Social, Behavioral and Academic School Success

Since its inception in the mid 1960's, Juniper Gardens has been a leader in special education research and development. We have continued this rich research program by designing, testing, and supporting implementation of strategies and interventions to support classroom educators' efforts to optimize student outcomes by providing effective, equitable, and accessible education to all learners. 

student at a table with other students in the background; all are working with notebooks.

Research Highlights

Gretchen Scheibel

Gretchen Scheibel

Dr. Gretchen Scheibel, PhD, OTR, BCBA is an Assistant Research Professor at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP). Dr. Scheibel earned her PhD in Special Education with a focus on cost analysis and evidence-based practices, additionally she is dually-certified in occupational therapy and behavior analysis.
Teacher with three children

An Economic Evaluation of Emerging and Ineffective Interventions

Schools bear the burden of funding the majority of the services received by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with the assumption that spent resources will result in meaningful positive outcomes for these students. Interventions lacking empirical support remain popular in schools despite lacking or limited evidence that students will experience positive outcomes.
CCKC Building

Examining the Cost-Effectiveness of Intensive Interventions

Intensive interventions are time- and resource-demanding interventions designed to be implemented with a single student with unique learning needs. Economic evaluation provides a methodology for evaluating the time and material resource costs of implementing these interventions to provide detailed feasibility information for educators considering the implementation of these interventions.