Purpose: The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) is a group-based social skills training program for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Although the program has been shown to be effective in improving social skills in autistic adolescents, evidence of its effectiveness from the Mandarin-speaking Chinese…

A hallmark symptom of autism includes restricted repetitive behaviors that manifest as special interest fixations. These interests can aid in building therapeutic relationships in art therapy. A retrospective review of clinical notes based in grounded theory identified 6 ways pop culture special interests function in the art therapy relationship:…

Although parent-assisted social skills interventions may reduce early social challenges in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), limited research has explored whether intervention gains maintain several years after treatment. This study examined the durability of PEERS® for Preschoolers, a parent-mediated social skills…

Aggressive behavior of children can take place in face-to-face encounters and in a wide range of encounters through social media, which exacerbating the difficulty experienced by those around the aggressive children. It is important to cultivate and empower emotional social skills in aggressive children. In this study, we present the story of…

The establishment of reciprocal friendships is a challenge for many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social interaction difficulties emerge early, persist throughout development, and have widespread functional impact. As such, interventions focused on social functioning are needed in early intervention programs. This two-part study…

Behavioral inflexibility (BI) has been highlighted to occur across genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders. This study characterized BI in two common neurogenetic conditions: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS). Caregivers of children with FXS (N = 56; with ASD = 28; FXS only = 28) and DS (N = 146) completed the Behavioral…

Children with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay (SDD) are vulnerable for the development of (future) behavioral and mental health problems. This paper aims to assess the social-emotional functioning of these children, both globally and in various domains. Semi-structured interviews with one or more primary caregiver(s) of 45…

Poor social-emotional reciprocity (SER) has been identified as one of the defining traits of autism. It is a key criterion in recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders editions, DSM-IV and DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994, 2013). Yet this difficulty related to socially engaging and interacting with others is…

Since being published in 1997, "Harry Potter" books have sold over 500 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 80 languages (Pottermore News Team, 2018). Although Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is vastly different from public school, adolescents from both worlds share common struggles. On a daily…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms may involve deficits across three domains: communication, socialization and atypical behaviors or interests. With a high prevalence across populations and a tendency to impact males more than females, early and accurate diagnosis appears critical. The most…

Divorce is an increasingly prevalent occurrence in society that has the potential to result in many adverse short- and long-term consequences for children and their parents. Social skills, such as those with peers, are one of the problems that may emerge for children of divorce. Despite this growing problem, there is a paucity of research…

Increasing numbers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are being included in general education settings. Learners with ASD can benefit from the general education curriculum, with some achieving at a high academic level. Yet, social communication and behavioral difficulties can present challenges to their successful inclusion.…

Many accounts of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) imply that the condition's behavioural "symptoms" are direct reflexes of underlying deficits. In doing so, however, they invariably overlook the social contexts in which symptomatic behaviours occur and are identified as pathological. This study addresses this issue, using conversation…

Dyadic shared-reading and oral storytelling practices and their association to American preschoolers' (N = 33) prosocial and problem behaviour was examined. The frequency (how often dyads read) and history (the child's age at first reading) were examined within shared-reading; emotion state talk and evaluative judgments were examined in both…

There is a continuing interest in the link between communication difficulties and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). The literature indicates that speech and language therapy (SLT) can be effective, but there is also evidence that the communication needs of children with SEBD are likely to go undetected. Little is known about…