Participants were 101 individuals with self-injurious behavior (SIB) and severe or profound intellectual disability who were matched by gender, age, and level of intellectual disability to controls. Persons with SIB were more likely to exhibit the challenging behaviors of physical aggression, property destruction, sexually inappropriate behaviors…

Challenging behavior can create significant obstacles to academic and social progress for individuals in a school setting, particularly those with developmental disabilities. Functional assessments such as rating scales, ABC analyses, and functional analyses, are evidenced to be the most effective methods for identifying the maintaining variables…

Background: Children with cleft lip and palate are at risk for psychological problems. Difficulties in mother-child interactions may be relevant, and could be affected by the timing of lip repair. Method: We assessed cognitive development, behaviour problems, and attachment in 94 infants with cleft lip (with and without cleft palate) and 96…

The current study evaluated the use of various behavioral measures of running away with regard to (a) the differential utility of interval- versus event-based measures, (b) the differential utility of rate versus duration measures, (c) the utility of correcting for occurrence opportunity, and (d) the influence of unit of analysis (i.e.,…

We assessed the effects of reinforcement and no reinforcement for compliance to high-probability (high-p) instructions on compliance to low-probability (low-p) instructions using a reversal design. For both participants, compliance with the low-p instruction increased only when compliance with high-p instructions was followed by reinforcement.…

There is considerable evidence that a range of risk factors are associated with adolescent problem gambling. Using a representative sample of 2,788 eighth grade students in Victoria, Australia, the primary aim of this study was to examine the degree to which these risk factors are associated with different levels of adolescent gambling…

Elevated parenting stress is observed among mothers of older children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but little is known about parents of young newly-diagnosed children. Associations between child behavior and parenting stress were examined in mothers and fathers of 54 toddlers with ASD (mean age = 26.9 months). Parents reported elevated…

Hand mouthing is highly prevalent in individuals with severe to profound developmental disabilities. Frequent hand mouthing may interfere with appropriate responding, have negative health impacts, and result in restrictive interventions, such as the application of arm splints, to prevent this challenging behavior. The continuous application of arm…

We examined the behavior-altering effect of the motivating operation on challenging behavior during leisure activities for three individuals with severe disabilities. Prior functional analyses indicated that challenging behavior was maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention or tangible items for all participants. During leisure…

Background: Psychotropic medications are used to manage behaviour problems in adults with intellectual disability (ID). One group of psychotropic medication are mood stabilizers such as lithium and some antiepileptic drugs. Method: A comprehensive systematic review was performed to determine the evidence base for the effectiveness of mood…

Romantic relationship involvement has repeatedly been associated with the incidence of externalizing behavior problems, but little is known about the nature and developmental significance of this relation. The current study extends previous research by investigating whether and through what processes romantic relationships distinctively predict…

Background: The parent-child relationship is considered important for children's future conscience, and conscience is seen as protecting them from disruptive behavior problems, but specific mechanisms of this developmental process are rarely studied. Methods: This multi-trait multi-method study examined, in a longitudinal design, paths linking…

Background: Inverse associations of fetal growth with behavioural problems in childhood have been repeatedly reported, suggesting long-term effects of the prenatal developmental environment on behaviour later in life. However, no study so far has examined effects on temperament and potential developmental pathways. Temperamental traits may be…

A model of treatment acceptability is proposed that distributes overall treatment acceptability into three separate categories of influence. The categories are comprised of societal influences, consultant influences, and influences associated with consumers of treatments. Each of these categories are defined and their inter-relationships within…

This study used latent profile modeling (LPA) with a community sample that included an enriched sampling of children (aged 6-11) diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (N = 271). Six classes of ADHD emerged from our LPA; only 17% of children fell into a class without significant co-occurring symptoms. In addition, nearly…