Purpose: The purpose of this project is to (1) examine the methods utilized for single-case design meta-analyses to identify effective effect size (ES) descriptors, (2) conduct a meta-analytic study of school-based treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and (3) perform a Monte Carlo simulation to compare the performance of ES estimates designed to describe a treatment's effectiveness with interrupted time series data from single-n AB designed studies.

Project Activities: The meta-analysis will summarize the last 10 years of treatments introduced in a school setting for children from birth to 21 presenting the triad of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) social symptoms, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. Dr. Beretvas will utilize commonly identified approaches for treating ASD in education from Helfin and Simpson's (1998) review of 32 interventions and will use Campbell's (2003) synthesis of behavior interventions for individuals with ASD to generate coding for the proposed study. Results from both single-n and large-n studies will be summarized separately to broaden the picture from the ASD meta-analysis.

Products: The expected products from this study include:

1. Meta-analysis of school-based treatments for ASD, and
2. Recommendations for effective ES descriptors and estimates in AB designs.

Research Design and Methods: The meta-analysis will summarize the last 10 years of treatments introduced in a recognized school setting for children from birth to 21 presenting the triad of ASD social symptoms, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. Dr. Beretvas will utilize commonly identified approaches for treating ASD in education from Helfin and Simpson's (1998) review of 32 interventions and will use Campbell's (2003) synthesis of behavior interventions for individuals with ASD to generate coding for the proposed study. Results from both single-n and large-n studies will be summarized separately to broaden the picture from the ASD meta-analysis.

Data Analytic Strategy: The principal investigator will use coded data on participant information (e.g., age, gender, level of intellectual functioning, diagnostic criteria, etc.), descriptors of the treatment's design (e.g., length of treatment, outcome measure, treatment category, etc.), and information describing each study's design (e.g., length of baseline, type of design, reliability of outcome, etc.) to conduct moderator analyses designed to parse variability in treatments' effectiveness. Also, autocorrelation between residuals will be calculated for each study to assess the validity for using more complex time-series designs in single-n research. Finally, values for the intercepts and trend line angles for each baseline and treatment phases will be calculated for each primary study to provide parameter values for the Monte Carlo simulation study.

Products and Publications

Book chapter

Machalicek, W., Davis, T., O'Reilly, M., Beretvas, S.N., Sigafoos, J., Lancioni, G., Green, V., and Edrisinha, C. (in press). Teaching Social Skills to Students With Autism in School Settings: A Review of the Recent Research. In J. Luiselli (Ed.), Autism Spectrum Disorders. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Beretvas, S.N., and Chung, H. (2008). A Review of Meta-Analyses of Single-Subject Experimental Designs: Methodological Issues and Practice. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2(3): 129–141.

Beretvas, S.N., and Chung, H. (2008). An Evaluation of Modified R2 Change Effect Size Indices for Single-Subject Experimental Designs. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2(3): 120–128. doi:10.1080/17489530802446328

Machalicek, W., O'Reilly, M., Beretvas, S.N., Sigafoos, J., and Lancioni, G.E. (2007). A Review of Interventions to Reduce Challenging Behavior in School Settings for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 1(3): 229–246. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2006.10.005

Machalicek, W., O'Reilly, M.F., Beretvas, S.N., Sigafoos, J., Lancioni, G., Sorrells, A., Lang, R., and Rispoli, M. (2008). A Review of School-Based Instructional Interventions for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2(3): 395–416. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2007.07.001

* This has an H324 code but has been funded by NCSER.