Students with developmental disabilities and communication delays, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), participate in academic instruction through a continuum of services and environments. This includes the use of web-conferencing and screen-sharing platforms to deliver instruction across a variety of settings. The use of systematic prompting often includes stimulus and response prompts, both of which can be conducted via a distance education platform. This column provides three procedures to deliver instruction to students with ASD via GoogleMeets™. These include addressing environmental considerations, prompting while web-conferencing, and using the screen-sharing feature to provide these prompts.

The COVID-19 pandemic made the use of technology across K-12 schools mandatory and ubiquitous. This sudden shift in teaching and learning highlighted educational disparities and created service disruptions for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. One disruption, in particular, is the provision of behavioral interventions for CLD students with emotional and behavioral needs while learning at home. Unfortunately, families are often not equipped with the skills and knowledge to implement these interventions, and CLD families need coaching that is responsive to their cultural and linguistic needs. Therefore, in this article, we describe a process that includes (a) funds of knowledge as a framework to challenge teacher perceptions of CLD families by highlighting their cultural and cognitive resources, (b) family coaching using funds of knowledge framework and online tools, (c) key components prior to behavior intervention plan (BIP) development, and (d) a step-by-step description of how the BIP can be developed and implemented at home with CLD families using this coaching model.

This 2-year pilot study aimed to investigate the effects of a job coaching application (i.e., Job Coaching on Demand) on the knowledge and competencies of teachers and job coaches that work with young adults with developmental disabilities. Due to the global pandemic, this research was conducted virtually over a 2-year period. During the first year, a one-group formative pretest/posttest design with key informants was used to pilot the app with three teachers and five job coaches. The anecdotal findings from this pilot year were then used to further develop the application. The intent of the application was to provide professional development support to teachers and job coaches across the categories of (a) exploring careers, (b) ready for work, (c) part of the team, and (d) advocacy. In Year 2, a total of 31 teachers and job coaches were recruited, and a pretest/posttest was conducted to compare the differences in gained competencies between the two groups. The results show that those in the treatment group showed a larger increase in gains compared to the control group. The overall results of the 2 years of data, the current application development, and practical implications of the technology are further discussed.

No abstract