The relationship between autism, criminality and psychopathy has gained increased attention in recent years, although research has focused on autism spectrum disorders, and not autistic traits. We measured autistic traits (with the Autism Spectrum Quotient) in a sample of 101 inmates from a high-security prison and compared them to a control…

With access to a unique sample of post-institutionalized Hungarian children, this study focused on the hypothesis that children who had been institutionalized for at least six months after birth have less developed capacities for emotion regulation; 90 children, aged 4-6, were placed in 1 of 3 groups: (1) children who had been institutionalized…

This article responds to a "what-if" question regarding education, raised by a woman inmate. Emerging in the midst of a research project with women in prison, the unexpected question haunts the two authors, both educational researchers, who in turn reconsider education's role in difficult circumstances. For guidance, the authors turn to…

The relationship between cognitive functioning and play behaviors of children residing in an orphanage was examined. Twenty-six young children (15 boys) between 10 and 38 months of age participated. More developmentally competent play behaviors were highly related to better performance on cognitive functioning as measured by the Bayley Scales of…

Children who had been removed from deleterious family environments were exposed to 10 sessions of imaginative play training. When compared with matched controls, experimental subjects showed significant post training increments in imagination, positive emotionality, prosocial behaviors, and storytelling skills and decreases in overt aggression.…

In April 2002, there were three hundred and eighty-six children living in prison with their mothers in South Africa, four of which were inmates of the Pretoria Female Prison. The interaction patterns between these four mothers and their children was investigated by means of individual interviews, observation, field notes and the Marschak…

Seventeen children who had been removed from deleterious family backgrounds and placed in institutional care were exposed to imaginative play training. They showed significant increments in levels of imaginative play, positive emotionality, prosocial behaviors, and in measures of divergent thinking and story-telling skills, and decreases in levels…