The purpose of this paper was to analyze the compassionate and geriatric release laws in the USA and the role of advanced age and/or illness. In order to identify existing state and federal laws, a search of the LexisNexis legal database was conducted. Keyword search terms were used: compassionate release, medical parole, geriatric prison release, elderly (or seriously ill), and prison. A content analysis of 47 identified federal and state laws was conducted using inductive and deductive analysis strategies. Of the possible 52 federal and state corrections systems (50 states, Washington D.C, and Federal Corrections), 47 laws for incarcerated people, or their families, to petition for early release based on advanced age or health were found. Six major categories of these laws were identified: (1) physical/mental health, (2) age, (3) pathway to release decision, (4) post-release support, (5) nature of the crime (personal and criminal justice history), and (6) stage of review. Recommendations are offered, for increasing social work policy and practice expertise, and advancing the rights and needs of this population in the context of promoting human rights, aging, health, and criminal justice reform.

For preschool children with autism, individual behavioral interventions are among the best-tested treatments. However, they are rarely implemented in special education preschools. We observed one-to-one behavioral interventions formally and informally delivered by staff ( N = 51) in 12 classrooms across three preschools for children with autism, aged 3–6 years, in a major US city. We estimated associations between the use of one-to-one intervention and classroom characteristics including staff-student ratio, professional role composition, and frequency of challenging child behaviors. A small number of classroom characteristics explained considerable portions of outcome variance: 23% for formally delivered one-to-one interventions and 41% for informally delivered interventions. The number of individually assigned personal care aides in the classroom was negatively correlated with less formal delivery of one-to-one intervention. Classroom challenging behavior was positively associated with formal delivery of one-to-one interventions. Interventionist’s professional roles and the number of children in the class accounted for the largest amounts of variance in informal intervention delivery. Staff training, clarifying professional roles, setting performance expectations for personal care aides and other classroom team members, and reducing class size may represent promising implementation targets. Findings suggest caution around task-shifting policies that transfer clinical functions from more highly trained to less highly trained staff. Lay abstract For preschool children with autism, individual (one-to-one) behavioral interventions are among the best-tested treatments. However, they are rarely used in special education preschools. We observed formally and informally delivered one-to-one behavioral interventions use by classroom staff ( n = 51) in 12 classrooms across three special education preschools for children with autism, aged 3–6 years, in a major US city. We estimated the associations between one-to-one intervention use and classroom characteristics including staff–student ratio, professional role composition, and frequency of challenging child behaviors. As a whole, the factors we examined were considerably important for both formally and informally delivered one-to-one interventions. The number of individually assigned personal care aides in the classroom was negatively associated with the use of formally delivered one-to-one intervention. Classroom challenging behavior was positively associated with use of formally delivered one-to-one interventions. Interventionist’s professional roles and the number of children in the class were most important for the use of informally delivered interventions. Staff training, clarifying professional roles, setting performance expectations for personal care aides and other classroom team members, and reducing class size may represent promising implementation targets. Findings suggest caution around task-shifting policies that transfer clinical functions from more highly trained to less highly trained staff.

The best-tested treatments for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are grounded in the principles of applied behavioral analysis (ABA) and blended with developmental science. Examples include Project ImPACT 1 and Early Start Denver Model, 2 among others. ABA-based behavioral interventions use conditioned reinforcement of target behaviors by giving the child access to desired objects and activities as a consequence of performing target behaviors. Unlike the original ABA technique, discrete trial training, ABA-based naturalistic developmental-behavioral interventions (NDBI) occur in natural environments and employ operant conditioned reinforcement of target behaviors by capitalizing on the child's interests in objects and activities. [1][2][3] NDBIs are highly recommended for toddlers and children with autism 3Clinical manuals for NDBI interventions emphasize that clinicians should use modulations of voice and exaggerated facial expressions and gestures to engage toddlers. [1][2][3][4] These behaviors are often referred to as "positive affect," "increased animation," "modulation of child affect," and/or "playfulness." Given the range of clinician behaviors described across these constructs, and the commonalities between them, we will henceforth refer to the following behaviors as "playfulness" within this manuscript: positive affect, increased animation, modulation of child affect, exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. Most NDBIs indicate that playfulness should be thoughtfully employed throughout NDBI sessions in conjunction with other NDBI strategies (e.g. contingent responsiveness, balanced turns, child choice) to maintain engagement and build social reciprocity with the child as they work together towards treatment goals. However, our clinical and supervisory experiences suggest that many clinicians do not consistently use playfulness as an intervention tool. Instead, according to our observations, many clinicians largely employ neutral affect when providing treatment to toddlers with

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