Middle and high school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are increasingly being taught in general education settings. This guide reviews common characteristics associated with autism and provides teachers with practical tips and strategies for supporting their students with autism in the classroom setting. It is also designed to…

Exposure to community and interpersonal violence is a public health crisis that adversely affects many children in American communities. After witnessing or experiencing trauma, many children experience symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression, behavioral problems, substance abuse, and poor school performance. The Support for…

This article reviews evidence from basic and translational research with pigeons and humans suggesting that the persistence of operant behavior depends on the contingency between stimuli and reinforcers, and considers some implications for clinical interventions. (Contains 4 figures.)

This study examines developmental, clinical, gender, and ethnic group differences in preference in residentially placed children and adolescents. In addition, this study considers whether residentially placed youth prefer stimuli currently being used as rewards as part of a campuswide token economy system and whether youth would identify preferred…

A 25-item questionnaire was mailed to sex offender treatment providers from counties with 60 or more reported juvenile sex offenders in a Southwestern state to determine the most effective treatment for juvenile sex offenders. Results indicated that cognitive behavioral therapy was the most successful reported approach to treatment with an average…

It has been suggested that both internal (e.g., acceptability) and external (e.g., feasibility) factors should be taken under consideration in order to fully understand children's usage of interventions designed to improve their behavior. The purpose of this study was to initiate development of a student self-report measure (Children's Usage…

Aggression and tantrums are common co-occurring problems with autism. Fortunately, positive developments in the treatment of these challenging and stigmatizing behaviors have been made recently with psychologically-based interventions. Evidence-based methods employ behavior modification, which is also often described as applied behavior analysis…

Glutamatergic dysfunction is implicated in the pathophysiology of fragile X syndrome (FXS). The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness and tolerability of memantine for a number of target symptoms associated with FXS. Medical records describing open-label treatment with memantine in 6 patients with FXS and a comorbid…

This special series on intensive treatments for anxiety disorders in youth reminds us that these are challenging conditions and there is much more work to be done to address some of the limitations to and challenges of treating anxiety disorders in children using CBT. The treatments described in this series are intensive in their delivery and…

The effect of readiness to change on treatment outcome was examined among 332 adolescents (46% male, 74% Caucasian), ages 12 through 17 years (M = 14.6, SD = 1.5), with major depressive disorder who were participating in the Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study (TADS). TADS is a randomized clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of…

In this article, we describe a systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating functional assessment-based interventions developed by Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, and Lane (2007), implemented in a job-share classroom with two first-grade students. One student was at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) according to…

Both risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic drug, and function-based behavior-analytic interventions are popular and empirically validated treatments for reducing challenging behavior in children with autism. The kind of research that supports their effectiveness differs, however, and no published study has directly compared their effects or…

The value of a reinforcer may change based on antecedent events, specifically the behavior of others (Bruzek & Thompson, 2007). In the current study, we examined the effects of manipulating the behavior of the therapist on problem behavior while all dimensions of reinforcement were held constant. Both participants' levels of problem behaviors…

Teachers were beginning to see teasing, taunting, bullying, and other damaging behaviors in their group of toddlers. This article describes two class activities--a relay race and singing during transitions--that allowed all the children to experience success and thus helped the class overcome the negative behaviors.

The present article comments on the case conference presented in this issue, namely, Himle and Franklin's (Himle & Franklin, 2009) exposure and response prevention (ERP); Chosak and colleagues' (Chosak, Marques, Fama, Renaud, & Wilhelm, 2009) cognitive therapy (CT); and (Twohig, 2009) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Two questions are…