Children with autism incur trauma and have increased vulnerabilities for experiencing trauma. This paper summarizes the current literature in the study of trauma in typically developing children and those with autism. A treatment model for children with autism, drawing on components from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT, and…

The development of experimental functional analysis and more recently functional analysis checklists have become common technologies for evaluating antecedent events and the consequences of problematic behaviors. Children and developmentally disabled persons across the life span with challenging behaviors have been the primary focus of this…

This paper reviews behavioral and pharmacological approaches to the treatment of self-injurious behavior in autism. Both behavioral and pharmacological approaches offer a multitude of treatment options which we hope to elucidate. In providing this review, the goal is to provide an awareness of the treatment options available and to prompt further…

Describes a four-phase procedure that can be used to functionally assess distracting and disruptive behaviors occurring in the school setting. A variety of procedures under each of the first three phases are discussed, and procedures for linking information gained in the first three phases of the model to treatment implementation and treatment…

The application of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures for the purposes of developing interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) has received considerable attention since the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The purpose of this paper is to review the…

This article provides a review of various psychotropic agents employed for children and adolescents with externalizing disorders. With the exception of the stimulants, clinical use of psychotropic medications for children with externalizing disorders far exceeds the available empirical literature. Further, there are insufficient data pertaining to…

The Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF), a 25-item rating scale, was developed to identify the function(s) of maladaptive behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. The authors adapted it for use with individuals with serious mental illness who engage in maladaptive behavior and assessed the psychometric characteristics of the…

The question of what to do with aggressive students has plagued schools since mandatory attendance laws were passed. At the present time, many practitioners are using tactics for aggressive students that may not effectively remediate the problem, and research and practice do not seem to be in harmony regarding disciplinary options for aggressive…