Social script and visual cue use with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were examined. A multiple baseline design across activities with embedded withdrawal was used to measure student acquisition of verbal communication skills. Three children with ASD, two boys and one girl, were taught a series of scripts and were shown a "quiet" picture when they engaged in perseverative speech (e.g., repetitive phrases or words). The number of scripted statements increased during treatment, with reductions in perseverative speech for all three students. One student's unscripted statements increased during intervention. Analysis of percentage of nonoverlapping data indicated that the intervention was highly effective for scripted statements, ineffective for unscripted statements, and produced variable results for total communicative statements.

According to research, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have lower rates of high school graduation and university attendance. There is little research regarding interventions to address these issues. The current study compared the effects of two programs designed to increase academic motivation. Forty-seven high school female athletes from culturally and linguistically diverse and economically disadvantaged backgrounds participated in the study. The programs were implemented over a 12-week period, 2 days per week within the school day. One group received instruction using a program that was designed by the school's physical education faculty. The other group received instruction using the Possible Selves program (Hock, Schumaker, & Deshler, 2003). The researchers investigated the effects of the programs with regard to the students' level of hope for the future as measured by the Children's Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1994), records of the students' grades and number of administrative behavioral referrals, students' self-reports about their participation, and researchers' evaluation of the students' goals. The results did not indicate a difference in the students' hopes for the future. There was little difference in overall grade point averages and no difference in behavioral referrals between the two groups. The students' perceptions of their participation in the programs were similar. However, the students in the Possible Selves group indicated that they received more support from an adult during their program, and they reported higher levels of effort toward academics than the comparison group. The most significant finding was a difference in the quality of goals written. The Possible Selves group wrote goals and action plans that were more specific and realistic.

This case study examines José, a bilingual Latino fifth-grader, and his complex and dynamic engagements in travesuras (mischievous behaviors). José's travesuras served to disassociate him from being labeled a "schoolboy." This disassociation was evident in how José: (1) renounced "school-like" work and (2) downplayed his intelligence. José had been pigeonholed-for the most partas a smart student who should have known better than to behave inappropriately. Implications point to how to create more nurturing and enriching experiences for urban Latino youth such as José.

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