There is evidence that mastery motivation contributes to developmental outcomes, both for typically developing individuals and for those with disabilities such as Down syndrome. Mastery motivation appears to be a stable trait, at least during early childhood, but research with adults has been restricted by the absence of an appropriate measure.…

While existing literature has demonstrated that Daily Living Skills (DLS) performance of autistic individuals is lower than what is expected of their age and cognitive abilities, limited studies have examined DLS in autistic adults. This study aimed to understand the influence of intellectual function (IQ) and contextual factors (i.e., provision…

The purpose of this systematic review is to describe current evidence regarding interventions that improve the participation and performance of chores in children and youth with disabilities from the ages of 3 to 21. A systematic review of articles published between 2000 and 2019 was conducted using the PRISMA-P systematic review methodology. An a…

The present study examined the relationships between the standardized applied behavior analysis (ABA) direct assessment, the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA), and established assessments commonly used in educational and clinical settings, including the Childhood Autism Rating Scale - Third Edition (CARS-3), the PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI),…

Siblings play an important role in shaping the developmental trajectories of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Having siblings has been associated with better social communication, non-verbal communication, and theory of mind abilities in autism spectrum disorder. However, little is known about the impact of siblings on adaptive skill…

Long-term outcomes studies often paint a discouraging picture of the lives lived by autistic adults. Yet, their outcomes are often measured against normative markers of traditional adult roles, which may not apply to autistic people making the transition to adulthood. Here, we investigated the transition experiences of a group of young autistic…

Emotional reactivity (e.g. explosive outbursts, tantrums) is a common but understudied challenge for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Prior research has relied primarily on questionnaire data or observations of very young children. The current study coded emotional reactivity and recovery during a series of standardized frustration tasks…

Little is known about their stability and the factors that influence their persistence or change over the life-course. To address this, we use data from 158 participants from the Special Needs and Autism Project cohort studied at three time-points from 12 to 23 years. We used latent growth models to study the role of child, family, and contextual…

Providing evidence-based interventions in competitive employment settings is critical to improve employment outcomes for individuals with autism. This study used a multiple baseline across behaviors design to enhance the customer service skills of a young adult with autism employed as a cashier at a retail store. Results indicated the use of…

Background: Having a child with intellectual disability impacts all family members, with both parents and siblings having to adjust. Negative impact on the typically developing sibling, specifically, has been shown to vary based on caregiving responsibilities and mothers' stress level. Method: This study gathered information from 238 Latina and…

Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and comorbid intellectual disability (ID) are vastly underrepresented in the area of postsecondary employment. This study evaluated the effectiveness and perceptions of an intervention package incorporating constant time delay (CTD) and eCoaching to promote employment skill acquisition. CTD was used…

The purpose of this study was to validate a procedure for sufficient exemplar training that can potentially lead to generalized responding. Based on this procedure, we taught four children with autism, generalized use of regular past tense verbs. We applied a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across the participants. The dependent variable…

Nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) was examined in 84 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) followed from age 2 to 19. Most adults who scored in the range of intellectual disability also received scores below 70 as children, and the majority of adults with scores in the average range had scored in this range by age 3. However, within the lower ranges…

Glass, designed by Google, is a fairly new wearable and mobile technology that projects an image into a glass prism above the eye and is currently in beta testing. A touch pad on the side of Glass allows users to engage with the device through swiping gestures and voice control to perform several functions similar to mobile devices. This initial…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an iPad® as a prompting device for teaching five daily living skills to three young adults with disabilities. Identified target tasks were (a) making spaghetti, (b) cleaning the dining room, (c) making macaroni and cheese, (d) cleaning the front porch, (e) cleaning the back porch, (f)…