The present study aims to examine the effects of the MindfulTEA program, an Mindfulness-based Interventions (MBIs) specifically designed for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual Disability, to reduce behavioural problems. MBIs are effective in improving well-being in people with high-functioning ASD, but little is known…

Stereotypy or automatically occurring behaviors, as commonly seen in children with autism spectrum disorder, can be divided into three main categories: self-injury, stereotypy, and aggressive behaviors. Researchers have suggested different intervention approaches to treat stereotypy, such as redirecting or replacing undesired action. This Delphi…

Objective: This study aims to delineate the characteristics of severe self-injurious behaviors (SIB) in a cohort of children with autism and unspecified intellectual developmental disorder (UIDD) (intellectual disability) and examine potential risk factors for developing SIB. Methods: A retrospective chart review studied characteristics of severe…

The aim of this study is to use Q methodology to explore how school staff experience the behaviours of children with Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) in school and how they manage working with these children. Q methodology utilises by-person factor analysis to investigate subjectivity. Fourteen school staff of students with SMS in Norway participated…

Physical and mechanical restraints and seclusion are currently used as emergency procedures in public schools across the United States. Students who exhibit dangerous, aggressive, or self-injurious behaviors are more likely to be restrained or secluded in school. Since many students with autism spectrum disorder exhibit one or more of these…

A percentage of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities engage in severe, dangerous challenging behaviors. Two common approaches for intervening for these behaviors are function-based interventions (FBI), which have been effective at reducing such behaviors, and crisis intervention, which has been shown to increase staff…

Using a dataset involving 415 individuals with irritability, aggression, agitation and self-injury (IAAS) behaviors from the fragile X syndrome (FXS) FORWARD database, we describe the psychopharmacologic management of IAAS and features of the population of persons with FXS treated with drug therapy for IAAS. Among those with FXS exhibiting IAAS,…

Behavioral interventions preceded by a functional analysis have been proven efficacious in treating severe problem behavior associated with autism. There is, however, a lack of research showing socially validated outcomes when assessment and treatment procedures are conducted by ecologically relevant individuals in typical settings. In this study,…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases a list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field of autism research. The "Summary of Advances" provides short, plain language summaries of the top research breakthroughs selected by the IACC from a pool of research articles nominated by…

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was established by the "Children's Health Act of 2000" (Public Law 106-310), reconstituted under the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA;…

The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) 2021 Annual Report describes 153,233 unique college students, nationally and internationally, seeking mental health treatment; 4,043 clinicians; and more than 1,135,520 appointments from the 2020-2021 academic year. This is the 13th year the report has been produced. This year's report specifically…

We used an organizational behavior management (OBM) approach to increase behavior intervention plans and decrease the use of mechanical restraint. First, recipients were tracked as a member of the priority group if they engaged in frequent self-injurious behavior or physical aggression toward others and/or if they had been placed in mechanical…

Background: Behavioural interventions conceptualise self-injurious behaviour (SIB) as developing from early repetitive behaviours through acquisition of homeostatic functions in regulating stimulation and subsequent shaping into SIB through socially mediated or automatic operant reinforcement. Despite high success rates, such interventions rarely…

This "2018-2019 Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Strategic Plan Update" is the work of the IACC membership that was appointed under the Autism CARES Act of 2014. The Committee agreed that the "2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan" reflected a comprehensive review of the state of the field and provided a set of 23 new…

Background: It is well established that very few individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and an IQ below 70 are able to live independently as adults. However, even amongst children with an IQ in the normal range, outcome is very variable. Childhood factors that predict later stability, improvement or decline in cognitive functioning…