Although evidence has suggested that social skills interventions yield social and symptom benefits for autistic children, significant variability in outcomes between studies has raised important questions regarding efficacy and moderators of intervention outcomes (i.e., which interventions yield positive effects and which autistic children are…

We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children's adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care (n =…

Background: Children who experience early adversity often develop emotion regulatory problems, but little is known about the mechanisms that mediate this relation. We tested whether general associative learning processes contribute to associations between adversity, in the form of child maltreatment, and negative behavioral outcomes. Methods:…

Atypical responses to sensory stimuli are a new criterion in DSM-5 for the diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but are also reported in other developmental disorders. Using the Short Sensory profile (SSP) and Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised we compared atypical sensory behaviour (hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual…

This study aimed to evaluate the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson et al. in "J Autism Dev Disord" 39(4):596-606, 2009). PEERS focuses on improving friendship quality and social skills among adolescents with higher-functioning ASD. 58 participants aged 11-16 years-old were randomly assigned to…

School is often considered an ideal setting for child social skills training due to the opportunities it provides for skills teaching, modeling, and practice. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of two variants of the Secret Agent Society social skills program for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) in a…

Gender differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and associated problem behaviours over development may provide clues regarding why more males than females are diagnosed with ASD. Fifty-six high-functioning children with ASD, and 44 typically developing controls, half of the participants female, were assessed at baseline (aged…

This study assessed the diagnostic utility of the Pervasive Developmental Disorder Behavior Inventory (PDDBI) in a sample of 84 children aged 3-12 years of age. Forty-two children with ASD were individually matched on age and non-verbal IQ to 42 children with other disabilities and groups were compared on PDDBI subscales and total score. Results…

Children with specific learning disabilities (SLD) have deficits in the basic psychological processes that interfere with learning and academic achievement, and for some SLD subtypes, these deficits can also lead to emotional and/or behavior problems. This study examined psychosocial functioning in 123 students, aged 6 to 11, who underwent…

This study evaluated the school-based short-term, cognitive-behavioral group anger management programme, "Learning How to Deal with our Angry Feelings" (Southampton Psychology Service, 2003). Thirteen groups of children aged 7- to 11-years-old were randomly allocated to two different cohorts: One cohort ("n"?=?35) first…

The goal of this study was to examine the ability of friendship to moderate the association between behavioral risk and peer victimization for girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 140) and comparison girls (n = 88) in a 5-week naturalistic summer camp setting. Participants were an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse…

This study examined the relation between cognitive deficits and positive bias in a sample of 272 children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; 7-12 years old). Results indicated that children with ADHD with and without biased self-perceptions exhibit differences in specific cognitive deficits (executive processes,…

Fathers, in general, have been underrepresented in studies of parent training outcome for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a behavioral parent training program developed expressly for fathers. The present investigation randomly assigned 55 fathers of children…

The present study investigated the role of a school-based intervention program, called the Integrated School Day, in the socioemotional development of Finnish children during their first years of school. The 3-year program involved the restructuring of the school day by adding in extracurricular activities, which were organized on school premises,…

We examined inattention/overactivity (I/O) over time and in relation to caregiving in three matched groups: (1) Romanian Orphans (RO) with a minimum of eight months' deprivation prior to adoption, (2) Early Adopted (EA) children adopted from Romania prior to age four months, and (3) Canadian Born (CB) non-adopted children. Comparisons among groups…