The treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a matter of ongoing research and debate, with considerable data supporting both psychopharmacological and behavioral approaches. Researchers continue to search for new interventions to be used in conjunction with or in place of the more traditional approaches. These interventions run the…

Through contributions from top leaders in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), "Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder" examines the ASD research literature, discusses procedural implications, and makes recommendations for future practice and inquiry. It combines the most recent developments in established practices with newer and…

This article reviews the literature from 1996 to 2007 to update the 1998 Brestan and Eyberg report on evidence-based psychosocial treatments (EBTs) for child and adolescent disruptive behavior, including oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. Studies were evaluated using criteria for EBTs developed by the task force on promotion and…

Child and adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating condition associated with a wide range of impairments. This article briefly discusses the phenomenology of OCD, the theory underlying current treatment approaches, and the extant psychosocial treatment literature for child and adolescent OCD relative to the…

This randomized clinical trial compared the relative efficacy of individual (child) cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT), family cognitive-behavioral therapy (FCBT), and a family-based education/support/attention (FESA) active control for treating anxiety disordered youth ages 7-14 years (M = 10.27). Youth (N = 161; 44% female; 85% Caucasian, 9%…

Wicksell and colleagues (2005) addressed the important and currently understudied realm of chronic idiopathic musculoskeletal pain treatment in children. They presented a brief overview of empirically supported treatments for children with chronic pain, detailed their case and intervention strategy, and offered conclusions regarding the potential…

The article reviews the current status (1993-2007) of psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents who have been exposed to traumatic events. Twenty-one treatment studies are evaluated using criteria from Nathan and Gorman (2002) along a continuum of methodological rigor ranging from Type 1 to Type 6. All studies were, at a minimum, robust…

The article reviews psychosocial treatments for phobic and anxiety disorders in youth. Using criteria from Nathan and Gorman (2002), 32 studies are evaluated along a continuum of methodological rigor. In addition, the treatments evaluated in each of the 32 studies are classified according to Chambless et al.'s (1996) and Chambless and Hollon's…

A review of 158 applied behavior analysis studies with children as subjects, published in the "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis" between 1980 and 1990, found that (1) 16% measured the accuracy of independent variable implementation, and (2) two-thirds did not operationally define components of the independent variable. Specific recommendations…

Three studies investigated environmental correlates of self-injurious behavior in seven developmentally disabled children and adolescents which were then later used for treatment. Correlates investigated included positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, automatic reinforcement, and control. "Escape extinction" was successfully…

Two case examples (a toddler with severe developmental delays and a 7-year old with severe mental retardation) illustrating effects of meal schedule and food quantity on displays of problematic behavior are offered. Brief functional analyses of aberrant behavior provided useful information for interpreting distinct patterns of behavior. (DB)

A time-out from speaking contingency was evaluated in the treatment of stuttering in three school-age children. A red light time-out signal appeared for five seconds when the child stuttered. Two of the children responded to time-out with clear reductions in stuttering. Listeners did not detect any differences between the perceptually stutter-free…

A brief functional analysis indicated that the object mouthing of a young girl diagnosed with autism was maintained independent of social consequences. Separate and combined effects of response blocking and non-contingent reinforcement were then evaluated as treatments. Although both interventions were unsuccessful when implemented separately,…

The Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (in which mild and brief contingent electric stimulation is delivered) was evaluated with five cases involving severe mental retardation and previously unmanageable self-injurious behavior. Findings indicated almost complete elimination of the self-injurious behavior with followup suggesting continuing…

This study compared three methods of stimulus preference assessment for four verbal children (ages six to nine) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, specifically evaluating the utility of a verbal choice procedure for assessing relative reinforcer value. Verbal and pictorial stimulus-choice assessments identified high- and low-preference…