Session: School-Based Interventions for Children with Autism and Emotional Challenges (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Theme and Importance Social workers are called to intervene across a variety of problems and needs of students, particularly students with Autism and emotional challenges. As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders rise, social works encounter children and youth with autism across a range of settings, including child welfare and social service organizations, schools, hospitals and mental health treatment centers, and the like. To date, single-subject design has been identified as a hallmark research design, used to provide effective interventions to children and youth with autism and related disabilities. To realize the Grand Challenges for ensuring healthy development for all children and youth, practitioners will need to embrace not only a person-in-environment perspective, but unique interventions and research design strategies to ensure effective treatment outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this symposium is to present results from three intervention studies of clinical interventions to assist children and youth with autism and emotional challenges. The first paper examines the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on student engagement in on and off-task behaviors with children with autism and emotional challenges. Using a single-subject nonconcurrent multiple-baseline with withdrawal design, 17 students across two classrooms completed 20min of group ACT three times a week during the academic school year. Researchers used a PLAYCHECK 20s momentary time sampling procedure to directly observe students during baseline and intervention phases. Higher rates of student engagement in on-task behaviors were observed following ACT sessions compared to baseline sessions, across both classrooms. The second paper builds upon group intervention approaches, by examining the effects of observational learning paired with behavioral skills training (BST) to teach students with emotional challenges how to appropriately respond to peer disruption (e.g., fighting, bullying, name calling, etc.). Using a concurrent multiple baseline across classrooms design, students in each classroom were randomly identified as either models (n=2) or observers (n=4). A 5s momentary time sampling method was used to collect observational data in the classroom on student responses to peer disruption and student engagement in disruption. During training, each model was trained to ignore, walk away, and/or engage in a calming strategy when peers engaged in disruption, while observers watched. While only models directly experienced and rehearsed the targeted replacement behaviors, both models and observers increased correct responding to instances of peer disruption following treatment across classrooms. Similarly, students decreased engagement in disruption following training. The third study examined the relative effects of alternating treatments for two separate single-component reading interventions: question development and anaphoric cueing. We compared a typical practice to an enhanced practice designed to improve the reading performance of students with ASD. The enhanced practice utilized visual supports and principles of ABA. Data indicated that students with ASD performed better with the enhanced practice of the interventions than with the typical practice. The three papers presented in this symposium offer social work practitioners and researchers further evidence into how to assist you with special needs be successful across a range of academic and socio-behavioral outcomes.