This study examined the effects of a teacher training package on the teacher-delivered naturalistic communication-promoting intervention and the expressive communication of three preschool-aged boys with autism spectrum disorders. Growing numbers of children with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, attend community-based and inclusive preschool settings, and the present study provides information on how to support positive adult child social-communicative interactions by embedding noninvasive strategies in the context of natural environments. In this multiple-baseline study, the teachers received training and support in implementing specific, naturalistic communication-promoting strategies to increase child opportunities for expressive communication. As a result of the training, the teachers increased their use of the intervention strategies, and all of the target children showed increases in the frequency of expressive communication. This study emphasizes the importance of language input and how the level of intervention delivery—in this case, frequency of teacher-provided opportunities for communication—appears to influence child communicative behavior.

The use of immersive simulation as a pedagogical tool has great potential for making a significant impact on student learning in higher education. In this study, the effect of immersive simulation was evaluated for a cohort of undergraduate special education majors. The investigation aimed to determine whether facilitating an immersive co-planning simulation would have an impact on targeted collaboration skills, and also whether vicarious observational learning would occur for students who observed the simulation. Pre-service teachers in special education were evaluated by their peers on their ability to demonstrate knowledge of (1) co-teaching and co-planning, (2) professional communication, and (3) supports for students with disabilities. The results indicate that they did a better job of facilitating a co-planning session after having first practiced doing so via immersive simulation during a previous class session. It was also discovered that vicarious observational learning during immersive simulation positively impacted performance.

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In undergraduate college courses, assignments designed to showcase preservice teacher learning traditionally include classroom presentations, papers, projects, and tests. Often, these activities do not translate into permanent products that will be utilized outside the course. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of self-created video podcasts on content acquisition among undergraduate preservice special education teachers. Preservice teachers in two undergraduate courses were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) podcast condition (treatment group; n = 25) and (2) traditional live presentation condition (control group; n = 25). The participants in each group were then assigned targeted instructional strategies for teaching mathematics. Pre–post measures included a comprehensive multiple-choice test and an open-ended assessment targeting each assigned strategy. During the last 2 weeks of the semester, participants presented their final product and completed the posttests. Results suggested that the participants in the treatment group (podcasts) acquired a deeper understanding of their assigned strategy than the participants from the comparison group (live presentations). The treatment group also outperformed the control group on the comprehensive multiple-choice test.

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