Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit motor deficits that increase their risk of falls. There is a lack of understanding regarding gait biomechanics demonstrated by older ...children with ASD. The purpose of the study was to determine differences in gait patterns between older children with ASD and typically developing children. Eleven children with ASD and 11 age- and gender-matched typically developing children were recruited for the study. Participants walked on a force-instrumented treadmill at a constant speed (1.1 m/s - 1.2 m/s) for five minutes (min). Participants performed maximal voluntary contractions to assess their knee muscular strength. Differences between individuals with ASD and matched control participants were examined through paired t-tests with a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Individuals with ASD demonstrated a smaller knee extensor torque compared to controls (p = 0.002). Participants with ASD exhibited a shorter stride length (p = 0.04), a greater cadence (p = 0.03), and a higher variation in stride width (p = 0.04) compared to control participants. The individuals with ASD experienced a greater braking ground reaction force (p = 0.03) during loading response. The results indicate older children with ASD develop a unique gait pattern signified by a reduced stride length, increased cadence, and an increase of variation in stride width. This unique gait pattern may represent a movement strategy used by the individuals with ASD to compensate for the weakness associated with their knee extensor muscles. Individuals with ASD who demonstrate these unique gait deviations may face reduced postural stability and an increased risk of fall-related injuries.
Background
Children with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) struggle with behavioral problems during reading activities in school. One way to address these concerns may be through dog ...reading programs which are increasing in popularity in schools and libraries. Preliminary anecdotal research suggests dog reading programs may improve academic engagement behavior for students with EBD who struggle with reading.
Objective
The purpose of this pilot study was to systematically evaluate the effects of a dog reading visitation program on academic engagement behaviors of elementary aged children with emotional and behavioral disabilities.
Methods
Participants included three elementary aged students with emotional behavioral disabilities. A multiple probe single case design across students was used to examine the impact of the dog reading program on on-task-reading aloud behaviors. During baseline and maintenance conditions, students read aloud to themselves while during intervention, students read aloud to a therapy dog.
Results
The results indicated that all three students experienced increases in on-task behaviors during intervention and maintained improvements over time.
Conclusion
Students indicated they enjoyed the dog reading program and increased on-task behavior was observed. Social validity was conferred by the teacher who observed improvements in behavior during intervention. Suggestions for future research include expanding the study with more participants, examining the students reading skills in addition to behavior, incorporating dogs or other animals into other reading activities, and examining the impact of animals in other academic interventions.
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a video modeling (VM) intervention in conjunction with a system of least prompts (SLP) to teach safety skills using cell phones to students with ...a moderate intellectual disability. A multiple-probe design across three participants was used to assess student acquisition in taking and sending a picture of a key identifier (i.e., a sign) during a role-play scenario in which students pretended to be lost in the community. Intervention sessions were conducted at the students’ middle school, at their community-based instruction site, and at an unfamiliar community location. All students successfully learned to take and send the picture in the community locations at the mastery criterion and generalized the skills at an unfamiliar community site. Implications of the use of VM to address the integration of technology with safety skill instruction and other areas of future research are discussed.
The ability to maintain mathematical skills learned is critical for students to successfully engage in advanced mathematics and promote independence in daily living skills. The purpose of this study ...was to evaluate the effectiveness of a graduated manipulative sequence consisting of virtual, representational, abstract, and an extended abstract phase (VRAEa) to teach various types of mathematical problems to three students with autism and mild intellectual disability using a multiple probe across behavior single case design. This study extended previous research on the virtual, representational, abstract sequence (VRA) to address deficiency in maintenance results through incorporating the extended abstract phase. The results indicate the intervention was effective, however, maintenance was variable. Implications for practice and ideas for future research to support the learning needs of students with developmental disabilities are discussed.
•The instructional sequence improved mathematical performance.•Performance during the maintenance phases was higher than baseline but variable.•Prompting may be needed to teach maintenance of mathematical skills.
Teaching students to enjoy reading is important in middle level education; however, middle school students with emotional behavioral disabilities (EBD) frequently struggle with reading skills and ...frequently display motivational deficits during reading instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine if the presence/absence of a classroom pet dog impacted reading skills in four fifth-grade students with EBD. An alternating treatment design was used to assess the fluency, comprehension, and level of motivation in four students when using a reading intervention package during a dog present (dog and researcher) and a dog absent condition (researcher only). All participants improved reading performance during intervention conditions compared to baseline. Improvements in reading measures were observed across participants in both treatment conditions compared to baseline. Differences in motivation levels were reported in three participants who indicated they enjoyed the dog present condition while the fourth enjoyed both treatment conditions equally. Implications of the potential role of middle level educators pairing themselves with animals during academic interventions for middle school students and other areas for future research in the area of animal-assisted learning are discussed.
Money skills are important for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to successfully live independently. A crucial first step is teaching them money identification. The purpose of this study ...was to examine the efficacy of using TouchMath money (TMM) to teach middle school students with ASD to count money. A multiple probe design across participants was used to evaluate students' accuracy in solving money identification problems. Results of the study demonstrated that two students showed intervention effects. Yet, the students struggled to generalise the skill. The third student demonstrated varied intervention effects, but the intervention was ended due to his challenging behaviour and end of the school year. Limitations and future directions were also discussed.
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of an immersive learning (IL) course in which university students planned, developed, and implemented a 2-week day camp for children with ...disabilities. To assess perceptions and associated dispositional constructs, university students completed reflection activities before, during, and post camp (immediate, and 3 years after). The results indicate perceptions were impacted both during the IL course and across several timepoints after the completion of course. Comfort interacting with people with disabilities was the primary construct maintained 3-years after the camp, and results indicate the camp experience impacted career choices. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.
•Students learned to independently add fractions with unlike denominators.•Students maintained of adding fractions with unlike denominators skills, but were less successful than during ...intervention.•The use of a representational phase may not be necessary for students to acquire mathematical skills involving fractions.
Limited literature examines mathematics education for students with mild intellectual disability. This study investigated the effects of using the Virtual-Abstract instructional sequenceto teach middle school students, predominantly with mild intellectual disability, to add fractions of unlike denominators. Researchers used a multiple probe across participants design to determine if a functional relation existed between the Virtual-Abstract instructional sequence strategy and students’ ability to add fractions with unlike denominators.
The study of consisted of three-to-nine baseline sessions, 6–11 intervention sessions, and two maintenance sessions for each student. Data were collected on accuracy across five addition of fractions with unlike denominators problems.
The VA instructional strategy was effective in thestudents to add fractions with unlike denominators; a functional relation existed between the VA instructional sequence and adding fractions with unlike denominators for three of the four students.
The Virtual-Abstract instructional sequencemay be appropriate to support students with mild intellectual disability in learning mathematics, especially when drawing or representing the mathematical concepts may prove challenging.
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