In March 2020, many schools were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, and it is predicted that many children, especially those with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), will be affected emotionally and behaviorally. Here, we examined the impact of school closures due to COVID-19 on school-aged children with NDDs using the Child…

Irritability and aggression (IA) are highly prevalent in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although clinical correlates of IA in this population have been previously examined, findings from existing studies capturing symptoms as a set of latent variables do not fully explain meaningful associations between the symptoms themselves.…

Introduction: Intellectual disability (ID) is characterized by limitations in cognitive and adaptive functioning. The aim of this study is to examine sociodemographic characteristics, perinatal and childhood risk factors, and prevalence of psychiatric and biomedical comorbidities in children with ID. Methods: 260 patients with ID were included in…

Psychiatric disorders in individuals with co-occurring autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are common, but diagnosis presents many challenges. The Psychopathology in Autism checklist (PAC) is among the very few instruments specifically developed for this group of individuals. The psychometric properties of the PAC…

Sotos syndrome is a congenital overgrowth syndrome associated with intellectual disability. This study investigated communicative abilities of children with Sotos syndrome (n = 31), using the Children's Communication Checklist, second edition. A cross-syndrome approach was used to establish the specificity of these abilities. Children with…

Introduction: This article describes the development of an Aggression and Restriction Observation Checklist (AROC) for use in residential and in-patient services for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). The AROC was developed in collaboration between researchers and frontline staff. It assesses self-, person-, and object-directed aggressive…

Delivering individualized learning interventions to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is daunting for education professionals already stretched to capacity meeting needs of all of their students. Paraprofessionals (paraeducators) can assume integral roles in classroom support and management, but they may not be consistently trained in…

Objective: This article aims at exploring distinctive hallmarks of autistic disorders compared to other groups presenting mimicking and/or overlapping conditions. Method: The exploratory study involved 196 children with autism, intellectual disability, language impairment and psycho-affective disorders previously referred to an autism diagnostic…

Background: Children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) are reported to have socio-communicative impairments. Although many of these children are diagnosed with intellectual disability (ID) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these populations are seldom used as control groups. Hence, information regarding syndrome-specific…

The use of mentor teachers to sustain the longevity of a novice special education teacher is not a new tactic nor is the use of a mentor teacher's guidance in professional development for novice teachers. This study examines a new method of mentor teachers conducting professional development sessions for novice special educators through the use of…

To advance clinical care and research in children with intellectual disability and autism there is a growing need for efficient means to measure behavioral severity and response to treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of telephone administration of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability Subscale (ABC-I). The…

This study examined relations among behavior problems, social skills, and student-teacher relationships within a sample of children (mean age 8) with autism spectrum disorders or ASD (n = 36) and comparison samples of children with typical development (n = 91) or with intellectual disability (n = 38). Student-teacher relationships (STRs) for…