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ABSTRACT
Because of extreme skill deficits and seriously challenging behaviors, many children, adolescents, and young adults with autism and related pervasive developmental disorders receive their education in residential schools. This article describes an innovative model of service delivery that seeks to prevent “at-risk” students from being placed residentially and to return those who lived in residential schools to less restrictive settings. The Family Support Program is a joint project of the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation and The May Institute, a private human services and behavioral healthcare agency. The program incorporates an applied behavior analysis orientation, with training and intervention implemented in a student's home and neighborhood community. The organization and critical components of the Family Support Program are described, including outcome data for seven participating students. Issues related to educational practices, preventive interventions, and community-based research are discussed.