Jordan Lukins

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Assistant Teaching Professor at North Carolina State University

Service learning is a pedagogical strategy that allows future professionals to engage with autistic people in meaningful contexts during their initial preparation. In this chapter, the authors present a model service-learning course focused on autism. Undergraduate students, many planning to pursue education, psychology, and allied health careers,...

In the era of inclusive education, every educator can expect to have students with disabilities in their classroom. Unfortunately, preservice teachers who are not specifically pursuing special education licensure are often only expected to take one course focused on teaching students with disabilities. Given the increased emphasis on less restricti...

Students with autism are more likely to be educated in self-contained special education classrooms than their peers with other disabilities. Often, these separate programs are designed specifically for students with autism, providing specialized personnel, resources, and interventions. However, some critics view such programs as contrary to the pre...

Despite the contemporary emphasis on evidence-based practices (EBPs) in autism education, the research-to-practice gap persists. Understanding how newly trained teachers’ experiences, knowledge, and beliefs about EBPs influence their instructional decisions is vital to increasing EBP implementation among the next generation of special educators. In...

The autism intervention literature focuses heavily on the concept of evidence-based practice, with less consideration of the acceptability, feasibility, and contextual alignment of interventions in practice. A survey of 130 special educators was conducted to quantify this “social validity” of evidence-based practices and analyze its relationship wi...