Background: Global aphasia is a severe communication disorder affecting all language modalities, commonly caused by stroke. Evidence as to whether the functional communication of people with global aphasia (PwGA) can improve after speech and language therapy (SLT) is limited and conflicting. This is partly because cognition, which is relevant to…

For individuals with disabilities, learning functional living skills, such as meal preparation, laundry, and cleaning tasks, can greatly increase their level of happiness and decrease their need to rely on others (Storey & Miner, 2017). The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pyramidal BST package to teach staff to implement a training…

Background: Despite humanistic declarations regarding the rights of people with intellectual disability to live a full, meaningful life, in practice, resulting from dilemmas experienced by direct support provides, support is often limited to a focus on functional independence. The aim of this research was to define the theoretical principles by…

College opportunities now exist for young adults with intellectual disability. Because of this, it is common for these individuals' parents to express a desire for increased student agency (Miller et al., 2018). Yet, little is known about how parents feel about how to best support agency development for their young adult child. In the current…

Individuals with deaf-blindness and co-occurring diagnoses, such as intellectual and developmental disabilities, may experience difficulty with independence, specifically with communication. One behavior-analytic procedure that may be useful for increasing independence and teaching communication to this population is the behavior-chain…

Background: Requiring adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to go on community outings with co-residents and staff is contrary to community-living policy's focus on person centredness and choice of activities/companions. Method: We analysed 2018-19 National Core Indicators data from 36 US states concerning 7968 adults living in…

Britney Spears's 2020 testimony about her 13-year conservatorship highlighted ethical concerns surrounding surrogate decision making. Social workers engage with families and clients in conservatorship/guardianship arrangements. However, social work educational programs spend little time preparing students for surrogate decision making and…

The transition from high school to adulthood is typically accompanied by student's prepping and planning for post-secondary education and employment following the completion of their education. Obtaining employment is a key milestone in a young adult's life and provides the opportunity for earning money, living independently, and actively…

This paper reviews prior applications of co-production principles and their potential impact on the mental health and wellbeing of care leavers. There is minimal research available on care leaver narratives of their experiences and consequent mental health and wellbeing needs. This paper explores the relevance of different, sometimes opposed,…

This study used data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012) to explore the future goal aspirations of students with extensive support needs who participate in alternate assessments, compared to other students with extensive support needs and to students with other disabilities. We examined students' individualized…

Many adults above 40 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have not been diagnosed or were diagnosed late into adulthood. Furthermore, those diagnosed may have limited community resources and assistance in adult life. The objective of this systematic review is to identify the current discourse on this topic and to identify voids in research and…

To explore issues surrounding re-consenting youth in longitudinal studies as they reach legal adulthood interviews were conducted with 46 parents plus 13 autistic teens enrolled in the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) study. Qualitative analysis focused on family sensitivities regarding guardianship decisions,…

A confluence of research and current events in the United States has brought guardianship for people with disabilities into focus in recent years. In the process, the field of special education has been confronted with an unpleasant reality. In their action or inaction, special education professionals may play a role in parents of students with…

Performance for three independent living tasks were examined via task analyses. Given the relatively small sample size (n = 56) of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we simulated 1000 replications based upon observed results using Monte Carlo techniques. The results of the current study suggest that: (1) adaptive…

It is important to provide the independent life support individuals with intellectual disabilities need in preparing for employment. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Pre-Employment Independent Life Education Program (PILEP) design based on the needs to inform and support young adults. The research model…