Although mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience high levels of stress and schools constitute an important resource, the relation remains unknown between maternal stress and educational services. Responding to a national, web-based survey, 965 mothers of students with disabilities completed a 163-item…

We investigated children and families who were participating in a mentoring program targeting children with incarcerated parents. Using multiple methods and informants, we explored the development of the mentoring relationship, challenges and benefits of mentoring children with incarcerated parents, and match termination in 57 mentor-child dyads.…

Comparison of levels of hope in parents of children with intellectual disabilities who also exhibited multiple, single, or no challenging behaviors found hopelessness was related to challenging behavior. Parents of children with multiple challenging behaviors had significantly lower hope scores. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

This paper reports on a six-month continuation treatment with naltrexone of six children with autism, previously found to be responsive to naltrexone in a four-week trial. Results indicated the moderate hyperactivity-reducing effect of naltrexone was maintained during the six-month continuation treatment but no additional gains in the domains of…

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…

Traditional functional analysis procedures were combined with a functional assessment interview and etiological theories to evaluate functions of nail biting in six children. Environmental restriction in combination with other variables appeared to control nail biting. A habit reversal intervention was generally effective but was less effective…

This study compared the occurrence and characteristics of self-stimulatory behaviors of 5 children with developmental delays and 10 nondisabled children (matched for either mental or chronological age). Few differences were found between groups in percentage of time spent in self-stimulatory behavior, the variety of such behaviors, the speed at…

Investigates children's misbehaviors and parental discipline strategies in families with abusive and nonabusive parents. Twenty abusive families with children between 4 and 10 years old and a matched control group of 20 families participated. Behavior of abusive parents and their children was more aversive than that of the control families.…

Evaluated clinical utility and construct validity of seven new Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist behavior profiles and compared them to four original profiles. Results indicated that seven cluster solution classified equally as well as four cluster solution, but with increased differentiation into more specific internalizing and externalizing…

This study compared the effects of unequal and equal reinforcer duration during a functional analysis of aberrant behavior in an 11-year old with moderate mental retardation. Results showed that reinforcer duration affects the rate of aberrant behavior and may potentially alter functional analysis interpretation. (DB)

Parents of 601 children and adolescents with mental retardation rated their children on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC). Factor analysis revealed a factor structure similar to the original ABC but without the inappropriate speech factor. Analysis of subject variables revealed main effects for gender, age, and classroom assignment…

As the divorce rate continues to rise, increasing attention is being paid to the impact of parental divorce and remarriage on the children from these families. A study was undertaken to investigate the impact of family process and organization, in intact, divorced, and stepfather families. Subjects were 36 families (12 families from each group)…

Analysis of diagnostic questionnaires completed by Japanese parents of 141 autistic children below the age of 12 found that the Japanese peak of abnormal social behavior, including autistic symptoms as reported by parents, was from the ages of 3 to 9 years as compared with the U.S. and European peak of 3 to 6 years. (Author/DB)

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)

Comparison of 16 autistic children receiving psychotropic medication with 16 similar nonmedicated children and their parents found that discriminators of the parental decision to medicate or not included: family stress; the child's speaking ability; and irritable, driven, non-goal-directed child behavior. (DB)