Early identification of intellectual and developmental disabilities in persons in the criminal justice system is essential to protect their rights during arrest and trial, ensure safety when incarcerated, and maximize the opportunities to receive services while incarcerated and postrelease. Using telephone interviews of jail administrators (N =…

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder, which stems from a genetic deletion on chromosome 7 and causes a profound weakness in visuospatial cognition. Our current study explores how orientation perception may contribute to the visuospatial deficits in WS. In Experiment 1, we found that WS individuals and normal 3-4 year olds…

If the members of a functional response class occur in a predictable order, a response-class hierarchy is said to exist. Although this topic has received some attention in the applied literature, it remains relatively understudied. The purpose of the current investigation was to develop an analogue model of a response-class hierarchy. Children…

Problems faced by the developmental disability service system in recruiting and retaining direct support staff are exacerbated by demands from competing service industries, including long term supports for the increasing aging population in the United States. Many factors account for high turnover and vacancy rates in the community service system,…

Problem behaviors present a significant challenge for individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers. Interventions based on behavioral principles are effective in treating problem behaviors; however, some caregivers have difficulty adhering to treatment recommendations. Treatment adherence may be affected by the technical nature…

According to a recent theory of dyslexia, the "perceptual anchor theory," children with dyslexia show deficits in classic auditory and phonological tasks not because they have auditory or phonological impairments but because they are unable to form a "perceptual anchor" in tasks that rely on a small set of repeated stimuli. The theory makes the…

We measured small intestinal permeability using a lactulose:mannitol sugar permeability test in a group of children with autism, with current or previous gastrointestinal complaints. Secondly, we examined whether children with autism had an abnormal glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) response to feeding. Results were compared with sibling controls…

Previous researchers have used stimulus preference assessment (SPA) methods to identify salient reinforcers for individuals with developmental disabilities including tangible, leisure, edible and olfactory stimuli. In the present study, SPA procedures were used to identify potential auditory reinforcers and determine the reinforcement value of…

Cultural background influences one's understanding of intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. More specifically, the cultural perspectives of parents and special education professionals may affect decision-making in providing appropriate services for children with disabilities. Therefore, cultural distinctions may present a unique…

Purpose: Accurate description of an individual's communication status is critical in both research and practice. Describing the communication status of individuals with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities is difficult because these individuals often communicate with presymbolic means that may not be readily recognized. Our goal was…

Future life planning is a growing concern among families with children with disabilities. This article presents a needs assessment evaluating feasibility of a new model for future life planning for family caregivers, Lifetime Assistance, which will provide ongoing planning and monitoring for individuals with intellectual and developmental…

Research-Based Principles and Practices for Educating Students with Autism is a text under development by members of the Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities. The text is intended for use as a professional resource and graduate level text for preservice and inservice educators, psychologists, speech/ language therapists and clinicians…

Background: Adolescence is a time of very rapid change not only in physical but also psychological development. During the teenage years there is a reported rise in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate age- and sex-specific National Health Service (NHS) hospital inpatient admission rates for psychiatric…

The increasing survival of children and young people with congenital disabilities such as spina bifida (SB) provides a challenge to health care systems globally about how best to respond to the multitude of health, developmental, and psychosocial needs of those affected by this complex disorder across the lifespan, not just in childhood and…

The present study aims to investigate and compare the behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) measures in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children when performing the visuospatial attention task with reflexive orienting. Thirty children with DCD and 30 TD children were…