Tulare SELPA - Autism Resources

Educational Intervention Approaches

Douglass Developmental Center
at Rutgers University

The center opened in 1972 to serve older children with autism; the preschool programs were added in 1987. Douglass now has a continuum of three programs that serve young children with autistic spectrum disorders, including an intensive home-based intervention, a small-group segregated preschool, and an integrated preschool. The curriculum is developmentally sequenced and uses applied behavior analysis techniques, beginning with discrete-trial formats and shifting across the continuum to more naturalistic procedures. Initial instruction is focused on teaching compliance, cognitive and communication skills, rudimentary social skills, and toilet training, as well as on the elimination of serious behavior problems. The small-group classroom emphasizes communication, cognitive skills, and self-help skills; social intervention begins in the form of interactive play with teachers. The emphasis in the integrated classroom is on communication, socialization, and pre-academic skills (Harris et al., 2000).

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Tulare County Office of Education
Jim Vidak, County Superintendent of Schools