Enhancing learning for children with autism spectrum disorders in regular education by instructional modifications
Section snippets
Participants
Participants included three children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder who attend a Midwestern grade school where the course grades were “does not meet criterion”, “meets criterion”, and “exceeds criterion”. All participants were fully included in regular education classrooms and participated in group instruction with their classmates. None of the children presented severe problem behavior in school, and all had an individual aide. Participants’ only academic accommodations were using
Results
Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3 present the percentage of correct responses per trial block plotted on the ordinate and the number of sessions on the abscissa. Circles indicate acquisition data and triangles maintenance data. Although participants had stable baselines, subjective observation indicated that they maintained joint attention during the initial baseline sessions and then their attention waned until intervention was initiated. After participants met the 80% performance criterion for each
Discussion
For more than a decade, there has been an emphasis on the full inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education. Participants’ classroom performance, however, indicated that they had idiosyncratic academic difficulties with the regular education curriculum and instructional methods, even with individual aide support. This research addressed the question of how the instruction of children with autism spectrum disorders can be enhanced to benefit their academic performance. A common
Acknowledgement
We thank Nancy Simer for her assistance, and the students and personnel at Mount Vernon District 80 Primary Center.
References (27)
- et al.
Improving sixth-grade Student's perceptions of high-effort assignments by assigning more work: Interaction of additive interspersal and assignment effort on assignment choice
Journal of School Psychology
(2004) - et al.
The token economy: A motivational system for therapy and rehabilitation
(1968) - et al.
Effects of immediate and delayed error correction on the acquisition and maintenance of sight words by students with developmental disabilities
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(1994) - et al.
Effects of immediate self-correction, delayed self-correction, and no correction on the acquisition and maintenance of multiplication facts by a fourth-grade student with learning disabilities
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(1998) - et al.
Interspersal of known items in a treatment package to teach sight words to students with behavior disorders
Journal of Special Education
(1996) - et al.
Instructional effectiveness and instructional efficiency as considerations for data-based decision making: An evaluation of interspersing procedures
School Psychology Review
(2003) - et al.
Too much reinforcement, too little behavior: Assessing task interspersal procedures in conjunction with different reinforcement schedules with autistic children
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(1992) - et al.
Using objects of obsession as token reinforcers for children with autism
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
(1998) - et al.
An investigation of the potentially adverse effects of task interspersal
Behavioral Interventions
(2005) - et al.
Effects of using a ratio of new items to review items during drill and practice: Three experiments
Education and Treatment of Children
(1993)
The effects of different interspersal drill ratios on acquisition and generalization of multiplication and division facts
Education and Treatment of Children
Motivating autistic children through stimulus variation
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
Integrating caregiver report with a systematic choice assessment to enhance reinforcer identification
American Journal on Mental Retardation
Cited by (20)
A comparison of consequences for correct responses during discrete-trial instruction
2018, Learning and MotivationTrends and topics in Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions for toddlers with autism
2012, Research in Autism Spectrum DisordersCitation Excerpt :The triad of communication, social skills, and rituals and stereotypies are part and parcel of this disorder (Matson, Dempsey, & LoVullo, 2009; Njardvik, Matson, & Cherry, 1999). These problem areas have been traditional topics of study in the field of applied behavior analysis (Adcock & Cuvo, 2009; Dixon, Bergstrom, Smith, & Tarbox, 2010; Matson, Mahan, & LoVullo, 2009). Also common in the autism spectrum are challenging behaviors (CB) (Coe et al., 1999; Duncan, Matson, Bamburg, Cherry, & Buckley, 1999; Kuhn & Matson, 2001; Matson et al., 1997; Matson & Rivet, 2008; Paclawskyj, Matson, Bamburg, & Baglio, 1997; Paclawskyj, Matson, Rush, Bamburg, & Baglio, 1997; Paclawskyj, Matson, Rush, Smalls, & Vollmer, 2001; Rojahn, Aman, Matson, & Mayville, 2003; Smith & Matson, 2010a, 2010b).
The effect of perceptual-motor training on attention in the children with autism spectrum disorders
2012, Research in Autism Spectrum DisordersCitation Excerpt :The field of autism has become a major area of study in the fields of mental health and education worldwide (Adcock & Cuvo, 2009; Bhaumik et al., 2010; Brim, Townsend, DeQuinzio, & Poulson, 2009; Fernel & Gillberg, 2010).
Treating adaptive living skills of persons with autism using applied behavior analysis: A review
2012, Research in Autism Spectrum DisordersAdditional considerations for the early detection and diagnosis of autism: Review of available instruments
2011, Research in Autism Spectrum DisordersAn Evaluation of Education-Based Interventions for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders Without Intellectual Disability: a Systematic Review
2023, Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders