The extent to which teachers should make use of theoretical and expert knowledge as opposed to tacit experiential knowledge, and how these might be combined, is a perennial issue in discussions on pedagogy. This book addresses these debates through a creative development of the concept of productive uncertainty. Using case studies focusing on…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

The relationship between preferred objects associated with stereotypy, stereotypic behavior, and accuracy of responding during a counting task by a child with autism was analyzed. Teaching with high-preference objects occasioned more stereotypic behavior and less accurate counting than teaching with medium- and low-preference objects. (Author/DB)

This paper reports a clinical case of autism with a deletion on chromosome 2 in a young male with high functioning autism. The deletion seems to correspond with regions emerging from linkage studies. The paper proposes this chromosomal region as a possible candidate region in the search for autism genes. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

This case study describes a 12-year-old boy with autism in association with the folate-sensitive fragile site fra(2)(q13). Cytogenetic results of blood analysis are described, and two possibilities are discussed: the fragile site may be a coincidental finding unrelated to the autism, or may represent an area of potential gene damage. (JDD)

This article presents a case report of a male child with Fragile X syndrome, typical autistic behavior, and cerebellar hypoplasia. Questions are raised concerning the possible role and importance of cerebellar abnormalities in relation to autistic symptoms. (DB)

A pica box (containing items safe to chew) was used as an intervention with a 10-year-old autistic girl with pica behaviors in a special education setting. Evaluation using an ABAB design (varying in availability of the pica box) found a decrease in pica attempts when the pica box was available to the student. (DB)

The effects of two levels of exercise (walking versus jogging) in suppressing the self-stimulatory behavior during academic programming of a 5-year-old boy with autism were examined. Decreased physical self-stimulation and "out of seat" behavior were found only for the jogging condition. Sharp reductions in these behaviors did not return…

A case study is presented of a boy with partial tetrasomy 15, severe mental retardation, and autism, from age 6 to 9. The case is analyzed in relation to other cases with an extra marker chromosome 15 and the mechanisms that underlie the association between autism and marker chromosome 15. (JDD)

Using an ABAB design, two procedures for requesting a change of activity were compared for their effect on the stereotypic behavior of a man with autism. One procedure requested immediate change of activities, whereas the second procedure gave advance notice of a change. Less stereotypy occurred when advance notice of change was given. (Author/DB)

An intervention for noncompliance, consisting of a series of requests promoting a high probability of compliance followed either 5 seconds or 20 seconds later by a request with a low probability of compliance, was implemented with a preschool child with autism. Results indicated that a shorter interprompt time resulted in higher rates of…

This paper presents two case studies of children who developed herpes virus infection in the intrauterine or early postnatal period and presented with features of autism around two years of age. Other research suggesting a link between herpes and autism is reviewed. (DB)

Self-injurious behavior was examined in a case study of head-banging by an 8-year-old girl with profound mental retardation and an autistic disorder. Trajectories of arm movements and impact forces were determined from dynamic analysis of videotapes. Cycle-to-cycle consistency in the qualitative dynamics of the limb motions and impact forces…

Level of spontaneous social initiating by three adult caregivers toward a youth with autism was studied during a program to increase the youth's level of social initiating. The youth's social initiations toward each adult were systematically reinforced. Frequency of spontaneous initiating toward the youth increased for each adult as the youth's…

This article presents a case study of a Japanese adolescent with autism who strongly perceived inanimate things (Kanji characters) as real persons. Physiognomic perception is investigated as a characteristic mode of autism, and its effects are discussed. It is concluded that the poor cognitive-language ability of some autistic people may shape…