Rebecca Landa

The special educational needs of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are extensive. Educators face practical problems such as targeting the core social and communication deficits of children with ASD in group instructional settings. For example, children with ASD exhibit problems with interpersonal synchrony, which requires socially appropriate initiations and responsivity to others. To address these concerns, there is a need for evidence-based, cost-effective educational and servi...

The aim of this project is to adapt the Early Achievements (EA) intervention, a classroom-based comprehensive intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder, for implementation with children having moderate to severe developmental language disorders (DLD). While speech-language pathologists are trained to provide the high-quality support needed to accelerate language learning in children with DLD, their caseloads are considered unmanageably large, limiting the intervention the...

The purpose of this project was to develop a professional development (PD) intervention to help early child care and education (ECCE) providers improve their knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in implementing evidence-based instructional practices for children with language, cognitive, and/or social delays (i.e., developmental disabilities). ECCE providers play a vital role in the development and well-being of children, many of whom have or are at risk for developmental disabilities. Howev...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of the Early Achievements Intervention for Preschoolers with ASD (EA-ASD), an intervention aimed at addressing the learning challenges of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) implemented by teachers in authentic public preschool educational settings. The multifaceted learning challenges of children with ASD lead to entering school without the fundamental skills necessary for academic and social success. The EA-ASD interventi...