The Principal Investigator (PI) will further develop skills conducting single-case design research on children with autism while conducting a series of studies using this population and methodology. The research goals are to modify a small group intervention with peer models and examine its impact on academic and social skills. An intervention for children with autism will be modified, refined, and pilot tested using a series of single-case design studies. The intervention is a small-group direct instruction (SGDI) with systematic response prompting and typically developing peer models to teach children with autism social and academic skills. Evidence exists that this intervention is effective for preschool children, but the intervention will be modified for different populations of children and different implementers. The PI will conduct a series of single-case design studies beginning with implementation by the research team and moving to implementation by classroom teachers in order to examine implementation feasibility, modifications to the SGDI, and impacts of the intervention on teaching behavior and student academic and social outcomes. More specifically, the PI will examine whether the SGDI techniques are effective for teaching elementary as well as preschool students, with a focus on students with autism; whether these techniques can be used to teach targeted academic and social skills that can generalize to other settings; and whether teachers or other classroom personnel can implement these procedures with fidelity.
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)
Autism Research Database (AFD)
