What skills and dispositions are most important for higher education assessment professionals to be successful in their work? Emerging professionals and their instructors must be cognizant of what skills and dispositions are necessary in order to be adequately prepared for this work. Utilizing a survey instrument that was developed based on recent…

Training studies have shown the positive effects of play tutoring on children's social skills. This study investigates whether the theoretically suggested mechanism of change--social pretend play quality--explains the effect of play tutoring on social pretend play competence and social skills. Twenty-seven Swiss playgroups (N = 214 three- to…

The present study observed 86 three-year-old children (M = 43.7, SD = 6.4) from 15 Swiss childcare groups, to investigate multiple individual and contextual contributions to toddlers' positive engagement with peers. The children's individual characteristics (age, sex and social skills) and childcare-related predictors (emotional and behavioural…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face milestones in understanding other's preferences and intentions that in turn affect their reciprocity and interaction skills during a collaborative partnership. Investigators are advocating the use of digital-medium-based multiuser platforms to encourage learning of collaborative interaction…

Autobiographical memory (ABM)--the type of long-term memory that holds information about ourselves and our past experiences--is key to social learning and social communication. This groundbreaking guide shows professionals how to support ABM in children and adolescents on the autism spectrum, leading to lasting enhancements to critical social…

Bibliotherapy is a technique that invites children to see themselves in the characters of carefully selected children's literature with the intention of making connections, building empathy, developing social skills, processing difficult situations, and more. The purpose of this article is to explore the intersections of bibliotherapy, social and…

This study sought to understand education support professionals' (ESPs) experiences early in the COVID-19 pandemic, including how they were feeling about their roles in education, strategies they were using to cope with unprecedented times, barriers they encountered toward maintaining SE health at work, and opportunities they identified as…

The changed sentence: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Emotion Matching Task (EMT) in a sample of Croatian preschool children. The Croatian version of the EMT was applied to 198 children (52% female), together with measures of verbal ability and social competence. The internal structure of the test, as…

Student affairs professionals must strive to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. As such, this review critically examines scholarly research over the last 25 years regarding the concept of cultural competence as it pertains to students, student affairs professionals, and faculty members. This review also develops a…

Media depictions of autism have the potential to have either positive or detrimental impacts on the lives of autistic people. This systematic review aimed to examine (1) the accuracy and authenticity of fictional media portrayals of autism (Part A) and (2) the impact of viewing such portrayals on knowledge about autism and attitudes towards…

The study examined the efficacy of the Polish adaptation of the PEERS® curriculum for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Twenty-nine adolescents (aged 11-16) were randomized into a Treatment and a Waitlist Control Group. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the Treatment Group received part of the intervention online (in hybrid mode). Results…

Emotional support animals are increasingly common in residence halls. This study examines the benefits and challenges of having an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) while living in campus housing, from the perspective of the animals' owners and their roommates. Using a mixed methods case study approach, we collected qualitative and quantitative data…

The paper underscores the need for including assertiveness skills training for international business students amidst the growing demand for other interpersonal skills such as empathetic communication, strong listening capabilities, conflict handling, and tackling difficult conversations. While these skills increasingly dominate the screening…

Interpersonal Skills (ISs) and Executive Functions (EFs) are two groups of skills which are extremely relevant for children's cognitive, social and psychological development. As well as being interrelated, both can be modulated by other variables such as intelligence or sex. Many studies have tried to establish the relationship between them, but…

Living with a long-term medical condition is associated with heightened risk for mental health and psychosocial difficulties, but further research is required on this risk for children and adolescents with a rare disease in the educational setting. The aim of this study is to describe parents' perceptions of the psychosocial impact of rare…