The Effects of a Pressure Vest on Task Engagement, Challenging Behavior, and a Physiological Measure of Stress for a Child with Intellectual Disability

We examined the effect of wearing a pressurized vest, a commonly use sensory support, with one student who had disabilities and for whom this sensory support was indicated. Using single-case reversal design logic (A-B-C-A), we measured effects on both observable behavior and a physiological measure of arousal, electrodermal activity (EDA). Behavioral results indicated that the interventionist’s instructional practices affected the frequency of behaviors observed, but the pressure vest did not. EDA results were inconclusive but offered no significant indications of the pressurized vest affecting levels of arousal. We present the results of this study, its limitations, and a discussion of the use of these two measures in evaluating sensory-based therapies.Ope

The Cascading Coaching Model for Supporting Service Providers, Caregivers, and Children

© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2019. Teaching caregivers to support their young children’s language development is recommended as an effective early language intervention, and caregiver-implemented interventions are recognized as evidence-based. However, as the natural change agents for training and coaching caregivers, early intervention (EI) service providers are in need of professional development to effectively coach caregivers to use interventions with their child. The purpose of this study was to examine the Coaching Caregivers Professional Development program (CoCare PD) in which researchers train and coach EI service providers via telepractice in caregiver coaching, a set of skills useful in nurturing partnerships with families to support caregivers’ use of evidence-based practices with their young children with disabilities. A single-case research study across four EI service providers was conducted and findings support a functional relation between training and coaching EI service providers via telepractice and providers’ use of coaching practices with families on their caseload

Intentional v. Incidental Codes

In this video, you will see a mother using communication teaching strategies with her child as a demonstration of a distinction between the operational definitions of "intentional" versus "incidental" strategy use, as described in the companion article, "Understanding Communication Intervention for Young Children with Autism and Their Parents: Mixing Behavioral and Social Validity Findings."This project was supported in part by funding from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education: Project LEAD (H325D100062)Ope

Assessing the Social Validity of a Telepractice Training and Coaching Intervention

© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Developing communication skills is critical for all young children, especially for those receiving early intervention (EI) services. Thus, many researchers have investigated evidence-based practices for teaching social communication skills. In an attempt to minimize the gap between research and practice, research investigating training caregivers to use communication teaching strategies has been conducted and replicated. In many studies, interventions have been delivered by researchers rather than natural change agents. The purpose of this study was to assess the social validity of a caregiver-implemented communication strategies intervention program in which the caregiver was trained and coached by a natural change agent, the family’s EI service provider, via telepractice. We analyzed multiple sources of data to investigate the social validity of the intervention program. We found that some aspects of the program had high levels of social validity (e.g., goals and outcomes). Other aspects of the program had lower levels of social validity (e.g., procedures and technology use). The findings, limitations, and implications for practice and research are discussed