Naima Bhana

Niagara University | NU · College of Education

Joint engagement involves a child coordinating their attention between a person and a shared event. Children with autism present with impaired joint engagement. Playdates are a common way that children socially engage yet have been largely overlooked in the social skills literature. Requesting skills have been conceptualized as pivotal, producing c...

This paper describes the benefits of Visual Scene Display (VSD) technology during shared storybook reading activities to support the literacy instruction of children with a diverse range of disabilities, particularly students with complex communication needs. VSDs are a novel technology that allows practitioners to transform traditional books and p...

In a joint effort, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) published instructional practice guides for special educators called High-Leverage Practices (McLeskey et al., 2017). These High Leverage Practices focus on four areas of practice (collaboration,...

Tener una comunicación escuela-casa potencia que los niños y las niñas con capacidad verbal limitada tengan recursos para expresar y comunicarse de forma efectiva. Los sistemas de comunicacion aumentativa y alternativa (SAAC) son una herramienta de soporte para esta tarea.

Peer mentoring is an effective way to give and receive support, learn skills, and build community among colleagues. In this manuscript, we will discuss lessons learned from an online special education peer mentoring group for doctoral students which started during the Covid-19 pandemic. Guidelines for establishing peer mentoring groups and future d...

Children with autism spectrum disorder experience communication difficulties that can make it challenging to engage in conversations. Parent-implemented interventions and visual supports are evidence-based practices to improve the communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. There is a growing body of research investigating the u...

Background Students with developmental disabilities frequently present with both limited vocal speech and challenging behavior. Functional communication training (FCT) with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports, is a commonly recommended intervention to reduce challenging behavior for these students, while also increasing approp...

Paraeducators play an important role supporting children with developmental disabilities in early childhood settings, and the current educational system has come to rely heavily on paraeducator supports. Unfortunately, most paraeducators receive limited training prior to engaging in their classroom roles and responsibilities, and teachers receive l...

This is a pre-print of this manuscript and is currently under-review. Students with developmental disabilities frequently present with both limited vocal speech and challenging behavior. Functional communication training (FCT) with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports, is a commonly recommended intervention to reduce challengin...

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with social skills difficulties, which can create barriers for them to develop friendships with their peers. Playdates are a common way that young children practice play and friendship skills in home and community environments. Few studies have trained parents to embed social skills instruction i...

Children with autism and related disabilities are at an increased risk to develop challenging behavior. Challenging behavior can have deleterious effects on child and parental well-being. Because of this, parents of children with autism are often provided with Behavioral Parent Training (BPT). BPT programs have been shown to be effective in increas...

Children need opportunities to practice social skills outside of school, and a common means for this is through playdates. There are few studies examining methods to teach children with ASD social skills during playdates and have included children with advanced language skills, such as the ability to ask questions to peers. In the current study, we...

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with social skills difficulties, which can create barriers for children with ASD to develop friendships with their peers. Playdates are a common way that young children practice play and friendship skills in home and community environments. Few studies have trained parents to embed social skills...

Objective Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk to develop problem behavior, which can have deleterious effects on child and parental well-being. Because of this, parents are often provided with Behavioral Parent Training (BPT). However, attrition rates in BPT are high, and there is a relative dearth of research inve...