Diane M. Browder

• PhD
• Professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte

This study examined the effects of a treatment package that combined technology-based supports and systematic instruction on the comprehension skills of elementary-aged students with moderate intellectual disability. Researchers used a multiple probe across participants design. Specifically, researchers examined the effects of constant time delay a...

In this study, a computer-aided listening comprehension intervention package supported both listening comprehension and communication goals for three students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). The package consisted of systematic instruction (i.e., system of least prompts [SLP] procedure) to teach listening compre...

The purpose of this review was to examine the body of research on teaching mathematics to students with moderate and severe developmental disability that has been published since 2005, reflecting changes in both the academic expectations for this population and research and design standards in the evidence-based practice (EBP) era. We examined rese...

The purpose of this review was to examine the body of research on teaching mathematics to students with moderate and severe developmental disability that has been published since 2005, reflecting changes in both the academic expectations for this population as well as research and design standards in the EBP era. We examined research on teaching ma...

Problem solving is an important yet neglected mathematical skill for students with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability (ASD/ID). In addition, the terminology and vocabulary used in mathematical tasks may be unfamiliar to students with ASD/ID. The current study evaluated the effects of modified schema-based instruction (SBI) on the...

This study evaluated an intervention developed through an Institute of Education Sciences-funded Goal 2 research project to teach students with moderate intellectual disability (moderate ID) to solve addition and subtraction word problems. The intervention involved modified schema-based instruction that embedded effective practices (e.g., pictorial...

Demonstrating comprehension of text is a complex skill that is an area of difficulty for many students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Shared story reading is an intervention that has a history of effectiveness in teaching literacy skills to students with extensive support needs. This study used a multiple probe across participants design to e...

Social studies, as a discipline, has the potential to be a gateway to broad educational and social goals for students with autism spectrum disorders. This chapter discusses the social studies standard applications for consideration toward a responsive and iterative curriculum. Supported by evidence-based practices for students with autism, the auth...

A phonics-based reading curriculum in which students used an iPad to respond was created for students with developmental disabilities not able to verbally participate in traditional phonics instruction due to their use of augmentative and assistive communication. Time delay and a system of least prompts used in conjunction with text-to-speech softw...

The current study evaluated the effects of modified schema-based instruction on the mathematical word problem solving skills of three elementary students with autism spectrum disorders and moderate intellectual disability. Participants learned to solve compare problem type with themes that related to their interests and daily experiences. In additi...

Although educators of students who take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards are charged with providing access to grade-level mathematics to help their students prepare for this requirement, almost no models exist to provide guidance for how to adapt mathematics content for this population of students. This study asked edu...

For students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability, technology can provide critical support for learning and life functioning. A growing body of research demonstrates the benefits of technology for these students to acquire academic skills, improve social functioning, an...

In an effort to investigate and identify effective instructional practices for students with moderate-to-severe intellectual disability, university researchers partnered with a local, public school system. This new knowledge generated by this partnership has impacted thousands of teachers and students locally, nationally, and internationally. This...

For students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability, technology can provide critical support for learning and life functioning. A growing body of research demonstrates the benefits of technology for these students to acquire academic skills, improve social functioning, an...

This study investigated the effects of a modified system of least prompts and an electronic story-mapping intervention for elementary students with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were first taught to identify story element definitions using constant time delay. Participants then listened to age-appropriate narrative texts with a problem–sol...

Ayres, K. M. (2012). Recognizing ecological educational planning with access to the Common Core: Putting the cart before the horse? A response to Hunt and McDonnell. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 37 (3), 153-156. (Original doi:10.2511/027494812804153516) This article should have included the name of the third author, M...

1. Comprehension of text is a pivotal skill for all learners that gives them access to social, educational, and vocational opportunities. This presentation will provide specific examples from research for teaching comprehension to students with autism. Strategies and interventions will focus on teaching individuals to increase independent use of pr...

This presentation will describe teacher training materials and initial findings of a multi-year project on teaching mathematical problem solving with generalization to real-world problems for students with moderate/severe disabilities and autism. The intervention includes schema-based instruction combined with evidence-based practices for teaching...

