Preventing mentor-mentee relationships from ending prematurely is important because an early or unanticipated closure could lead to negative youth outcomes. In this study, the reasons for premature closure of a community-based mentoring program for youth with a visual impairment (VI) are studied. Data from 44 prematurely ended mentor-mentee pairs…

Virtual reality (VR) has become a promising tool for enhancing social skills in special education, K-12 education, and post-secondary education. However, there is a lack of comprehensive meta-analyses examining the effectiveness of VR social skills training and the factors that moderate its efficacy. In this study, a meta-analysis approach was…

Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) indicates that students evaluate themselves more favorably when they have high rank in low rank schools than low rank in high rank schools. Nonetheless, it remains unclear how the detrimental effects of being a little fish in a big pond might be reduced. To address this gap, we conducted two…

Purpose: The construct Quality of Life (QoL) involves a range of factors related to one's well-being. Individuals on the autism spectrum have been previously reported to have lower QoL. The purpose of the present study is to examine QoL in autistic individuals and their families and to evaluate associations between QoL and measures of functioning…

In this paper we present findings from an initial phase of a more extensive study focussed on ways in which prospective mathematics teachers negotiate meaning from mathematics teacher education situations. The focus of this paper is on the language of one mathematics teacher educator and specifically the interpersonal aspects from one mathematics…

Atypical connectivity patterns have been observed for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly across the triple-network model. The current study investigated brain-behavior relationships in the context of social skills and executive function profiles for ASD youth. We calculated connectivity measures from diffusion tensor…

Research examining relations between language skills and social competence has yielded mixed findings. Three meta-analyses investigated links between language skills (overall, receptive, and expressive) and social competence in 2- to 12-year-old children. Data from 130 studies representing 62,120 children (M age at language assessment = 4.70…

Previous studies have reported that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher levels of loneliness than neurotypical (NTP) people, most likely because of their difficulties in social communication with their predominantly NTP peers. However, direct investigations on the causal influence of friendship on their feelings of loneliness is…

Preschool classrooms serve children of varying abilities, including those who may benefit from social communication intervention. Research supports the use of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI) to effectively increase the social communication skills of young children. Yet, little is known about preschool teachers'…

Social anxiety is a prevalent issue among college students, often leading to poor academic and psychosocial adjustment. Expressive writing has shown promise as a brief, cost-effective intervention for improving mental and physical health. This study investigated the effects of a 15-min expressive writing session on the social performance of mildly…

Participation in group music activities can promote the development of social-emotional competencies (SEC) while decreasing burnout. This study aimed to assess the influence of group singing activities on Chinese college students' SEC and academic burnout. A cross-sectional comparative research design was employed to investigate the…

This study investigated the relationship between perfectionism and relative deprivation among nursing students in China as well as the mediating role of interpersonal sensitivity and the moderating role of resilience in this relationship. A cross-sectional study design involved 682 nursing students participants from two universities in Henan…

In an attempt to shed light on the social decision difficulties experienced by autistic adults, the current study examines the dynamics of experience-based social decisions. We developed an experiential task where participants' goal was to select the most kind and pleasant agent out of four, based on the valence (positivity/negativity) of the…

Introduction: There are numerous instruments for the measurement of gender awareness. However, there are relatively few validated instruments with a broad overarching holistic vision of gender that do not approach the issue from an adult perspective. For this reason, this study puts forward validated scale for measurement of Gender Awareness…

Objective: This study was undertaken to substantiate the connection between sensory experiences and social functioning among 142 children ages 4-10 years with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: Using an online cross-sectional survey, mothers' perceptions of sensory and social characteristics of their children on parent-reported measures of sensory…