Customer Reviews
A great resource for parents and professionals 
2008-06-19
While looking for an excellent preschool program for your "normal" child may be difficult, finding an excellent ABA preschool program for your child with autism is even more challenging. However, the Handleman and Harris book provides professionals and parents with 12 programs around the US that offer behavioral approaches in their curriculum. In each of the chapters, Handlemann and Harris answer a number of questions regarding each school program, such as background information, staff qualifications, admission requirements, goals of the school, how they address behavior problems, integration, social play, etc. In each of these sections, a detailed description is provided and examples are presented to provide parents and professionals with the information needed to evaluate a chosen program for their child. It also provides them with information on what the possible outcomes are for children who enter their program. I think this book is a great resource for parents, professionals, and school districts because it provides a basis for developing an ABA program that has been proven to work with children with autism. By reading this book, school districts can modify their programs to better attain to the children they are admitting on a daily basis. Also, because of the limited superior ABA programs in the US, it can provide a starting point for professionals, parents, and school districts to start their own programs and create more programs for children with autism, so parents will not have to rely on other treatments or inferior early intervention treatments because of the lack of availability.
Review of 3rd edition of Preschool Education Programs for Children with Autism 
2008-06-14
Drs. Harris and Handleman did a comprehensive job of writing a book about the different yet competent preschool education programs for children with autism. The authors describd in detail 11 programs around the country that are science-based intensive programs. Since, there are so many fads about autism and a lot of therapies that claim to treat autism which are not science-based, this book provides great information for parents, and professionals about programs that are worth investing time in. Unfortunately, many of these programs have an extensive waiting list. So, with that in mind I think this book also serves as a great model for administrators to take away from whom are charged with developing programs for children with autism.
The book goes into detail about many aspects of each program such as criteria children must meet for admission, costs of tuition, teaching methods, staff training, staff ratio, etc. I think it's great that it goes into so much detail because it allows professionals, and parents to compare schools and evaluate the intensity of each program, the focus of each program, and its services. This edition also highlights the numerous advances that have taken place in the education of preschool children with autism since the prior edition, however in the prior edition, there were other programs mentioned that didn't carry over into the 3rd edition, such as the Princeton Child Development Institute (PCDI). The PCDI program is a very intensive hands on science-based program that has been around for more than 25 years and it is very well known around the United States and in some other countries. Drs. Krantz and McClannahan who founded the program are renowned in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and have contributed a great deal to the research literature of ABA. It would have been great for this exemplary model of a program to be included and described in detail in the 3rd edition of the book. I think PCDI has a great program that is a model for others to follow and to take valuable information from.
Overall, I think this book is very helpful for parents, and professionals to understand why these programs exist and I think it magnifies the need for more programs to become available like the ones described in this book to treat children with autism with the proper intervention.
PCDI Evaluation Protocol 2008-06-14
Within the site of PCDI most staff members have bachelors or masters degree in psychology or education, the number with educational certifications meets or exceeds the standards of NDJOE. Doctoral students from Queens College , with ABA graduate programs may occupy paid positions while completing their degree. In preschool the staff-child ration is 1-1, school program is 1-1.5. At time of employment more staff members do not have prior experience in providing intervention to people with dvlp disabilities, few are trained in ABA. PCDI offers preservice and in-service workshops and hands- on training through out employment. Immediate and positive and corrective feedback is provided on-going, whether is be throughout the classroom, in the children's homes, or in the hallway you have a constant model to go by. The trainer provides skills and models them which then increases the amount of teaching opportunities for the trainee.
After 6-8 months of hands-on training new staff member's intervention skills are evaluated. Evaluators observe the use of behavior specific praise, opportunities to respond, incidental teaching opportunities, on-task for all students, as well as certain other components. Components are shaping, prompting and fading prompts, teaching language and social-competence skills, decreasing inappropriate behavior, using functional environment design and classroom arrangements, maintaining the quality of the intervention environment, and building and maintaining positive relationships with children, colleagues and trainers, as well as the data notebook review. They are evaluated by someone else then there primary mentor, this avoids any bias which I think is a great idea. Inter-observer agreement is also obtained during the evaluation to ensure agreement on the measures being taken. The employee is observed for 4-5 hours on the trainees work with children, observational data are collected, and verbal feedback is delivered the day of, as well as an extensive written feedback within 30 days. I feel that through this seemingly intense process, much positive feedback and growth comes out of this model. Trainers skills are recognized and appreciated, suggestions are taken and applied. Staff members are evaluated at least annually. I feel a vast majority of organizations would benefit from PCDI's staff evaluation protocol.
Extremely Beneficial 2005-06-28
The second edition of the Preschool Education Programs for Children with Autism provides up to date information on a variety of educational programs for children with autism and children in the autism spectrum. Each program summarizes their characteristics such as staff training, assessment procedures, parental involvement, curriculum, cost, integration opportunities, and treatment outcomes.
This newest edition is an invaluable tool for parents who have children in the autism spectrum. Parents who are looking at programs for their children, as well as those looking to improve public school programs their children currently attend, will benefit from this latest edition.
This book is extremely beneficial to school districts who are thinking of developing their own Autism program, as well as those who are looking to improve the programs they currently have. With this book, districts will be able to compare different approaches and assess what characteristics will be beneficial to them.
The authors stress the importance of communication among professionals. Program descriptions give the reader a sense of familiarity with various approaches as well as those professionals who are currently involved in these models. This will hopefully lead the way to communication among individuals who would normally not interact with one another.
Partners In Autisms Education Pick 2000-08-09
In this book, service providers of various programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders were asked to answer questions regarding structure, staffing, financing, curriculum, assessment procedures, and support services of their program. This is an invaluable resource for people interested in providing, comparing, or procuring top-notch services.
Autisms.org - Book Review 2000-08-07
...helpful to persons who are considering creating a class- room to serve these children or persons interested in ensuring that the services they currently offer meet state- of-the-art criteria...
