"The children who demand more attention than others, who are disruptive, unmotivated, oppositional, aggressive, or do not give us the positive feedback we get from others…This is where we dig in and find compassion, and understanding, and the knowledge that no child wants to be disruptive, oppositional, or aggressive. They do this because…

In this article, the authors discuss the light and dark side of attachments and attachment style in physical and digital worlds. They argue that many games offer opportunities for the generation of new and meaningful attachments to both physical and digital others. They discuss two "fundamental attachment errors" and show how these can…

Many psychological theories posit foundational links between two fundamental constructs: (1) our ability to produce, perceive, and represent action; and (2) our ability to understand the meaning and motivation behind the action (i.e. Theory of Mind; ToM). This position is contentious, however, and long-standing competing theories of…

Increasing amounts of research show that fathers' involvement in children's lives contributes to the child's social, emotional and cognitive development; however, much of the evidence comes from fathers' caregiving and object play. This exploratory study compared the characteristics of 24 Australian fathers' play in two contexts--toy play and…

Raising or caring for young children is a demanding job. Parents and other caregivers often struggle when children demonstrate challenging behavior. This article provides guiding principles and specific strategies that professionals and parents can use to gain insight into children's behavior and make positive changes in their daily interactions.

In this study, the authors amplify the voices of children with disabilities who have experienced different aspects of the healthcare field. This qualitative study used interviews, drawings, and medical play to discover three participants' perspectives on previous healthcare experiences. Inductive analysis was applied to investigate the child…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) uses an interdependent group contingency to improve classroom behavior. Despite the wealth of research on the effectiveness of the GBG, some teachers may have concerns about their students' abilities to work in teams, particularly if they have a history of poor social skills. We used an alternating treatments design to…

The present study examined, within a longitudinal family-informed design and across middle childhood, the predictive associations between preference for solitude and social wariness, two forms of social withdrawal, and peer difficulties. Specifically, preference for solitude, rather than social wariness, was expected to predict peer victimization…

Purpose: Disfluencies associated with stuttering generally occur in the initial position of words. This study reviews data from a school-age child with an atypical stuttering profile consisting predominantly of word-final disfluencies (WFDs). Our primary goals were to identify patterns in overt features of WFDs and to extend our understanding of…

Background: Teenage youth with co-morbid intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could be at higher risk for behavioral and social difficulties than youth with ID only. Methods: Youth aged 13 years were diagnosed with ID (n = 37), ID/ASD (n = 26), or typical development (TD, n = 98). Mothers and teachers completed measures…

Background: Recent studies indicate that parent education programs that include content to enhance parents' mental states may prove efficacious in improving parenting behavior and child outcomes. Objective: This study presents findings from a national evaluation of the "Active Parenting First Five Years" (FFY) program. This group-based…

We explored the factors associated with the stress signs among children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Although children showed increased stress signs, they also showed increased development of good behavioral traits during this period. Parenting styles were significantly correlated with the psychological and physical stresses experienced…

This study assessed the potential short-term effects of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on ratings of ASD and comorbid symptoms severity and adaptive functioning of 69 youth, ages 8-16 years with ASD without intellectual disability. Parent/caregiver ratings were being collected in fall and spring over approximately two years when the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the roles, perspectives, and actions of teachers and students for first-time-detained juvenile delinquents by examining a reading intervention for a student. Using an action research methodology, the reading intervention was explored within the broader context of the history and operations of the juvenile…

Parent-mediated intervention is a prominent approach to supplementing service insufficiency for the population with autism spectrum disorder, yet individuals from low-resource areas are largely under-represented among participants in the global parent-mediated intervention research. This systematic review and meta-analysis is the first to inspect…