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The purposes of this paper are to provide an overview of the state of the science of sleep in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), present hypotheses for the high prevalence of insomnia in children with ASD, and present a practice pathway for promoting optimal sleep. Approximately two thirds of children with ASD have chronic insomnia, and to date, the strongest evidence on promoting sleep is for sleep education, environmental changes, behavioral interventions, and exogenous melatonin. The Sleep Committee of the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) developed a practice pathway, based on expert consensus, to capture best practices for screening, identification, and treatment for sleep problems in ASD in 2012. An exemplar case is presented to integrate key constructs of the practice pathway and address arousal and sensory dysregulation in a child with ASD and anxiety disorder. This paper concludes with next steps for dissemination of the practice pathway and future directions for research of sleep problems in ASD.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which public school teachers implemented evidence-based interventions for students with autism in the way these practices were designed. Evidence-based practices for students with autism are rarely incorporated into community settings, and little is known about the quality of implementation. An indicator of intervention quality is procedural implementation fidelity (the degree to which a treatment is implemented as prescribed). Procedural fidelity likely affects student outcomes. This project examined procedural implementation fidelity of three evidence-based practices used in a randomized trial of a comprehensive program for students with autism in partnership with a large, urban school district. Results indicate that teachers in public school special education classrooms can learn to implement evidence-based strategies; however they require extensive training, coaching, and time to reach and maintain moderate procedural implementation fidelity. Procedural fidelity over time, and across intervention strategies is examined.

This study evaluated the association of fidelity to each of the components of the Strategies for Teaching based on Autism Research (STAR) program, a comprehensive treatment package for children with autism that includes discrete trial training, pivotal response training, and teaching in functional routines, on outcomes for 191 students ages 5–8 years in a large public school district. Fidelity to all components was relatively low, despite considerable training and support, suggesting the need to develop new implementation strategies. Fidelity to pivotal response training, but not discrete trial training or functional routines, was positively associated with gains in cognitive ability despite low levels of fidelity, and may be an effective intervention choice in under-resourced settings.

An alternative to the IQ-achievement discrepancy model for identifying students with learning disabilities is the response to intervention (RTI) model. There is a growing literature base in support of the RTI model, and within the reauthorization of IDEA there is an allowance for an RTI approach whereby RTI "may" be used by school psychologists when evaluating students for special education. The research base on RTI is expanding but there has been little empirical work directed toward understanding RTI as it is implemented by school-based practitioners. The current study examined a simple three-phase RTI model. Universal screening in mathematics was used in Phase I in conjunction with a brief skill/performance deficit assessment to identify students in need of instructional intervention. In Phase II, a classwide intervention was implemented to evaluate the extent to which poor academic performance was a function of lack of instruction. Phase III provided intensive intervention to five students who did not respond adequately to the classwide intervention. Only one student did not respond adequately to individual intervention.Response to intervention (RTI) evolved out of the Heller, Holtzman, and Messick (1982) critique of the IQ-achievement discrepancy (IAD) model and has since been conceptualized by Fuchs (1995) and later Fuchs and Fuchs (1998) and more recently summarized by Vaughn and Fuchs (2003). Identifying students in need of special services through an RTI model will require a paradigm shift. Rather than using standardized tests in an attempt to identify what is specifically wrong within a student, an RTI approach will require schools to examine contextual issues (quality of instruction) and more importantly shift focus from identifying students with a deficit to identifying students at risk. In an RTI model, many students may be identified as at risk but only those who subsequently fail to respond adequately to empirically based interventions qualify for special education services. Rather than relying on static test-based measures or a student's response to single interventions, RTI decision making is based upon direct assessments of students' response to varying levels of intervention intensity. As intervention intensity increases, there are