Caring for children with developmental delays or disabilities places significant stress on caregivers, which is often exacerbated in low-resource settings. The World Health Organization developed a caregiver skills training for families of children with developmental delays or disabilities, which includes a three-session caregiver well-being…

Purpose: Most speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with children with developmental language disorder (DLD) do not perform language sample analysis (LSA) on a regular basis, although they do regard LSA as highly informative for goal setting and evaluating grammatical therapy. The primary aim of this study was to identify facilitators,…

Rater training is necessary to accurately evaluate fundamental motor skills among children with developmental disabilities (DD). The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the impact of an online rater training program for novice raters on scoring accuracy of the run and two-hand strike skills on the Test of Gross Motor Development-Third…

Background & aims: Although the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been demonstrated to be an effective intervention to teach people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder a functional communication system, the research indicates variability in PECS outcomes across people and studies. Therefore, the purpose of the current study…

Methods to efficiently train instructors to implement evidence-based procedures with children diagnosed with developmental disabilities have been a prominent interest in educational and clinical settings. Behavioral skills training (BST) is frequently recommended and includes four components beginning with instruction. In most studies, the…

Functional communication training (FCT) is highly effective in reducing challenging behavior and increasing appropriate communication in children with developmental disabilities. However, the challenging behavior may re-occur following successful treatment with functional communication training when the functional communication response contacts…

Within the framework of the theory of visual attention (TVA), the visual attention span (VAS) deficit among individuals with developmental dyslexia has been ascribed to the problems entailed by bottom-up (BotU) and top-down (TopD) attentional processes. The former involves two VAS subcomponents: the visual short-term memory storage and perceptual…

This parallel group randomized controlled trial tested effectiveness of the Let's Talk About Pain training on respite workers' (RW) pain-related knowledge and feasibility-confidence-skill ratings using between-group and within-group analyses. Fourteen children's respite organizations were randomized to pain or control training. Participants…

Individuals with developmental disabilities often do not develop vocal repertoires, thus requiring the use of augmentative devices. Teaching caregivers to conduct communication training with their children may be one way to foster communication with their device in the natural environment. This study replicates Rosales, Stone and Rehfeldt (2009),…

Purpose: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience difficulties with an important Theory of Mind milestone, namely, false belief (FB) reasoning. Their FB success relates to mastery of a linguistic structure that is also challenging for them, namely, sentential complements (e.g., "Claire says/thinks [that Santa Claus…

Background: Responses to digital cognitive training interventions vary greatly among children with intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD). Investigating possible predictors of improvements following training is vital in ascertaining which individuals benefit from these interventions. Methods: Seventy-three children (4-11 years) with IDD…

Purpose/Objectives: Children with developmental disorders may require texture-modified diets. The purpose of this study was to determine if materials developed by the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI) are feasible for use by child nutrition personnel. Methods: Researchers created training materials based on IDDSI…

Background: Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience heightened attention difficulties which have been linked to poorer cognitive, academic and social outcomes. Although, increasing research has focused on the potential of computerised cognitive training in reducing attention problems, limited studies have…

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience significant difficulties in attention, learning, executive functions, and behavioral regulation. Emerging evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training may remediate these impairments. In a double blind controlled trial, 76 children with IDD (4-11 years) were…

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a picture-based alternative communication method that is widely accepted and utilized with individuals with disabilities. Although prior studies have examined the clinical efficacy of PECS, none have experimentally evaluated its manualized training structure. We experimentally evaluated the…