22 research outputs found
Instructional Contexts for Adolescents with Autism: Impact of Educational Setting
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022466910366480The present study describes the instructional contexts and activities of adolescents with autism in inclusive and self-contained settings for mathematics and language arts instruction using a descriptive statistics design. In the study, 15 adolescents with autism, and 30 peers of these students, participated. All students were observed over the school year in 50-min intervals each during math and language arts instruction to document student participation in learning situations as well as learning partners, curriculum usage, and instructional formats for students with and without autism in different education settings. Findings indicate between-group differences for those adolescents participating in inclusive and self-contained settings, notably the amount of time spent on breaks and engaged in curricular activities, although differences between students with autism and their peers were not significant. Implications and future directions are discussed
Culture and Parenting: A Guide for Delivering Parenting Curriculums to Diverse Families
As the population becomes increasingly diverse, family support programs must be prepared to address diversity in parenting practices. The University of California Families with Young Children Workgroup conducted a review of parenting curriculums and interviewed collaborators to determine how to best address this need. As a result, Culture and Parenting: A Guide for Delivering Parenting Curriculums to Diverse Families was developed to supplement commonly used parenting curriculums. The guide encourages educators and practitioners to evaluate their work with families by delivering research-based information on how culture influences parenting goals and tips for educators to consider when working with diverse audiences
Individual Education Plan Goals and Services for Adolescents With Autism: Impact of Age and Educational Setting
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022466908329825The purpose of this study is to describe the educational programs for adolescents with autism (age 12—16 years) in inclusion and noninclusion settings as reflected in their Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals, services, and curricular adaptations. Students who were included in general education math and language arts instruction had fewer overall IEP goals, but goals focused more on applied skill development, whereas students in noninclusion had goals addressing primarily rote and procedural skills. For students in both groups, all IEP goals were derived from kindergarten through fourth-grade standards. Likewise, for students in both groups, most IEP goals addressed core symptoms of autism (e.g., communication skills) as opposed to academic skill development, along with fewer overall goals and more curricular adaptations as students entered adolescence. Implications for practitioners are discussed
Economic and Demographic Factors Impacting Placement of Students with Autism
Educational placement of students with autism is often associated with child factors, such
as IQ and communication skills. However, variability in placement patterns across states
suggests that other factors are at play. This study used hierarchical cluster analysis techniques to
identify demographic, economic, and educational covariates associated with placement patterns
across states in highly inclusive, moderately inclusive, moderately restrictive, and highly
restrictive clusters. Findings indicate that highly inclusive states are more rural, have more
adults with high school diplomas, and more White citizens compared to other clusters. States
that are highly restrictive were largely less economically and racially privileged. These findings
suggest an inequitable access to the least restrictive environment for students with autism.
Implications of these findings are included
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Utility of the Language Use Inventory in Young Children at Elevated Likelihood of Autism
PurposeThe aims of this study were (a) to evaluate the convergent validity of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) with measures of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, language, and social skills and (b) to assess discriminant validity of the LUI with measures of nonlanguage skills, including daily living skills and motor development.MethodThis study sample included participants from a longitudinal study (n = 239) of infant siblings with elevated familial likelihood of ASD and lower familial likelihood. Assessment measures completed at 36 months included the LUI, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2), the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Second Edition. Bivariate Pearson correlations were estimated between ADOS-2 comparison scores and four language and social skills measures. Additional correlations were estimated between LUI total scores and standard scores from nonlanguage measures. A series of Fisher's Z transformations were applied to evaluate whether bivariate correlations were significantly different.ResultsAll four language and social skill measures were moderately to strongly associated with each other and ASD symptom severity scores. The correlation between ADOS-2 comparison scores and LUI total scores was significantly stronger than ADOS-2 correlations with all other measures.ConclusionsOur findings provide support for the LUI as a feasible, pragmatic language-targeted instrument for inclusion in early developmental evaluations prompted by language concerns. Administration of the LUI may accelerate earlier referral for a comprehensive assessment of ASD symptoms. Given the high correlation with ADOS-2 scores, an LUI total score in a clinical range of concern may encourage a clinician to refer families for a full diagnostic evaluation of ASD
Joint Attention in Preschool Children: Is it a Meaningful Measure?
Abstract The goal of this study was to evaluate the degree to which measuring joint attention an aspect of social attention, is meaningful for the learning and development of preschool children. Joint attention refers to the executive capacity to coordinate visual attention with another person. This pivotal skill begins to develop from 6 to 18 months of age and continues to be refined and coordinated throughout individual developmental trajectories. In this study joint attention was measured in forty-three 4 to 5-year-olds asked to coordinate their attention with that of an unfamiliar adult during a social attention word learning task. The results revealed that there were individual differences in joint attention for children in this age group which suggests that this may be a meaningful construct to measure. These data contribute to a small but growing literature on the potential utility of joint attention theory and measurement in preschool aged children to further our understanding of social attention coordination in classroom contexts
Culture and Parenting: A Guide for Delivering Parenting Curriculums to Diverse Families
As the population becomes increasingly diverse, family support programs must be prepared to address diversity in parenting practices. The University of California Families with Young Children Workgroup conducted a review of parenting curriculums and interviewed collaborators to determine how to best address this need. As a result, Culture and Parenting: A Guide for Delivering Parenting Curriculums to Diverse Families was developed to supplement commonly used parenting curriculums. The guide encourages educators and practitioners to evaluate their work with families by delivering research-based information on how culture influences parenting goals and tips for educators to consider when working with diverse audiences
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Grammatical Language Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring Language Phenotypes Beyond Standardized Testing.
Linguistic and cognitive abilities manifest huge heterogeneity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some children present with commensurate language and cognitive abilities, while others show more variable patterns of development. Using spontaneous language samples, we investigate the presence and extent of grammatical language impairment in a heterogeneous sample of children with ASD. Findings from our sample suggest that children with ASD can be categorized into three meaningful subgroups: those with normal language, those with marked difficulty in grammatical production but relatively intact vocabulary, and those with more globally low language abilities. These findings support the use of sensitive assessment measures to evaluate language in autism, as well as the utility of within-disorder comparisons, in order to comprehensively define the various cognitive and linguistic phenotypes in this heterogeneous disorder