Social attention can be defined as the tendency to orient attentional resources in response to spatial cues provided by others, such as their gaze or head direction. This mechanism is essential for navigating real-world environments, where rapidly and accurately interpreting others' behaviour is often critical. Regarding head-driven orienting,…

According to Vygotsky's cultural-historical activity theory, pretend play can be an important context for the development of children's social competence. The aim of this meta-analysis was to synthesize the current evidence about the relation between pretend play and social competence in early childhood (age 3-8 years). A systematic literature…

Preventing mentor-mentee relationships from ending prematurely is important because an early or unanticipated closure could lead to negative youth outcomes. In this study, the reasons for premature closure of a community-based mentoring program for youth with a visual impairment (VI) are studied. Data from 44 prematurely ended mentor-mentee pairs…

Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) indicates that students evaluate themselves more favorably when they have high rank in low rank schools than low rank in high rank schools. Nonetheless, it remains unclear how the detrimental effects of being a little fish in a big pond might be reduced. To address this gap, we conducted two…

Virtual reality (VR) has become a promising tool for enhancing social skills in special education, K-12 education, and post-secondary education. However, there is a lack of comprehensive meta-analyses examining the effectiveness of VR social skills training and the factors that moderate its efficacy. In this study, a meta-analysis approach was…

Self-perception, self-efficacy and social skills are very important for children's development. Although it is known that playing musical instruments in early childhood has many benefits, the number of studies examining its relationship with self-efficacy and self-perception is limited. This study aimed to compare the self-perception,…

Purpose: The construct Quality of Life (QoL) involves a range of factors related to one's well-being. Individuals on the autism spectrum have been previously reported to have lower QoL. The purpose of the present study is to examine QoL in autistic individuals and their families and to evaluate associations between QoL and measures of functioning…

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may fail to acquire interactive play and leisure skills due to deficits associated with the diagnosis. Through interactive play, individuals gain more opportunities to develop proficiency in areas such as communication, social skills, and emotional development. In an effort to inform…

Preschool classrooms serve children of varying abilities, including those who may benefit from social communication intervention. Research supports the use of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI) to effectively increase the social communication skills of young children. Yet, little is known about preschool teachers'…

Previous studies have reported that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher levels of loneliness than neurotypical (NTP) people, most likely because of their difficulties in social communication with their predominantly NTP peers. However, direct investigations on the causal influence of friendship on their feelings of loneliness is…

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…

Research examining relations between language skills and social competence has yielded mixed findings. Three meta-analyses investigated links between language skills (overall, receptive, and expressive) and social competence in 2- to 12-year-old children. Data from 130 studies representing 62,120 children (M age at language assessment = 4.70…

Adolescents experiencing stressful life events are at risk for psychopathology, suggesting the necessity of identifying factors that may protect against the deleterious effects of exposure to stressful life events. Informed by the Shattered Assumptions Theory and the CASEL Framework, this study extends existing research by investigating the role…

Dyslexia and its associated learning challenges are often misconstrued as intellectual deficits, leading to erroneous assumptions that individuals with dyslexia cannot thrive or contribute meaningfully to academic institutions. However, this article contends that the unique thinking patterns associated with dyslexia are complementary to and can…

Background: The rehabilitation counseling process is dependent on strong working alliance. However, few studies have been conducted to understand factors that affect the development of working alliance in rehabilitation counseling. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to examine interpersonal theory as a way of understanding the development of…