Naturalistic instructional approaches are used to provide intentional and systematic instruction to young children with disabilities during typically occurring activities. Several naturalistic instructional approaches have been described in the extant literature, although different terms have been used to refer to these approaches (e.g., activity-based intervention, embedded instruction). The purpose of this systematic review was to identify, examine, and summarize the empirical literature focused on naturalistic instructional approaches for preschool children with disabilities when instruction was delivered in classroom settings. Forty-three studies that met established inclusion criteria were reviewed and coded using systematic procedures. Studies were coded to permit within-and across-approach comparisons as well as with respect to quality indicators for study design features and relationships to reported outcomes. Findings suggest a need to specify clearly the contextual and procedural components of naturalistic instructional approaches to advance understanding about this evidence-based practice and the functional relationships between implementation of the approaches and child learning outcomes.

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Single‐subject experimental research (SSER), one of the most commonly used research methods in special education and applied behaviour analysis, is a scientific, rigorous and valid method to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioural, educational and psychological treatments. However, studies using single‐subject experimental research designs are often excluded from meta‐analyses of evidence‐based practices due to the lack of methodological consensus on the type of effect size indices to be used to determine treatment effect. To promote the use of effect size indices as an adjunct to visual analysis, this article describes four nonoverlap methods (PND, IRD, PEM‐T and Tau‐U) and demonstrates their application to data obtained from studies employing different SSER designs. Advantages and disadvantages of each method are highlighted and considerations for selecting the most appropriate method are provided for researchers and practitioners.

The practice of including young children with disabilities in early childhood settings has been in existence for more than three decades (Odom, 2000), and the numbers of young children with disabilities being supported in inclusive early learning settings are growing (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). A number of literature reviews have documented the benefits of successful inclusive practices for young children with and without disabilities (e.g., Buysse & Bailey, 1993; Odom et al., 2004). For inclusive practices to be successful, however, practitioners must use individualized, evidence-based practices (EBPs) to support development, engagement, and learning of young children with disabilities (Wolery, 2005). Embedded instruction (EI), "a naturalistic instructional approach designed to promote child engagement and learning by identifying times when instructional procedures to teach a child's priority learning targets are implemented in the context of ongoing activities, routines and transitions of inclusive preschool classrooms" (