Objective: The study examined the effects of therapeutic alliance (TA; relational bond, task collaboration) on externalizing behavior outcomes, how TA can operate differently when children are seen in individual versus group sessions, and how therapist-child disagreement in perceptions of TA affects outcomes. Method: 360 children (ages 9.2 to…

Multisensory environment is a setting designed with activities and tools that offered sensory stimulation. Despite their widespread use, no evidence-based guidelines are currently available. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the impact of multisensory environment interventions in autism and to provide guidelines. We included all…

Objective: This study aims to delineate the characteristics of severe self-injurious behaviors (SIB) in a cohort of children with autism and unspecified intellectual developmental disorder (UIDD) (intellectual disability) and examine potential risk factors for developing SIB. Methods: A retrospective chart review studied characteristics of severe…

The current study evaluates the concurrent relationship between parent ratings of executive functioning and maladaptive behavior among children and adolescents with Down syndrome and then repeats this evaluation using teacher reports. Parents and teachers of 63 school-age children with Down syndrome rated the child's executive functioning…

Although a number of social--cognitive and contextual correlates of defending against bullying have been identified, research on the personality traits associated with defending have yielded weak and inconsistent results. The current study provided a novel examination as to whether a tendency toward social withdrawal is associated with less…

Introduction: It is believed that children with mild to borderline intellectual functioning are not successful in processing the information received from peers and other people in their surroundings during social interactions, which leads to challenging and aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of social…

Problem behavior occurring during public outings can limit children's participation in these activities and can be disruptive for families. The current study included two children referred for the assessment and treatment of problem behaviors occurring during public outings. Clinic-based functional behavior assessments indicated problem behaviors…

Conduct disorder (CD) is a pattern of repeated aggression toward others, disregard for the rights of others, and behaviors that violate major social norms at home, in school, and even in society at large (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Falling under the umbrella of "conduct problems" along with oppositional defiant…

Cooperation is a fundamental human ability that seems to be inversely related to aggressive behaviour in typical development. However, there is no knowledge whether similar association holds for children with autism spectrum disorder. A total of 27 boys with autism spectrum disorder and their gender, age and total score intelligence matched…

Background: Traditional treatment for the behavioural symptoms in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unsatisfactory. There is an urgent need for new, biologically relevant therapies that target both the core and comorbid symptoms that children may experience. This article builds on research previously published by the authors. Method: We…

Background: This study evaluated the impact of a structured 10-didactic units intervention on promoting the school inclusion of elementary school students with intellectual disability (ID). Method: The intervention was devised for 152 Italian typically developing (TD) elementary school students that were randomly assigned to the experimental (EG)…

This paper presents a study that evaluated the efficacy of a video self-modeling intervention derived from a functional behavior assessment intervention on the aggressive behavior of two students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities. A multiple baseline design across stimulus conditions with inter-subject…

Addressing bullying victimization of students with disability is a significant challenge for schools. While social support can protect against bullying victimization in the general population, its role in mediating the relationship between disability and bullying is under-researched. This paper examined "covert bullying prevalence"…

Every year millions of children suffer the loss of a parent due to incarceration. This exploratory study investigated an eight-session group intervention to support this vulnerable population. Within the group, attendance, academic achievement, self-esteem, and delinquent and aggressive behavior were explored. This article will discuss the results…

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often carry co-morbid diagnoses and present with impairing heterogeneous symptomatology (Leyfer et al. in "J Autism Dev Disord" 36(7): 849-861, 2006. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0123-0). However, research from controlled laboratory settings often fails to examine the vast number of…