As the number of diagnosed cases of ASD increases, school professionals must consider not only efficacious teaching approaches for improving academic goals, but also what systems must be in place to address one of the most important jobs of the school systems: preparing capable citizens. For more than 160 years, schools have been tasked with preparing good citizens who are capable of contributing to society through work. Given the fact that schools have been required to provide appropriate educational programming to students with disabilities for decades and that this includes planning for the transition to adulthood, the staggeringly poor employment outcomes of individuals on the autism spectrum should be a cause for concern. The present article reviews the significant problem of unemployment as well as employment supports for individuals with ASD. These supports include both the natural supports (scaffolding to enhance success in obtaining and maintaining employment) as well as technological advances that may minimize ostracization in the workplace. Lastly, recommendations for school psychologists who seek to play a vital role in this critical area are offered.
This article summarizes the current knowledge of response-to-intervention (RTI) models in preschool settings, with an emphasis on evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of our current research base. Particular attention is given to the unique challenges of high-risk preschool settings. Presently, sufficient empirical support exists to begin establishing tiered intervention systems and building teacher capacity. Lacking, however, are valid and reliable assessment tools and insufficiently trained personnel to support a data-based decision-model within high-risk preschools. We conclude that organizational development should focus on building teacher capacity, establishing high-quality classroom instruction, and planning for sustainable programs, with adoption of a full RTI service delivery model serving as a long-range aspirational goal. C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Over the past decade, rapid changes have occurred in general educational practice to increase the focus on early identification of and intervention for students considered at risk. The aptly named response-to-intervention (RTI) model of service delivery is generally described as a multitiered model whereby students receive interventions of increasing intensity, with movement from one level to another based on demonstrated performance and rate of progress (Gresham, 2007). This sizable paradigm shift has been influenced in part by recent special education legislation, which permits the use of RTI as an alternative to the traditional "IQ-achievement discrepancy" model of learning disability identification and allows up to 15% of federal special education funding to be allocated toward early intervening services (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004). Moreover, RTI has gained favor in light of mounting evidence suggesting that intensive intervention during the primary grades is effective for remediating academic difficulties (e.g., Vellutino, Scanlon, Small, & Fanuele, 2006;. Practitioners may also intuitively gravitate toward an RTI model of practice, which has more ideological appeal than traditional models in the sense that it emphasizes identifying and solving problems as soon as possible rather than waiting for students to fall far behind their peers before providing additional services (e.g., Vaughn & Fuchs, 2006).Currently, much of the published literature on full-scale RTI implementation is focused on conceptual and logistical issues related to RTI. Furthermore, a majority of the empirical studies relevant to RTI is focused either on case studies of RTI implementation in particular schools or on intensive intervention with students in the early elementary grades. Dozens of studies have documented the effectiveness of specific interventions for remediating skill deficits in reading (e.g., Case et al
Preferences for who an instructor is and how he or she behaves have a substantial impact on a student’s overall experience in the college classroom. There are many variables that impact a classroom experience including the instructor, the student, and the class itself. Much research has been done in the area of undergraduate student expectations and preferences for instructors, course format, etc. This paper explores how specific student characteristics such as first-generation status, and age together with class level and format impact students’ perception of what makes a good instructor. By understanding what instructor qualities these students appreciate, instructors can tailor their behavior to improve student learning and retention. Results suggest few differences within and between these groups of students. However, students had strong preferences for a high number of positive instructor characteristics, suggesting the possibility of overly optimistic and unrealistic preferences. Implications of this and suggestions for how instructors can better accommodate the preferences of students are discussed.
Successful treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is entirely contingent on an accurate diagnosis. Although many resources exist to help the clinician with differential diagnosis of children, particularly in early childhood, the resources available for evaluating adolescents and adults is far less prevalent. Clinicians often rely on multiple forms of data from numerous sources to make accurate diagnoses, which for adults is a complex process. Lack of availability of instruments that have been normed with individuals with ASD creates limitations for the clinician. In addition, gathering background information from adolescents and adults on the spectrum can be challenging for a number of reasons, including poor self-reporting and poor memory for events from parents or caregivers. To further complicate the matter, comorbid conditions become more and more common as the individual with ASD goes through adolescence and adulthood. This article aims to identify the challenges related to the evaluation of adolescents and adults with ASD, noting particular attention to the differential diagnosis of common comorbid conditions. Recommendations for how to conduct a thorough psychological evaluation with an adolescent or adult with an ASD are made. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Clinical differentiation between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and depression is often difficult due to symptom overlap and similar clinical presentation. Concise and accurate diagnostic tests have been of interest for many years. Furthermore, with the continued growth of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory, there has been an emergence of measures such as the Woodcock-Johnson-III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III COG), which are being more commonly used in clinical practice yet have not been fully evaluated in terms of their efficacy in various domains of clinical practice. This study investigated the predictive and diagnostic properties of the WJ-III COG as a CHC-based test in differentiating between AD and depression in the elderly population. A discriminative function used in the study was able to correctly classify 89.02% of cases using six areas of the CHC framework. The variables that had the highest predictive weights were: long-term retrieval, fluid reasoning, processing speed, and working memory. The main implication is that a theory-based approach is crucial in the support of differential diagnosis and in decreasing the length of assessment for elderly populations.
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