Children on the autism spectrum experience difficulties with social interactions, often resulting in lower quality of friendships. As such, children with autism often benefit from support with social skills, which are usually delivered in school settings. Social skills are not limited to school settings. Playdates are defined as prearranged…

To explore the benefits of a brief autism education intervention on peer engagement and inclusion of autistic children at day camps. A convergent, parallel, two-arm (intervention/no intervention), non-randomized, mixed-methods design was used. The individualized, peer-directed, 5--10 min intervention included four components: (1) diagnostic label,…

Although children with Williams syndrome (WS) are strongly socially motivated, many have friendship difficulties. The parents of 21 children with WS and 20 of the children themselves participated in a semi-structured interview about the children's friendships. Parents reported that their child had difficulties sustaining friendships and low levels…

The aim of this article is to enrich the care ethics framework by uncovering the relationship between care and loyalty, offering insights into the complexities of children's experiences of care in school. Through twelve interviews with pupils in sixth grade, I analyse the intersection of loyalty and care. The findings reveal two dimensions,…

Autistic youth often experience challenges in interactions with neurotypical peers. One factor that may influence successful interactions with peers is interpersonal synchrony, or the degree to which interacting individuals align their behaviors (e.g. facial expressions) over time. Autistic and neurotypical youth were paired together into three…

The learning and social development benefits associated with pupils collaborating in small groups have been well documented over recent decades; however, research exploring personality as a mediating factor in small group learning is sparse. In this study we identified pupils who self-reported low levels of extraversion and/or high levels of…

Anti-bullying interventions often assume that knowing how it feels to be bullied increases empathy for victims. However, longitudinal research on actual experiences of bullying and empathy is lacking. This study investigated whether within-person changes in victimization predicted changes in empathy over 1 year using random-intercept cross-lagged…

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined interventions targeting play skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involving typically developing (TD) peers. The objectives of this work are to (a) identify and describe the characteristics and components of interventions aimed at improving play skills in children with ASD and…

Background: Australia has limited supports to help families where Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) impacts children and young people. National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia (NOFASD), in conjunction with the University of Otago, New Zealand, piloted and established a 7-week online program to assist caregivers to…

In this paper, we analyse a group of 6 and 7 year olds' interactions during a literacy event. We explore the complexities of their meaning-making following a read aloud of Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak 1963). Our focus is on discourses of gender/sex/uality, a term that acknowledges the complex relationship between gender, sex and sexuality,…

Friendships play a key role in supporting a successful transition to a new school for autistic children and young people. However, little is known about how these relationships have been impacted by restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore how parents perceived the impact of COVID-19 on their autistic…

White children's effortful control (EC), parents' implicit racial attitudes, and their interaction were examined as predictors of children's prosocial behavior toward White versus Black recipients. Data were collected from 171 White children (55% male, M[subscript age] = 7.13 years, SD = 0.92) and their parent in 2017. Prosocial behavior toward…

This review synthesized the results of 15 studies (with 12 studies having strong or adequate methodological rigor) that examined the social outcomes of shared social activity-based interventions, like interest-based games, music, and theatre, involving children on the autism spectrum and typical development together. Thirteen studies yielded…

Grounded in the Self-System Model of Motivational Development (SSMMD), this study used data on 1,010 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD SECCYD) to investigate the links of key interpersonal elements in school setting during middle childhood (i.e., relationship quality…

How gender diversity is exhibited varies: some individuals feel similar to the other gender; others experience little similarity to either gender, and some feel similar to both genders. For children, do these variations relate to differing relationships with peers? The goal was to assess whether a community sample of children (884, Mage = 9.04, SD…