Percentages of correct responses to decoding probes (i.e., phoneme identification, blending phonemes to identify words, blending phonemes to identify pictures) were measured across three participants with moderate intellectual disability or autism in elementary school. Time delay and system of least prompts were used in conjunction with an AAC devi...

This presentation will describe strategies for teaching text comprehension through systematic instruction which promote independence and utilize barrier-free technology, giving practitioners skills in providing general curriculum access to students with moderate/severe disabilities that translates across content areas and grade levels. Presenters w...

Problem solving skills promote independence in current and future environments for individuals with disabilities. This presentation describes an intervention that systematically taught word problem solving across math standards to a fully included bilingual student with autism who uses AAC. Acceptability and impact of the intervention will be discu...

Individuals with moderate and severe developmental disabilities have been offered some of the most rapidly evolving educational services since students with disabilities were first guaranteed a free appropriate public education in 1975 (under PL 94-142). Although schools were not required to provide services prior to the 1970s, schools now must be...

The number of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who enter secondary school settings and access the general education curriculum continues to grow. Many educators may find they are not prepared to adapt their instruction to meet both state standards and the diverse needs of the full spectrum individuals with ASD, which has implications...

This study evaluated the effects of a peer-delivered least prompts intervention and adapted read-alouds of a grade-level novel on correct listening comprehension responses for participants with moderate intellectual disability. Before the study began, participants were taught concepts for wh- words (i.e., who, what, why, when, and where), to reques...

This study investigated the effects of a peer-delivered system of least prompts intervention and adapted grade-level science read-alouds on. correct listening comprehension responses for participants with moderate intellectual disability. The intervention package included prompts in which selected text was read again. Participants directed the amou...

This essay describes major advances in educating students with severe disabilities. The authors propose that applied behavior analysis, the focus on functional life skills, and the promotion of academic content have been the major advances in the how and what of learning for this population. An increased focus on literacy, improved instruction for...

Supported electronic text (eText), or text altered to provide support, may promote comprehension of science content for students with disabilities. According to the Center for Applied Special Technology, Book Builder™ uses supported eText to promote reading for meaning for all students. Students with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulty c...

In an effort to investigate and identify effective instructional practices for students with moderate-tosevere intellectual disability, university researchers partnered with a local, public school system. This new knowledge generated by this partnership has impacted thousands of teachers and students locally, nationally, and internationally. This c...

This chapter chronicles the literature base demonstrating the effectiveness of general curriculum access within the general curriculum classroom. The chapter provides details on specific interventions and considerations across English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies such as systematic instruction, teaching with technology, s...

A modified system of least intrusive prompting was used to teach middle school students with moderate intellectual disability who were emergent readers to comprehend short passages of text. Text passages were summaries of the chapters of age-appropriate novels rewritten for a beginning reading level. Time delay was used to teach the participants to...

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) emphasizes the teaching of social studies to provide students with information, critical thinking skills, and experiences to allow them to grow into responsible and effective citizens. There have been few studies focused on social studies instruction for students with autism spectrum disorders or o...

Literacy in science is important for all students and is one component of access and progress in the general education curriculum. One barrier to science literacy for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the extensive amount of vocabulary involved in comprehending science content. Based on the inherent link between vocabulary knowledge...

A review of the literature on academic learning in general education settings for students with moderate and severe intellectual disability was conducted. A total of 17 experimental studies was identified and evaluated using quality indicators for single-case design research. Studies that met or met with reservation the criteria established for qua...

Competence in early numeracy skills highly correlate with success in mathematics in later years; however, many students, including students with moderate and severe disabilities, lack a sound foundation in early numeracy skills. For this population, the gaps in skills widen as students progress through academic years, making it more difficult for s...

Teaching academic content to students with severe developmental disabilities is a topic that has recently been debated, even though science content is one of the academic areas that comprise a standards-based curriculum. Science content like other academic skills can be taught to this population using forms of systematic instruction, a validated ev...

Effective practices in student data collection and implementation of data-based instructional decisions are needed for all educators, but are especially important when students have severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Although research in the area of data-based instructional decisions for students with severe disabilities shows bene...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of grade-aligned math instruction on math skill acquisition of four middle schools with moderate intellectual disability. Teachers were trained to follow a task analysis to teach grade-aligned math to middle school students using adapted math problem stories and graphic organizers. The teacher im...

