gaps related to self-determined sexuality. Suggestions for sexuality education for persons with significant disabilities as well as barriers are presented and implications for stakeholders and future researchers are discussed.

Background: Over a decade ago, the National Research Council (NRC) published the influential book, "Educating Children with Autism." Objective: To survey parents and state-level special education administrators to evaluate how NRC's recommendations, as published in "Educating Children with Autism," have impacted educational practices for children with autism in the US. Methods: 149 parents of children with autism and 35 state-level special education administrators from 35 states were surveyed on the degree to which they agreed with NRC's recommendations and the degree to which they believed NRC's recommendations have been implemented. Results: Parents and administrators agreed with most NRC recommendations; however, disagreements between parents and administrators were evident regarding labeling of students with autism, intensity of services, and training of staff. Conversely, parents and administrators concurred that the recommendations had been poorly to modestly implemented, overall. Lowest levels of implementation were found for training of qualified staff, research-based curricula, and mental health supports for families. Qualitative analysis of parents' comments highlighted that vigorous advocacy was necessary for their children to receive appropriate services consistent with NRC's recommendations. Conclusions: Over a decade following publication of "Educating Children with Autism," most of NRC's recommendations have not been fully implemented. Policy makers should focus particular attention on improving professional training, disseminating research-based practices, and providing mental health supports for families.