Purpose: Adolescence is a time of transition when young people with language difficulties are at increased risk of experiencing social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (SEBD). Most studies of social, emotional, and behavioral functioning (SEBF) in individuals with language difficulties focus on children with a clinical diagnosis of language…

In this article, the authors evaluated functional communication training (FCT) and a chained schedule of reinforcement for the treatment of challenging behavior exhibited by two individuals diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and autism, respectively. Following a functional analysis with undifferentiated results, the authors demonstrated that…

This article suggests that ideas about adolescent brains and their development increasingly function as powerful truths in making sense of young people. In this context, the knowledge practices of the neurosciences and evolutionary and developmental psychology are deemed capable of producing what we have come to understand as the evidence on which…

This study reports on the relationship between motor stereotypies and impairments in executive functions (EF) in children with Autistic Disorder (AD) and in children with Developmental Language Disorders (DLD). We hypothesized that low EF performance would predict higher frequency and longer durations of stereotypies in the AD group only.…

Objective: There is increasing emphasis on dimensional conceptualizations of psychopathology, but empirical evidence of their utility is just emerging. In particular, although a range of multidimensional models have been proposed, the relative fit of competing models has rarely been tested. Furthermore, developmental considerations have received…

This study examined the prospective relationships among borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms, interpersonal problems, and types of aggressive behaviors (i.e., experiencing psychological and physical victimization and perpetrating psychological and physical aggression) in a psychiatric sample (N = 139) over the course of 2 years. We…

Findings regarding phenotypic differences between boys and girls with ASD are mixed. We compared autism and internalizing symptoms in a sample of 8-18 year-old girls (n = 20) and boys (n = 20) with ASD and typically developing (TYP) girls (n = 19) and boys (n = 17). Girls with ASD were more impaired than TYP girls but did not differ from boys with…

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…

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. The respondents were 7,151 Chinese Secondary 2 (Grade 8) students (3,707 boys and 3,014 girls) recruited from 44 schools in Hong Kong. Validated assessment tools measuring positive youth development,…

We evaluated interrater agreement across multiple respondents on anecdotal assessments and compared cases in which agreement was obtained with outcomes of functional analyses. Experiment 1 evaluated agreement among multiple respondents on the function of problem behavior for 27 individuals across 42 target behaviors using the Motivation Assessment…

Most discussions of youth behavior focus on the small group engaged in high-risk activities, ignoring the majority of youth who are developing in prosocial ways. This article provides a rationale for reversing this self-fulfilling prophecy which creates the impression that problem behavior is the norm. It describes the Youth Risk Behavior Survey…

As universities look for more effective ways to address violations of behavioral standards, a proposed solution is to infuse intentional development into well-established conduct processes inherently focused on legal mandates and due process. The E.P.I.C. Journey Sanctioning Model was designed to refocus the outcomes of the conduct process to…

The proposed study examined the effects of behavioral fluency in oral motor imitation on echoic behavior in elementary children with autism. A multiple baseline multiple probe design was employed across students. The researcher examined (a) what are the effects of acquisition and behavioral fluency in a component oral motor skill on the composite…

Sleep is an important aspect of a child's early development and is essential to family well-being. During their first 3 years, infants and toddlers spend more than 50% of their lives sleeping. However, concerns about sleep and sleep problems are among the most common issues brought to the attention of pediatricians. Although sleep is one of the…

Maintaining order in the classroom is a concern that ranks near the top of "every" teacher's list, no matter the subject taught. Successful classroom management will not only make the teaching--and learning--process easier, but it also will benefit the teacher's energy level and sanity. Recent studies suggest that controlling students' behavior…