A literature review was conducted to identify evidence-based practices in secondary transition using quality indicator checklists for experimental research. Practices were categorized by the Taxonomy for Transition Programming. Overall, 32 secondary transition evidence-based practices were identified. Two practices had a strong level of evidence, 28 had a moderate level of evidence, and 2 had a potential level of evidence. The majority of practices represented instruction of skills within the category of Student Development. No evidence-based practices were identified in the category of Interagency Collaboration. Findings provide practitioners with a set of evidence-based practices for improving transition services and researchers with an agenda for conducting future research.

Evidence-Based Practices in Secondary Transition:

This article reports on a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of 68 experiments on teaching mathematics to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. Most of the studies in the review addressed numbers and computation or measurement. Within the computation studies identified, most focused on counting, calculation, or number matching. For the measurement studies, nearly all focused on money skills. Of the 54 single subject design studies, 19 were classified as having all quality indicators for research design (13 representing the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Measurement standard and 6 representing the Numbers and Operations standard). These studies offer strong evidence for using systematic instruction to teach mathematics skills and for using in vivo settings.

A Meta-Analysis on Teaching Mathematics to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to train teachers to follow a task analysis to teach a story-based literacy lesson using adapted, grade-appropriate middle school literature to students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities. A multiple-probe-across-participants design was used to examine the effects of training teachers to follow a literacy lesson plan task analysis on the number of steps completed by teachers on the literacy lesson plan template and changes made by students in response to teachers’ use of the literacy lesson plan. Results indicated a functional relationship between teacher training and the number of lesson plan steps followed, with a corresponding student increase in both overall and independent correct responses. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

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Training Teachers to Follow a Task Analysis to Engage Middle School Students With Moderate and Severe Developmental Disabilities in Grade-Appropriate Literature

The low achievement level of students with learning disabilities has multiple causes. One is the mismatch between the students' learning characteristics and the design of instructional materials and practices. Design principles better suited to the characteristics of students with learning disabilities are described and illustrated for five areas: (a) big ideas; (b) conspicuous strategies; (c) efficient use of time; (d) clear, explicit instruction on strategies; and (e) appropriate practice and review. Wider application of these design principles, in instructional material and in actual teaching, could contribute to far higher achievement levels in mathematics for students with learning disabilities.

Instructional Design in Mathematics for Students with Learning Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of computer-based video instruction to teach generalized reading of words found on grocery store aisle signs and the location of the corresponding grocery items within those aisles. A multiple probe design across three sets of words, replicated across four students with moderate intellectual disabilities, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the computer-based video program. All training sessions occurred through simulation using the computer-based program with "life-like" video recordings of multiple examples of three grocery stores. All generalization probes, including generalized reading of target words in a novel grocery store, were assessed in actual grocery stores. Results indicated that the computer-based video program alone was successful in teaching generalized reading of aisle signs and the location of items and that students generalized responding to a novel grocery store. Results are discussed in terms of the advantages of computer-based v...

Computer-Based Video Instruction to Teach Persons with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities to Read Grocery Aisle Signs and Locate Items

Four students with moderate handicaps were taught to cash checks and to use an automatic teller through either a decreasing prompt hierarchy or time delay procedure. The strategies were compared within a multielement design. Results indicated that both strategies led to the acquisition of the target tasks; however, the decreasing prompt hierarchy was more efficient. Four and 8-week follow-up probes indicated that the strategies were equally effective in producing maintenance of performance.

A comparison of time delay and decreasing prompt hierarchy strategies in teaching banking skills to students with moderate handicaps.

This study examined the relative effectiveness and efficiency of general case in vivo and general case simulation plus in vivo training in teaching six students with moderate and severe disabilities to purchase drink and food items in fast-food restaurants. General case in vivo training consisted of instruction in three fast-food restaurants located near the students' school. General case simulation plus in vivo training alternated classroom training with training in a single restaurant. Generalization was assessed in three novel restaurants. Results indicated that both strategies led to reliable performance in nontrained settings. However, students who received general case in vivo instruction required fewer training trials to criterion, made fewer errors to criterion, and required less training time to criterion than students who received general case simulation plus in vivo training. In addition, the overall costs of general case in vivo instruction were lower than the costs of the general case simulat...

A Comparison of General Case in Vivo and General Case Simulation plus in Vivo Training

The social/verbal interactions of 6 employees with moderate or severe mental retardation and 6 workers without mental retardation were observed in six restaurants. Results showed that target workers without mental retardation gave more directions, asked more work-related questions, initiated more jokes, and had more general work-related comments than did target workers with mental retardation. The latter received more greetings and social amenities. Interactions between workers with mental retardation and the job coach correlated negatively with the workers' initiation of interactions with co-workers who did not have mental retardation. Implications for job placement and training as well as future research needs were discussed.

Brad Ferguson

Papers

A comparison of time delay and decreasing prompt hierarchy strategies in teaching banking skills to students with moderate handicaps.

A Comparison of General Case in Vivo and General Case Simulation plus in Vivo Training

Type and frequency of social interaction among workers with and without mental retardation

A Comparison of Serial and Concurrent Sequencing Strategies in Teaching Generalized Grocery Item Location to Students with Moderate Handicaps.