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Education Sciences
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Advances in Educational Interventions for Autistic Individuals
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Advances in Educational Interventions for Autistic Individuals

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2023) | Viewed by 7224

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Angelika Anderson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Associate Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
Interests: behavioral interventions: specifically developing and trialing efficient, often technology-based interventions suited to low-resource environments, targeting diverse populations including adults with ASD and typically developing children in schools
Dr. Amarie Carnett

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
Interests: communication interventions (verbal behavior); adaptive functioning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Prevalence rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) appear to continue to rise: moving from a 1978 estimate of 1 in 2,500 (Rutter, 1978) to an estimate of 1 in 88 children in 2012 (Department of Health and Human Services: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). More recently, Fombonne, MacFarlane, and Salem (2021) concluded that epidemiological studies of ASD have expanded worldwide, and that a figure of 1 % is a conservative estimate of the median ASD population prevalence. Most individuals with ASD are expected to have ongoing needs across their lifespan. This is costly for the individuals concerned, their families, and society at large. Consequently, research to develop effective and efficient interventions targeting better outcomes for these individuals continues to proliferate.

Many of the difficulties that individuals with ASD experience are across a wide range of core skill domains, including communication, self-help, and social skills. The strongest evidence-base in addressing these unique needs are interventions based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Addressing these critical areas can also help to prevent problem behaviours that are often associated with this population.

This Special Issue will be devoted to highlighting recent advances in educational intervention for individuals with ASD across their lifespan. To that end, both New Zealand and international contributions are invited. The goal is to provide an overview of recent advances and a discussion of critical issues to inform researchers and practitioners alike.  The Guest Editors for this Special Issue are inviting submissions of data-based review and empirical manuscripts from researchers at the forefront of innovative educational interventions for ASD. Contributions should focus on interventions that target increasing socially significant behaviours and skills in individuals with ASD across the lifespan. This can include early interventions, school-based interventions, and interventions targeting employment skills in adults with ASD. Additionally, included are interventions aiming to train others working with individuals with ASD (parents, teachers, caregivers), so long as the ultimate goal is to promote increasing socially significant behaviours in those with ASD.

Dr. Angelika Anderson
Dr. Amarie Carnett
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • autism
  • ASD
  • education
  • interventions
  • school-based
  • behaviour

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 711 KiB  
Article
Increasing Socially Significant Behaviors for Children with Autism Using Synchronous Reinforcement
by Stephany K. Stordahl, Joseph H. Cihon, Shahla Alai-Rosales and Jesus Rosales-Ruiz
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070751 - 21 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3334
Abstract
In some types of reinforcement schedules, a reinforcer is presented or given to the child and interacted with continuously while a target behavior is occurring. Previous researchers have used this type of reinforcement as an assessment tool and to study basic reinforcement processes. [...] Read more.
In some types of reinforcement schedules, a reinforcer is presented or given to the child and interacted with continuously while a target behavior is occurring. Previous researchers have used this type of reinforcement as an assessment tool and to study basic reinforcement processes. However, little research has explored how to effectively use these schedules to reinforce socially important responses in applied settings. The current study analyzed the implementation of synchronous reinforcement in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants. Several interventionists implemented synchronous reinforcement with four children with autism across a variety of responses and reinforcers. The results indicated that delivering social, audio/visual, and tangible stimuli on a synchronous schedule resulted in increased durations of targeted (e.g., social skills and motor skills) and nontargeted (e.g., approach, social bids, and speed) measures across all children. Recommendations regarding reinforcer and response selection in implementing synchronous schedules in applied settings are provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Educational Interventions for Autistic Individuals)
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30 pages, 1496 KiB  
Article
Autistic Adult Knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Employment-Related Rights
by David Schena II and Rocio Rosales
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 748; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070748 - 20 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1448
Abstract
As the autism community continues to grow, it is increasingly important to evaluate strategies to teach workplace-related skills to the members of this community. One of these skills is self-advocacy, defined by Test et al. as consisting of four components: self-knowledge, knowledge of [...] Read more.
As the autism community continues to grow, it is increasingly important to evaluate strategies to teach workplace-related skills to the members of this community. One of these skills is self-advocacy, defined by Test et al. as consisting of four components: self-knowledge, knowledge of rights, communication, and leadership. This study aimed to address the second component of this definition, knowledge of rights. Three autistic adults learned information about key terms from the Americans with Disabilities Act. Participants practiced identifying legal rights related to discrimination and inability to provide certain accommodations in a series of short text scenarios, using instructor-modeled rehearsal of similar scenarios as the independent variable. Results show that each participant entered the study with an existing level of knowledge and ability to interpret the rights of various scenarios (30–60% correct during baseline) and that training resulted in small improvements (a 20–40% increase) in accurate scenario interpretation. Future research should include additional techniques, such as role play, to enhance performance accuracy and examine long-term retention and generalization of the skills acquired. Social validity feedback suggests that the training used in this study was acceptable to participants and may be amenable to future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Educational Interventions for Autistic Individuals)
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14 pages, 623 KiB  
Article
Using Pyramidal Training to Address Challenging Behavior in an Early Childhood Education Classroom
by Courtney Thompson and Hannah MacNaul
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060539 - 24 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1970
Abstract
Challenging behavior exhibited by students in a school setting is one of the most significant obstructions to student learning. These behaviors often warrant specialized interventions delivered by educators in the presence of typically developing peers; however, the availability of personnel to prepare educators [...] Read more.
Challenging behavior exhibited by students in a school setting is one of the most significant obstructions to student learning. These behaviors often warrant specialized interventions delivered by educators in the presence of typically developing peers; however, the availability of personnel to prepare educators to implement said interventions is limited. One viable solution may be to leverage a pyramidal training model in which training is provided in tiers, allowing for more individuals to be trained within a shorter period. In the current study, one researcher utilized pyramidal training to prepare four educators to implement functional communication training without extinction to decrease aggression toward peers for one student in an inclusionary early childhood education setting. With written instruction only (similar to what a teacher might receive as part of a behavior intervention plan), all educators implemented the intervention with low fidelity (M = 15% steps completed correctly). Post-intervention, all educators were able to implement the intervention with the trainer at or above 80% fidelity, and skills improved to 100% fidelity during in situ training with the student. For the student, aggression was completely decreased to zero levels, and functional communication responses increased. Moreover, all results were maintained after the holiday break without additional training. Implications for research and practice will be discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Educational Interventions for Autistic Individuals)
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