Early identification of behavioral risk markers for anxiety is essential to optimize long-term outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study analyzed attentional avoidance and its relation to anxiety and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptomatology during social and nonsocial fear conditions in toddlers with fragile X…

This study compared a picture exchange (PE) system and an iPad®-based speech generating device (SGD) when teaching requesting skills to preschoolers with developmental disabilities and limited functional speech. A multiple baseline design with counterbalancing the order of two instruction conditions across participants was applied to compare the…

The World Health Organization's Caregiver Skills Training programme for children with developmental disorders or delays teaches caregivers strategies to help them support their child's development. Ethiopia has a severe lack of services for children with developmental disorders or delays. This study explored the perspectives of Ethiopian…

Behavioral inflexibility (BI) has been highlighted to occur across genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders. This study characterized BI in two common neurogenetic conditions: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS). Caregivers of children with FXS (N = 56; with ASD = 28; FXS only = 28) and DS (N = 146) completed the Behavioral…

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: A systematic review was performed to determine the extent to which orthographic facilitation, a strategy to improve word learning, has been demonstrated in the literature for children and adolescents from clinical categories such as developmental language disorders (DLD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Down syndrome, dyslexia, hearing…

This article provides six fundamental steps for using a task analysis to teach emergent literacy skills to young learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Compared to general education peers, students with ASD score lower on reading measures and often have difficulty acquiring literacy skills via the instruction methods used in typical…

The Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2019 was put in place to amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance activities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with respect to research on autism spectrum disorder and enhance programs relating to autism, and for other purposes. The Act includes the…

Early school transitions are exciting, yet challenging, experiences for children with special needs, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and their families. Transition to school support practices can help facilitate this difficult process for key stakeholders. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize the literature on transition…

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the print knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to children who have developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing (TD) children as well as examine the child and family predictors of print knowledge. Method: A total of 629 preschool children, including 33…

The current COVID-19 pandemic is presenting challenges for families (Cluver et al., The Lancet, 2020), which may be exacerbated for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities (DDs; Center on the Developing Child, Stress, hope, and the role of science: Responding to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020). The purpose of this study was to…

This study aimed to investigate factors associated with a delayed autism spectrum (ASD) diagnosis when compared to children with either no or early ASD diagnosis. Among 893 children assessed for ASD before age 8, 39% had no ASD at baseline, of which 21% received a later ASD diagnosis. Autism symptoms, diagnostic history of other developmental…

The transition to adulthood can be a challenging time for adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its complexity, however, may be magnified for families who have immigrated to the United States. This study examined the transition expectations and experiences of six first-generation, Latino parents and their transition-aged…

This paper provides an overview of five review studies that analyzed 92 single subject studies on the effectiveness of major augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals with developmental disabilities including autism. This paper offers recommendations useful for AAC decision-making points. Research on the…

Families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) play a central role in selecting interventions for their children. Despite the importance of understanding the factors that motivate early decisions about treatment, the literature has concentrated little attention on how and why parents of young children with ASD make decisions about…