Annotated References

Barnett, D. W., Bell, S. H., & Carey, K. T. (1999). Designing Preschool Interventions: A practitioner's guide. New York: Guilford.

This is a textbook that appears appropriate for upper level undergraduate and graduate level instruction. It is written in a scholarly manner that would likely make it difficult for laypersons. Two chapters in particular--Chapter 4, Designing Effective Interventions and Chapter 6, Developing New Behaviors and Modifying Existing Behaviors--apply to naturalistic interventions. They provide overviews of the chapter themes, identifying the available research based practices. While offering some examples, the chapters are more an overview than an in-depth examination of any particular intervention. The bibliography, however, is an excellent resource for articles and books addressing both naturalistic interventions in particular and preschool interventions in general.

Barnett, D. W., Carey, K. T., & Hall, J. D. (1993). Naturalistic intervention design for young children: Foundations, rationales and strategies. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education,13(4), 430-434.

Establishes the theoretical framework for understanding naturalistic intervention. Defines naturalistic intervention and establishes the broader contexts in which in functions (Social Cognitive Theory, Ecobehavioral Analysis, Naturalistic Inquiry). Gives a very broad overview of the steps involved in developing naturalistic interventions. Works best as a foundation article. Less effective as a practical applications article.

Bloch, J. S. & Seitz, M. (1989). Parents as assessors of Children: A collaborative approach to helping. Social Work in Education, July, 226-244.

Describes an assessment procedure intended to support the IEP/IFP process. It advocates incorporation of parents into the assessment process and describes an assessment tool developed by the first author that facilitates this process. Although written mostly for the social worker, it could be helpful to educators and parents in laying the groundwork for goal-setting and the use of naturalistic interventions to achieve those goals.

Dunst, C. J., Hamby, D, Trivette, C. M., Raab, M. & Bruder, M. B. (2000). Everyday family and community live and children's naturally occurring learning opportunities. Journal of Early Intervention, 23(3), 151-164.

Reports the results of national surveys intended to identify the sources of naturally occurring learning opportunities for young children with disabilities. One survey asked primary caregivers to rate items on a list of possible family activities for frequency of occurrence in their family. One survey asked primary caregivers to rate items on a list of possible community activities for frequency of occurrence in their family. Results of these surveys were used to confirm the presence of 11 family activity categories and 11 community activity categories. The authors believe that these categories are a better indicator of natural learning environments than are specific place labels (home, school, etc.) or specific activity labels (game-time, mealtime, etc.). By attending to the identified activity categories, service providers can better plan appropriate learning situations and can better take advantage of spontaneous learning situations. This article could be an asset for IEP and IFP planners as they attempt to develop appropriate helping strategies for children with disabilities and their families.

Hancock, T. B. & Kaiser, A. P. (1996). Siblings' use of milieu teaching at home. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 16(2), 168-190.

Evaluates the abilities of older siblings to utilize milieu teaching in the home. Studied three sibling pairs. Found that all three older siblings were able to learn simple milieu teaching techniques (modeling and mand modeling) and appropriately apply them during interactions with younger disabled siblings. 2 out of 3 sibling pairs showed generalization to another setting. Use of interventions by the older siblings was also maintained over time. Other benefits included improved overall quality of interactions. The authors suggest that siblings should not attempt to teach new or emerging skills, but would better help by supporting those skills as they are taught by adults. This article supports the practice of involving all family members in the intervention process.

Hester, P. P., Kaiser, A. P., Alpert, Cathy, L., & Whiteman, B. (1996). The generalized effects of training trainers to teach parents to implement milieu teaching. Journal of Early Intervention, 20(1), 30-51).

Provides research evidence that Naturalistic Interventions (NI) can be taught to trainers and to parents and maintained after training is concluded. Describes a research study in which professionals-in-training learned NI strategies and then taught those strategies to parents. Although NI strategies were present evident after the training phase concluded, they did not occur as frequently as during training. This suggests that some form of follow-up or refresher training might be called for if NI skills are to be maintained and generalized to other settings. This is a research intensive article. Step-by-step directions for training are not included. This information may be available, however, from the authors.

Malmskog, S. & McDonnell, A. P. (1999). Teacher-mediated facilitation of engagement by children with developmental delays in inclusive preschools. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19(4), 203-216.

This article presents research into the effectiveness of naturalistic interventions as a means of increasing children's engagement in activities and social interactions. The authors found that naturalistic interventions with children with developmental delays in inclusive classrooms increased the children's frequency and duration of engagement (with others and with appropriate activities). Secondary to their focus, they also found that children made increased progress in achieving IEP objectives. They surveyed the teachers involved in this study and found that teachers although teachers believed naturalistic interventions would disrupt the classroom, they also believe the level of disruption would be acceptable in return for the gains made by the children. Parents of the children were also generally favorable toward use of naturalistic interventions in the classroom.

The authors provide a detailed description of their training procedures and their strategies for incorporating naturalistic interventions. This makes the article a helpful resource for others who would like to incorporate naturalistic interventions in their classrooms. They also provide a summary of the rating scale they used to evaluate teacher effectiveness in applying naturalistic interventions. This scale might be useful for others who wish to conduct research in this area, evaluate preprofessional students, evaluate professionals seeking continuing education, or evaluate effective classroom practices. This is a well-written article with a great amount of information.

McGee, G. G., Morrier, M. J., & Daly, T. (1999). An incidental teaching approach to early intervention for toddlers with autism. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 24(3), 133-146.

This article describes a comprehensive early intervention model for children with autism. It uses both center-based and home-based intervention. The article also does a good job of describing incidental teaching and providing examples of its use. It offers six tenets of effective intervention for children with autism. It also describes essential goals for an intervention program. The authors indicate that their model is available for replication either fully or partially. This is a good article for providing an overview of incidental teaching and for describing an effective early intervention model. It reads well and would be appropriate for persons interested in undergraduate and graduate instruction, program development, and program evaluation. Parents would also find it useful as a basis for comparison to their child's early intervention program and as an information source about incidental teaching.

Washington, K., Schwartz, I. S., & Swinth, Y. (1994). Physical and occupational therapists in naturalistic early childhood settings: Challenges and strategies for training. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 14(3), 333-349.

Addresses the changes in provision of services by physical and occupational therapists over the last 20 years. Points out that interventions have moved from intensive, one-to-one, medical models to inclusive, transdisciplinary models provided in classrooms and homes. Identified five components of therapy that are compatible with naturalistic settings. Argues for changes in emphasis of preservice and inservice training to include consultation, collaboration, and role-releasing skills. This would be a good article to initiate discussion among physical and occupational therapists about their roles in naturalistic interventions. It would also be good for other disciplines in generating discussion how their roles have changed over the last 20 years. Does not address any specific naturalistic intervention techniques but rather addresses need for additional skills among physical and occupational therapists.