There is increasing evidence that peer-mediated interventions for students with autism are effective in increasing participation in natural settings. Still unknown are the contributions peers make to the generalization of social behaviors. Results from two investigations of this issue are reported. In Study 1, social interaction with peers increased during interventions compared to controls; however, students in cooperative learning control groups showed higher levels of generalization than those in social groups. In Study 2, videotaped probes of 34 students indicated greater generalization of skills from groups with trained peers, and less from groups with untrained and stranger peers. Implications are discussed regarding the value of ongoing peer training and structured groups to establish relationships and generalization of skills over time.

Four students with autism and a group of nondisabled peers were taught to use and monitor social skills while playing games to increase initiations and social interaction skills. Social skills targeted for training included requesting, commenting, and sharing. A multiple baseline design across skills, with a counterbalanced reversal design, was used to document effects for student interactions with peers. In addition, alternating conditions for selfmonitoring and peer-monitoring of skill usage were implemented to compare the two strategies. Results indicated that adult teaching and peer mediation of skills, paired with reinforcement for skill use and student monitoring, increased initiations and social interaction time with peers during intervention, as well as use of the targeted social skills. Little difference was noted between self-and peer-monitoring strategies.

This population study, based on the 2000 decennial census in the United States, characterizes the Latino population in terms of those sociodemographic variables that have been identified as integral to researchers and practitioners working with diverse populations. A number of dimensions of the Latino experience in the United States are presented, including family and household information, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, health, and disability descriptors. Perhaps the most interesting of the variables examined is the dramatic growth rate of Latinos in the United States, who now represent 13% of the total population. Moreover, Latinos increasingly can be found in states where there have been little or no Latinos in the past, presenting both challenges and opportunities to service delivery systems and to policy makers.

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Enoxaparin and weight-adjusted intravenous UH as adjunct to 1-h alteplase infusion improve in-hospital and follow-up outcome compared to heparin alone in high-risk PE.