One-hundred nine children 3-16 years of age diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or Asperger's Syndrome were studied. Children resided in six states in the United States. Using moderation analysis via multiple regression, verbal communication and challenging behaviors and how they interact…

Fostering student self-determination is now considered an essential element of special education and transition services for children and youth with intellectual disability and/or autism. Yet, little is known about the pivotal role parents might play beyond the school campus in fostering self-determination among their children with developmental…

The literature is equivocal regarding the role of internalizing problems in the etiology of adolescent substance use. In this study, we examined the association of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and their co-occurrence with early adolescent substance use to help clarify whether internalizing problems operate as a risk or…

Background: The Signposts program is an evidence-based intervention system for parents of children with intellectual disability and problem behaviours. This study provided an initial investigation of the outcomes for mothers associated with father participation in Signposts, using data collected from the Signposts Statewide project, conducted in…

Background: Play is critical for the development of young children and is an important part of their daily routine. However, children with autism often exhibit deficits in play skills and engage in stereotypic behaviour. We reviewed studies to identify effective instructional strategies for teaching play skills to young children with autism.…

It is seldom useful to try to persuade staff to abandon coercive methods in the moment when they are angry or frustrated with students. Instead, these topics can be discussed during new employee orientation and in ongoing staff development. Ironically, many staff members share that in their own roles as parents they seldom rely on spanking or…

Technologically mediated contexts are social arenas in which adolescents can be both perpetrators and victims of aggression. Yet, there remains little understanding of the developmental etiology of cyber aggression, itself, as experienced by either perpetrators or victims. The current study examines 3-year latent within-person trajectories of…

Recent research has emphasized the importance of manipulating antecedent variables to reduce interfering behaviors when teaching persons with autism. Few studies have focused on the effects of the rate of teacher-presented instructional demands as an independent variable. In this study, an alternating treatment design was used to evaluate the…

Examining children's physiological functioning is an important direction for understanding the links between interparental conflict and child adjustment. Utilizing growth mixture modeling, the present study examined children's cortisol reactivity patterns in response to a marital dispute. Analyses revealed three different patterns of cortisol…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between parental emotion coaching and externalizing behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Children with ASD often exhibit externalizing behaviors, particularly emotionally driven externalizing behaviors, at a higher rate than their typically developing peers. An…

Objective: To examine the efficacy of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for the treatment of pediatric trichotillomania (TTM) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, add-on study. Method: A total of 39 children and adolescents aged 8 to 17 years with pediatric trichotillomania were randomly assigned to receive NAC or matching placebo for 12 weeks. Our primary…

Several studies show that parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's academic competence are important predictors of children's subsequent academic performance. However, there is a lack of evidence on what precedes these perceptions as well as the dynamics within a comprehensive model. The aim of this study was to investigate the…

People are born with certain temperament traits. Some children are easy going and easy to get along with. Some are not. This article describes the temperament traits of the strong-willed child. The strong-willed is viewed as stubborn to parents and teachers. The child's goal is to always be in control of his own behaviors, regardless of the needs…

The Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) Student Form is one of the behavioral and emotional risk screening tests that is in more widespread use in U.S. schools systems from preschool through high school. From 2007 to the present, the BESS Student Form has been used for screening in the Los Angeles United School District (LA), which…

A student's experience in the middle grades is a selection of classes they go through in a day. If they experience inconsistent expectations across those classes, they and the school will struggle to achieve high outcomes. Middle grade students need to have common behavioral and academic expectations, recognitions, and consequences throughout the…