The What Works Clearinghouse guidelines for high-quality professional development were used to develop a Tell, Show, Try, and Apply (TSTA) method of training. This method was used to train teachers to align instruction to grade-level content for students with severe developmental disabilities. A total of 193 teachers of students who participate in...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a modified system of least intrusive prompts on text-dependent listening comprehension for four middle-school-aged students with intellectual disability and autism during read-alouds of adapted grade-level biographies. A system of least intrusive prompts was modified by inserting a rule fo...

There has been limited research on the acquisition of grade-aligned science skills for students with moderate intellectual disability, with even more restriction on academic skills in inclusive settings. This study examined the effects of peer-mediated time-delay instruction to teach inquiry science and use of a knowledge chart to students with mod...

This article was tvritten as a response to Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, and Sievers (2011) who commented on the degree to which promoting the teaching of functional skills had a higher probability of leading to a more independent life for students with severe disabilities. In doing so, the authors take issue with the use of a standards-based curriculum...

A review of the literature was conducted for articles published between 2003 and 2010 to build a case for the degree to which evidence-based practices were documented for teaching academic skills to students with severe developmental disabilities. This review extended earlier comprehensive work in literacy, mathematics, and science for the populati...

This study investigated the effects of scripted task analytic lessons with systematic prompting on engagement and comprehension of students with a multiple, severe disability using a multiple probe single case design. Three teachers followed the scripts to include a target student in a story based lesson to increase comprehension and engagement. Al...

Science content is one area of general curriculum access that needs more investigation. Explicit instruction is effective for teaching students with high incidence disabilities a variety of skills, including science content. In this study, we taught three elementary aged students with autism spectrum disorder to acquire science descriptors (e.g., w...

A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted for articles published between 1985 and May 2009 to (a) examine the degree to which science content was taught to students with severe developmental disabilities and (b) and evaluate instructional procedures in science as evidencebased practices. The review was organized by a conceptual model d...

A variable that appears to affect preference development is the exposure to a variety of options. Providing opportunities for systematically sampling different options is one procedure that can facilitate the development of preference, which is indicated by the consistency of selections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of prov...

Federal mandates as well as the National Science Education Standards call for science education for all students. IDEA (2004) and NCLB (2002) require access to and assessment of the general curriculum, including science. Although some research exists on teaching academics to students with significant disabilities, the research on teaching science i...

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a multicomponent early literacy curriculum that included phonics and phonemic awareness in comparison to a sight word approach. A total of 93 students with severe developmental disabilities who were enrolled in Grades K through 4 were randomly assigned to either a multicomponent early literacy curriculum or...

This investigation focused on the effects of a treatment package including multiple exemplar training, time delay, and a self-directed learning prompt (KWHL chart) on students' ability to complete an inquiry lesson independently and generalize to untrained materials. Three middle school students with moderate intellectual disabilities learned to se...

This study examined the underlying structure of the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA), an instrument designed to measure emergent literacy for K–fourth-grade students with severe developmental disabilities. The NVLA was conceptualized as having six constructs that reflected emergent literacy skills: (a) phonemic awareness, (b) phonics, (c) compr...

This study evaluated strategies to teach secondary math and science content to students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities in a quasiexperimental group design with special education teachers randomly assigned to either the math or the science treatment group. Teachers in the math group implemented four math units representing four...

Shared stories have been shown to help increase emerging literacy skills in students with significant intellectual disabilities. One important literacy skill is the development of listening comprehension. In this study, least-to-most prompt system was used to promote listening comprehension during shared stories for two students with significant in...

The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual foundation for early literacy instruction for students with severe developmental disabilities. The two primary outcomes in the conceptual model are (a) enhanced quality of life through shared literature and (b) increased independence as a reader. Guidelines are offered for promoting shared lite...

Recent statistics suggest that the number of English-language learners has been growing at a rapid rate in the United States. The growth of this population will inevitably lead to a larger number of culturally and linguistically diverse students with significant cognitive disabilities. Currently, there is little research on effective literacy pract...

This article describes an alignment procedure, called Links for Academic Learning (LAL), for examining the degree of alignment of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) to grade-level content standards and instruction. Although some of the alignment criteria are similar to those used in general education assessments...

