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NECC has been fortunate to work with some
of the finest researchers of Autism and
related disorders in the entire world. For
more information on our work with any of
these research partners, please feel free
to contact us via e-mail.
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 The
Shriver Center promotes the understanding
of neurological, cognitive, and
behavioral development associated
with developmental disabilities,
particularly in the area of mental
retardation. To accomplish this,
the Shriver Center conducts basic
and applied research to determine
the biological and environmental
factors that influence typical
and atypical development. Some
of the Shriver Center researchers
working with NECC include William
Dube, William McIlvane, Richard
Serna, Krista Wilkinson, and Karen
Lionello-DeNolf.
One cooperative research project
currently underway between NECC
and the Shriver Center addresses
the problem of “stimulus
over-selectivity,” which
is also known as “restricted
stimulus control” and “over-selective
attention.” “Over-selectivity”
refers to learning that is atypically
limited with respect to range,
breadth, or number of stimuli
or stimulus features. In the education
of individuals with developmental
disabilities, over-selectivity
may be related to inefficient,
incomplete, or inconsistent performance
with multi-element stimuli (such
as printed words).
Another project involves examining
factors in the environment that
influence behavioral flexibility.
The hypothesis is that behavioral
flexibility is related to the
rates of reinforcing consequences
- or positive feedback - that
typically occur in a given situation,
with higher rates leading to greater
persistence and thus lower flexibility.
The goal is to develop a principled,
broadly applicable approach to
designing behavioral interventions
for making adaptive adjustments
– both increases and decreases
– in the flexibility of
the student.
The “symbolic potential”
project’s goal is to test
a new set of procedures to teach
children who have mental retardation
and limited language abilities
to perform a series of tasks that
indicate an understanding of symbolic
relationships. All of the individual
teaching procedures have been
tested before in separate research
studies, but this is the first
study to combine them and use
them for this purpose. |
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 Praxis,
Inc. is an education software development
company comprised of behavioral scientists
and educators who study the learning
process in children with developmental
disabilities.
The
goal of the Praxis Teaching Readiness
Project is to develop a line of software
products that will allow all children
with developmental disabilities, who
have intact sensory capabilities,
to master the fundamental looking
and listening skills that are necessary
for success of the most basic communication
and pre-academic tasks. There are
currently two projects underway, including
“Start Looking” (focused
on prerequisite matching skills) and
“Start Matching” (focused
on teaching same/different judgments).
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33 Turnpike Road, Southborough, Massachusetts, 01772-2108 | directions
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Telephone: 508-481-1015 | Fax: 508-485-3421 | e-mail |
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