Social validity in single-case research: A systematic literature review of prevalence and application.

BACKGROUND: Single-case research (SCR) has been a valuable methodology in special education research. Montrose Wolf (1978), an early pioneer in single-case methodology, coined the term "social validity" to refer to the social importance of the goals selected, the acceptability of procedures employed, and the effectiveness of the outcomes produced in applied investigations. Since 1978, many contributors to SCR have included social validity as a feature of their articles and several authors have examined the prevalence and role of social validity in SCR. AIM AND METHODS: We systematically reviewed all SCR published in six highly-ranked special education journals from 2005 to 2016 to establish the prevalence of social validity assessments and to evaluate their scientific rigor. RESULTS: We found relatively low, but stable prevalence with only 28 publications addressing all three factors of the social validity construct (i.e., goals, procedures, outcomes). We conducted an in-depth analysis of the scientific rigor of these 28 publications. CONCLUSIONS: Social validity remains an understudied construct in SCR, and the scientific rigor of social validity assessments is often lacking. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Negatively-Reinforced Mands: An Examination of Resurgence to Existing Mands in Two Children With Autism and Language Delays.

In this study, we extended the literature on negatively-reinforced mands by teaching multiple novel, socially appropriate alternative mands to two young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). First, we replaced existing mands (e.g., pushing away) with two novel, socially appropriate, negatively-reinforced mands. Next, we examined responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions to assess resurgence to existing mands and to determine whether the function of the communicative behavior influences the consistency with which different mands are emitted. Finally, we examined generalization to different social partners. Our data suggest that both children acquired the new mands and used them to avoid nonpreferred items. Resurgence to existing mands during delayed-reinforcement conditions was documented for one child, and the sequence in which mands were emitted within a response class was not influenced by the function of the communicative behavior. Generalization data indicate that both children emitted the new mands and one of the two children alternated between the two mands with a social partner who was not involved in the training. We discuss the importance of teaching multiple negatively-reinforced alternative mands to children with autism in applied settings.

Mand Training: An Examination of Response-Class Structure in Three Children With Autism and Severe Language Delays.

Our primary purpose in this study was to examine the structure of a response class when new members are acquired through mand training. To do this, we replaced existing mands (e.g., reaching) in three children with autism with two new functionally equivalent mands. Next, we examined their responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Then, we assessed generalization to novel social partners. We employed a reversal design to examine the effectiveness of mand training and to assess responding under both immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Our results suggest that all children acquired the new mands and that two of the children emitted these responses as replacements when the social partner did not provide access to the reinforcer contingent on the child's first mand. Generalization data indicate that all three children emitted the new mands and two of the children alternated between the new mands with novel social partners. We discuss the clinical implications and the conceptual significance of teaching multiple replacement mands to children with autism and severe language delays.

Psychosocial factors of stages of change among adults with intellectual disabilities.

Relationships among full constructs of the transtheoretical model using a sample of 121 adults with mild intellectual disabilities in Taiwan were examined. Self-reports of stages of change and transtheoretical model psychosocial measures were gathered through interviews. Although MANCOVA revealed that behavioral processes of change, cognitive processes of change, self-efficacy, and perceived pros increased across stages, we did not find a clear linear pattern of association. Direct discriminant function analysis indicated that the most important predictors of stages of change were behavioral processes, cognitive processes, and self-efficacy. The overall stage of change classification accuracy using transtheoretical model psychosocial constructs was 56.2%. Psychosocial measures specifically developed for this population should be further explored.

Examining communication repairs of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder: the influence of the environment.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the repair strategies of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder from an environmental rather than a developmental perspective. METHOD: A scripted protocol that included opportunities for requests and repair was followed. The environmental variables investigated were activity type (e.g., puzzle, shapes, book) and breakdown type (i.e., request for clarification, wrong response, and ignore). The sessions were videotaped, and each child's behavior was coded. RESULTS: The results revealed that (a) both participants repaired the majority (70%) of their unsuccessful initial requests and (b) the repair strategies varied across children, activities, and breakdowns. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that the 2 young children with autism and limited expressive language discriminated among environmental variables (i.e., type of activity and type of breakdown). The participants modified their repair topographies to correspond to changes in the environment. The findings from this study offer ways to enhance assessment and intervention of early communication. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Teaching VOCA use as a communicative repair strategy.

Students with developmental disabilities often rely on prelinguistic behavior (e.g., reaching, leading) to communicate. When listeners fail to attend to prelinguistic behaviors, students may benefit from responding with an alternative form of communication to repair the breakdown. In the present study, we taught two students with developmental disabilities to repair communicative breakdowns by using a voice-output communication aid (VOCA). Intervention occurred at morning snack time when the students had the opportunity to access preferred items through prelinguistic behavior (e.g., reaching, guiding). Breakdowns occurred when the listener failed to attend to the student's initial request. Effects of the intervention were evaluated in a multiple-baseline design across subjects. Both students learned to use the VOCA to repair communicative breakdowns. As VOCA use was acquired as a repair strategy, the students also began to use the device to initiate requests when there had been no breakdown in communication. The intervention appeared to be an effective approach for supplementing prelinguistic behaviors with an additional option for communicating a request.

Phonological Awareness and Production: Changes During Intervention.

Changes in feature awareness and production during phonological intervention were examined separatelyin four preschool-aged children with severe phonological impairment. Each received intervention that incorporated attention to the features of three error patterns and provided opportunities to practice productions for those patterns. Awareness skills and productionperformance were assessed repeatedly in the context of a multiple-probe design. Relationships between the two variables were then observed. Results indicated that the rate and degree of change in awareness did not always parallel production performance. The findings suggest that both feature awareness and production should be considered when planning intervention.