It is only in recent years that research has begun to focus on gender differences in males and females on the autism spectrum. There is now an increasing awareness that we are missing women and girls on the autism spectrum and the assumption has been that there are more males with autism or Asperger syndrome. The questions needing to be asked are…

This reflection paper argues that the design and development of digital games teach essential 21st century skills. Intrinsic to application and game development is design thinking. Design thinking requires iterative development, which demands creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. Students are engaged through learning by doing in both…

Adam Wright, Michael A. Gottfried, and Vi-Nhuan Le demonstrate empirically that minority teachers have a positive impact on the "social-emotional development" of American minority kindergarten children. Their analyses of 2010-2011 data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study focus on measurable effects in four social and affective…

The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is currently being used in clinical and genetic studies of autism as both a screener and as a quantitative measure of autistic traits. This article assesses the influence of nonspecific factors on SRS scores to aid researchers in their interpretations of these scores. In their commentary, Constantino and…

Recent publications in the "Journal of Youth and Adolescence" present a variety of topics exploring adolescents' mental functioning in the twenty first century. Conceptually, many of the articles address the intriguing, though rarely explicit, question of developmental continuities and change from adolescence to adulthood. Such…

Over the past 25 years, Gallup polls have consistently reported that disruptive behavior and discipline problems are some of the top concerns of school staff and community members. In fact, problems with classroom management are among the most common reasons that teachers leave their jobs. In response, many schools are turning to more formal…

As the number of children engaging in problem behaviors grows, teachers increasingly report feeling unprepared to effectively meet students' mental health needs. Social-emotional learning (SEL) should be a prominent goal of school programs because social competence prevents school failure. This commentary reviews the challenges associated with…

In this article, the author describes the opportunities she had for putting her cultural and language skills to use. She shares her experiences at the Asian Voices of Organized Youth for Community Empowerment (A-VOYCE) program and at the Participatory Chinatown project. The author never thought that learning about her identity and using what she…

During a period of financial difficulty, presidents and chief financial officers can be tempted to restrict the flow of information and to discuss financial exigencies only with senior staff members, so that board members and people throughout the campus do not become worried. However, it is better to get the facts out rather than to allow…

The collection of articles in this special issue on relational aggression gives a glimpse into the complex social networks, first, of children's relational aggression and, second, of the collaborators who develop and validate children's prevention programs. The programs described in this special section are among the first to address relational…

Discusses cultural disintegration and religious, political, and social disputes in light of Columbus' quincentenary. Cites historical encounters between Europeans and native populations of the United States (inability to recognize the human nature of strangers, misunderstanding sexual mores, and rapid degeneration from friendship and simple…

This article reflects on what it means for teachers to put relationships with children as the priority in their practice. The authors focus on four themes that they believe are at the heart of a good relationship: (1) recognition; (2) familiarity; (3) respect; and (4) commitment. "Recognition" is acknowledging another person's presence and…

This paper examines the use of corporal punishment in public schools. It presents a brief history of corporal-punishment practices and explains why corporal punishment remains a legal means of control in the schools of 23 states in the United States. Opponents of corporal punishment argue that it should be abolished from schools because it models…

Aspects of W. Glasser's Control Theory are applied to the education of behaviorally disordered students. It is believed that stimulus/response theory and tools are inadequate with this population and that the stress should be on understanding internal motivating forces. The caring classroom, an approach which emphasizes ways to meet both the…

Aserts that it is unclear how the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional ratings link to other critical child and family risk factors. Identifies questions regarding how well individual dimensions of social behavior are measured and concerns about the partial overlap between competent and problem behavior. Expresses concerns about the…