Preschools and kindergartens will become the happiest environment for children when they adopt innovative thinking about the value of active playful learning, have only developmentally appropriate expectations, manage behavior solely with kindness, and, in general, foster healthy social-emotional development and create a joyful, positive…

Children with autism spectrum disorder often lack fundamental play skills, which can aid development with social, language, and imitation skills (Boutot et al. 2005). The purpose of this study was to extend the previous literature that successfully combined video modeling and matrix training. Matrix training is an efficient way of teaching that…

This paper explores the perceived benefits of and barriers to, using puppets in early years classrooms and childcare settings. An online survey of 121 early years educators revealed that puppets are widely, but infrequently, used in the early years, and are largely found to be valuable pedagogical tools by those that use them. Puppets were…

The purpose of this study was to describe how experienced emergent writing teachers supported 4-year-olds in writing their own messages during the learning centers period of the preschool day. Data were drawn from two, year-long qualitative studies of early writing instruction. Adult participants were three researcher-teachers who worked in…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of using video-enhanced activity schedules on a laptop on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of schedule following, and pretend play skills in children with ASD. In addition, social validity data were collected from the teachers and the mothers of the participating children. Four…

Play is a universal activity that is an integral part of childhood experiences and aids in the development of important skills. While most children naturally engage in play, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not follow the typical pattern of play development and often exhibit delays in play skills. One of the defining characteristics…

Research demonstrates young children with autism and other developmental disabilities can benefit from participation in play activities with peers. Play provides opportunities to increase social skills across developmental domains in an integrated manner and provides opportunities to develop a sense of belonging and friendship; these goals…

During early childhood, practitioners and family members are often tasked with determining optimal approaches to support social skill development in young children with developmental disabilities in inclusive and self-contained settings. Eight different evidence based approaches are highlighted (social narratives, scripting, pivotal response…

How children learn to read is a controversial matter. Since the teaching of literacy has always been a major purpose of schooling, pedagogy and teaching methods have generally framed research and practice. Psychologists and linguists have played a major role in determining what we mean by "literacy learning". Although they disagree on…

Video-based intervention (VBI) has strong evidence supporting efficiency in teaching social, communication, functional, behavior, play, and self-help skills and emerging evidence for teaching academic skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). VBI allows opportunities to electronically provide personalized, consistent, and prerecorded…

Childhood play has a well-established role in the development of social and cognitive skills that may have important implications for intervention with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, social and language skills of children with ASD are developmentally different from those of typically developing children, although these…

The aim of this study is to compare effectiveness and efficiency of least-to-most prompting and video modeling for teaching pretend play skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. The adapted alternating treatment model, a single-subject design, was used in the study. Three students, one girl and two boys, between the ages of 5-6…

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may exhibit delayed play skills or repetitive play and have difficulty engaging in spontaneous play with peers. Method: A multiple-probe design across participants was used to investigate the effectiveness of a video modelling intervention and the use of children's special interests on their…

"Video modeling" is one of the recognized methods used in the training and teaching of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The model's theoretical base stems from Albert Bandura's (1977; 1986) social learning theory in which he asserts that children can learn many skills and behaviors observationally through modeling. One can…

We created and evaluated a professional development package for training four teachers to embed instructional interactions during outdoor time to enhance the play skills of young children with significant developmental disabilities. The instructional package included an initial 20-min session that consisted of providing written and verbal…