A review of the literature was conducted for articles published between 1975 and 2007 on the application of time delay as an instructional procedure to teach word and picture recognition to students with severe developmental disabilities in an effort to evaluate time delay as an evidence-based practice. A total of 30 experiments were analyzed using...

This article addresses the application of the assessment triangle developed by the National Research Council (Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001), most specifically the cognition vertex of that triangle, to the unique learning characteristics of students with significant cognitive disabilities in developing and demonstrating academic competence....

This study evaluated the impact of a curriculum called the Early Literacy Skills Builder on the language and early literacy skills of students with significant developmental disabilities. Students in the control group received the ongoing sight word and picture instruction prescribed by their individualized education programs. Results indicate stat...

This study empirically evaluated a classification schema based on symbolic communication level use with students with significant cognitive disabilities. Ninety‐five teachers of students with significant disabilities rated students’ level of performance on 10 academic tasks. Cluster analysis suggested a range of two to four clusters solutions. Supp...

This article reports on a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of 68 experiments on teaching mathematics to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. Most of the studies in the review addressed numbers and computation or measurement. Within the computation studies identified, most focused on counting, calculation, or number...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of systematic instruction with a concrete representation on the acquisition of an algebra skill for students with moderate developmental disabilities. Three high school students with moderate developmental disabilities participated in this study. A multiple probe across participants research des...

Literacy may be one of the most important instructional areas for enhancing quality of life for all students. One way to promote literacy skills is through engaging students in the shared reading of a story. In this study, methods for planning and implementing shared stories for three students with multiple disabilities was evaluated via a multiple...

The purpose of this study Was to train teachers to folloW a task analysis to teach a story-based literacy lesson using adapted, grade-appropriate middle school literature to students With moderate and severe developmental disabilities. A multiple-probe-across-participants design Was used to examine the effects of training teachers to folloW a liter...

Based on recent federal legislation, alternate assessments for students with disabilities may now be based on alternate achievement standards, modified achievement standards, or grade-level achievement standards. Although all students with disabilities must access the general curriculum, those with significant cognitive disabilities often do so thr...

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of training paraeducators on (a) paraeducator prompting use of augmentative communication (AAC) systems, (b) paraeducator responding to student requests, (c) student use of AAC, and (d) student problem behavior via a series of multiple probe designs. Participants were three paraeducators and stu...

Current federal policy requires that students with disabilities participate in large-scale assessments and be included in schools' scores for adequate yearly progress. Students with significant cognitive disabilities may participate in an alternate assessment with alternate achievement standards, but these standards must be linked to grade-level co...

The effects of training in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) on lesson plan development of special and general educators in a college classroom environment were investigated. A true experimental group design with a control group was used for this study. A one-hour teacher training session introduced UDL to the experimental group; the control grou...

A comprehensive review of research was conducted on teaching science to students with significant cognitive disabilities. Guidelines from the National Science Education Standards were used to identify categories of studies based on the strands of science. A total of 11 studies were identified from the 20 years of literature searched. In general, wo...

In a review of current research and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, this paper focuses on two specific issues: (a) how students with developmental disabilities show adequate yearly progress, including a description of the assessments in which this population may participate, and (b) the policy issues surrounding NCLB including technica...

For students to have full access to the general curriculum, they need the opportunity to learn academic content that links closely to the standards for their grade level. In this article, we synthesize what we have learned through our research on aligning instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities with state's academic content...

Recent guidelines for No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 2001) permit the use of alternate achievement standards for counting up to 1% of students with significant cognitive disabilities as proficient in adequate yearly progress (AYP) calculations. This provision increases the importance of assessing the technical quality of alternate assessme...

Legislative initiatives and federal regulations require states to provide students with disabilities access to the general curriculum and to include all students in state assessment systems. Assessing the progress in the general curriculum for students with disabilities challenges states to determine how academic standards apply to all students and...

This article presents the results of a comprehensive review of 128 studies on teaching reading to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. The review compared these studies against the National Reading Panel's components of reading; although it revealed an inadequate consideration of the components of reading, it found strong evidence f...

The purpose of this year-long, collective case study was to investigate what influences contributed to alternate assessment outcomes for students with significant disabilities. This study of seven students and teachers in two school districts revealed seven main factors that contributed to students' scores on the state's alternate assessment, inclu...