This analytical study documented the presence of transactions in parent-child engagement within a sample of young children at an elevated likelihood for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, the study examined the establishment of transactional engagement through reciprocal behaviors between parents and their young…

School recess is a daily opportunity for school-age students to be physically active. However, in some territories teachers often use recess for other purposes (e.g., children's poor classroom behavior might be punished with reduced time for recess). This study aimed to examine the impact of such practices on children's physical activity (PA) and…

The twofold aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between toddlers' physical and social spontaneity, as well as to investigate the interaction effects of gender, geographical background, and mother's occupational status on preschoolers' playfulness. Participants were 650 preschool children (353 boys, 297 girls), attending…

This study examined the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy (CCGPT) and narrative therapy in reducing separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and boosting social-emotional behaviours in early childhood (2.5-4-year-olds). An 8-week-randomized controlled trial design with three intervention groups, i.e. CCGPT, narrative therapy, and a…

Children with disabilities (CWD) tend to participate in fewer physical activities than typically developing children. During motor play, CWD often depend on teachers to provide direct instruction and frequent opportunities to practice motor skills, to interact with their peers, and learn new skills. To promote participation in physical activities…

Young children break rules (i.e., transgress) and then lie about those transgressions. By adolescence, lying is associated with decreased trust, communication, and quality of relationships, and with befriending antisocial peers. To decrease lies, we replicated differentially reinforcing honest reports about transgressions for one 6-year-old…

Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is an accurate and ecologically valid assessment of challenging behavior. Further, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with minimal exposure to behavior analytic assessment methodology (e.g., parents, teachers) can quickly be trained to conduct TBFAs in naturalistic settings (e.g., schools, homes).…

Caregivers from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds perceive and work to prevent challenging behavior exhibited by their children with disabilities in various ways. However, limited research has been conducted with caregivers across racially and ethnically diverse groups, to explore the parenting practices and preventative strategies used…

Children with developmental delays (DD) are at heightened risk for developing behavior problems, which contribute to parenting stress and caregiving burden. There is an established relation between parenting behaviors and child developmental outcomes with less known about parent--child interactions in young children with DD. The present study…

Studies on development and fairness judgments in resource allocations have mainly addressed the distribution of reward. However, the distribution of responsibility also requires exploration in the context of research on development and distributive justice. For an integrated understanding of reward and responsibility distributions, we briefly…

Objective: This study examined the impact of family size and type on maternal rejection and its relationship with emotional-behavioral difficulties in children with ADHD compared to those typically developing. Method: The participants were mothers of 7- to 12-year-old children with ADHD (n = 102) and mothers of typically developing children (n =…

This study examined long-term mediating effects of the "smalltalk" parenting intervention on children's effortful control at school age (7.5 years; 2016-2018). In 2010-2012, parents (96% female) of toddlers (N = 1201; aged 12-36 months; 52% female) were randomly assigned to either: standard playgroup, "smalltalk" playgroup…

Many existing preventive intervention programs focus on promoting responsive parenting practices. However, these parenting programs are often long in duration and expensive, and meta-analytic evidence indicates that families facing high levels of adversity typically benefit less. Moreover, due to a lack of specification and evaluation of…

Purpose: The study investigated the social-emotional functioning of children with typical hearing and deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) children from diverse cultural backgrounds in Israel through parental reports. Method: A total of 242 parents from both Arabic and Jewish communities participated: 130 were parents of D/HH children and 112 were…

We developed and tested an evidence-based mobile application designed to support families in using functional assessment-based intervention strategies with their young children with disabilities and challenging behaviors in home settings. Five families participated in the study. We utilized a multiple-probe across participants design to examine…