The purpose of this study was to revise the Lunch Box Program using the Intervention Mapping process to design a program for parents of preschool age children in the childcare setting. Program development was guided by input from group interviews (n = 3) that were held with parents (n = 31) at three child care centers. Four major themes were revealed 1) interest in receiving information in written format; 2) activities that stimulate parent interaction; 3) workshops and activity stations; and 4) recommendations for support from local supermarkets. Lunch Is In The Bag emphasizes packing fruits, vegetables and whole grains in lunch daily. In a quasi-experimental design, six childcare centers were paired by size before being randomly assigned to intervention (n=3) and comparison (n=3) groups. The parents with primary lunch packing responsibility for the three to five year old children were enrolled as parent-child dyads. Primary outcome measures included lunch contents of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Secondary outcome measures included change in behavioral constructs and process outcome measures included fit of program into operations and curriculum. A total of 132 parent-child dyads completed the study, 81 in the intervention group and 51 in the comparison group. Direct observation of children’s lunches from the intervention group showed a significant increase in predicted mean number of servings of vegetables, from 0.41 to 0.65 (P < 0.001) and whole grains, from 0.54 to 1.06 (P < 0.001), but not fruit. The intervention demonstrated a significant effect on knowledge of meal patterns (p = 0.010); outcome expectations for packing whole grains (p < 0.001); and subjective norms for packing fruit (p = 0.002), vegetables (p = 0.046), and whole grains (p = 0.015). Perceived behavioral control (p = 0.000), expectations (p = 0.007), and intentions (p = 0.048) were significant independent predictors for packing vegetables. Knowledge significantly predicted packing whole grains (p = 0.000). Process outcome data indicated Lunch is in the Bag was a feasible nutrition education program that fit well into both the childcare center operations and curriculum. / text

It has been slightly more than a decade since Asperger syndrome was recognized as a distinct sub-category of autism disorder and was first given a diagnostic category in the DSM-IV. An abundance of suggestions, ideas, and recommendations for treatment have been offered, yet there is only a limited amount of research that empirically evaluates these interventions. This study explores an intervention, the Power Card Strategy (PCS), previously demonstrated to be effective with improving social behaviors with a young girl with autism, by employing the student's area of special interest. An advantage to this intervention is it is relatively easy to implement, requires minimal time, and the cost is virtually nil. This study used a reversal design to investigate the utility of the Power Card Strategy to increase on-task behavior during teacher-directed math instruction in a general education class. The results of this study suggest that the PCS was effective for increasing on-task behavior with this student. An upward trend was observed in the student's on-task behavior during the intervention condition. Upon return to the baseline condition, the student's on-task behavior stabilized at levels observed during intervention, suggesting that skills acquired during the intervention phase maintained.