Purpose: Over the past two decades the prevalence of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder has risen significantly. Current prevalence rates indicate that 1 in every 110 children has an autism spectrum disorder. Few studies to date have evaluated comprehensive interventions in early elementary school for students with autism. Schools are left with the significant challenge of meeting the educational needs of students with autism spectrum disorders and resource allocation.

Researchers in this study are evaluating the SCERTS Curriculum, a fully-developed and comprehensive treatment model that targets individualized intervention goals and objectives for students with autism in the domains of social communication and emotional regulation. Environmental and interpersonal supports are also provided to optimize learning in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the intervention against a typical classroom service model serving students with autism spectrum disorders.

Project Activities: Approximately 320 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders in 160 kindergarten to 2nd grade classrooms in 40 schools will participate in the study. Schools will be randomly assigned to either the intervention condition or the typical classroom service model. Schools in Florida and California will participate. The intervention will be implemented for one academic year. Students' active engagement, social, communication, behavioral, and academic outcomes will be evaluated for the children in the intervention and the typical classroom service model. Researchers will also examine how child characteristics and fidelity of implementation influence treatment outcomes.

Products: Products from this study will include published reports and presentations describing the efficacy of the SCERTS Curriculum as measured by a range of developmental and academic skills for children in kindergarten to 2nd grade diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Setting: Participating students will be from Florida and California.

Population: Approximately 320 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders in 160 kindergarten to 2nd grade classrooms in 40 schools will participate in the study.

Intervention: The SCERTS Curriculum incorporates behavioral and developmental approaches to address the social communication and emotional regulation deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder. The intervention focuses on building children's capacity to engage in reciprocal social interactions and the use of language in a range of natural settings. Challenges in social communication are addressed in a developmental continuum which encompasses the ability to communicate with intent, the acquisition and use of conventional gestures, use of words and word combinations, acquisition of grammar, and conversational discourse. Self regulation difficulties are addressed by enhancing children's capacity to use sensory motor and cognitive or linguistic strategies to support attention and engagement. The third component of the intervention is the use of transactional supports, such as a communicative partner adjusting their language use or the use of visual supports, to optimize social interactions and maximize learning and participation in a variety of settings.

Research Design and Methods: The research team will utilize a cluster randomized design with repeated measures to evaluate the developmental outcomes of children being served in classrooms that utilize one of the two types of treatment models. Schools will be randomly assigned to either the SCERTS or typical classroom service model.

Control Condition: The control condition will be the typical classroom service model.

Key Measures: The curriculum will be evaluated using commercial and non-commercial measures. Outcome measures include the Vineland Behavior Adaptive Scales –II, Social Responsiveness Scale, Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revise, Children's Communication Checklist-2, Child Behavior Checklist. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary, The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills; Test of Word Reading Efficiency and the Stanford Achievement Test - 10. Observational measures of children's active engagement and fidelity measures will also be administered.

Data Analytic Strategy: Growth curve modeling will be used to analyze differences between the growth rates of treatment and control students' adaptive behavior, active engagement, social characteristics and academic outcomes. In addition, the researchers will investigate potential mediators (e.g., fidelity) and moderators (e.g., age of treatment entry) of intervention effects.

Products and Publications

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Sparapani, N., Morgan, L., Reinhardt, V., Schatschneider, C., and Wetherby, A. (2016). Evaluation of Classroom Active Engagement in Elementary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(3): 782–796. doi:10.1007/s10803–015–2615–2