As a part of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP), special education teachers work along with their student with special needs and their parent(s)/guardian(s) to create and implement Individualized Transition Plans (ITP) to assist the student with their transition to the post-school environment. As mandated by Individuals with Disabilities…

Repetitive behavior is a key characteristic of autism spectrum disorders. Our aim was to investigate the hypothesis that this abnormal behavioral repetition results from a tendency to over-rely on habits at the expense of flexible, goal-directed action. Twenty-four children with autism spectrum disorders and 24 age- and gender-matched controls…

Although children with disabilities have been found to be at an increased risk of bullying, there are limited studies investigating predictors of bullying involvement in children with autism spectrum disorders. The current study presents findings from 1221 parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who were selected from a…

This study seeks to examine the predictors of positive social skills outcomes from the University of California, Los Angeles Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, an evidence-based parent-assisted social skills program for high-functioning middle school and high school adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. The…

Patients with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability can be clinically complex and often have limited access to psychiatric care. Because little is known about post-graduate clinical education in autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, we surveyed training directors of child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship…

This study investigated metacognitive monitoring abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in two experiments using the judgment-of-learning paradigm. Participants were asked to predict their future recall of unrelated word pairs during the learning phase. Experiment 1 compared judgments-of-learning made immediately after learning and…

To explore the different developmental trajectories of social-communicative skills in children with autism and typically developing infants, two longitudinal studies were conducted. In Study 1, we examined the developmental sequence of social-communicative skills in 26 typically developing infants when they were 9 months old and reexamined them…

Assessment of global functioning is an important consideration in treatment outcome research; yet, there is little guidance on its evidence-based assessment for children with autism spectrum disorders. This study investigated the utility and validity of clinician-rated global functioning using the Developmental Disability-Child Global Assessment…

Few research studies have explored how the level of a child's behavior problems leads to psychological distress in parents of children with autism. The authors explored whether psychological acceptance and mindfulness mediated this relationship between child behavior and parental distress. Seventy-one mothers and 39 fathers of children with…

This study draws on the first author's doctoral research on the mainstream schooling experiences of young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents in Queensland, Australia. The aims are to share some of the practical strategies that were adapted and developed to engage the young people in the research and to critically…

Introduction: The use of horses in therapy has a fairly long history. There are many references to the therapeutic benefits of this activity. Such therapies have been undergoing a boom internationally in recent years. However scientific research into the effective use of this activity in children with autism is still in the early stages of…

Background: The range of outcomes for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and the early childhood factors associated with this diversity have implications for clinicians and scientists. Methods: This prospective study provided a unique opportunity to predict outcome 17 years later for a relatively large sample of children diagnosed…

For students with autism, homework time may be especially challenging due to problems in self-organization and difficulties generalizing skills from one setting to another. Although often problematic, homework can provide a valuable context for teaching organizational skills that become essential as students become more independent. By learning to…

Background: There has been increasing interest in exploring the factors contributing to successful adaptation and family functioning in ethnically and culturally diverse families who raise children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), in order to inform more appropriate strength-based family support services. This pilot study used the Family…

Background: This study examined family quality of life (FQOL) and psychological well-being from a multidimensional perspective. The proposed model was based on the double ABCX model, with severity of the disorder, behaviour problems, social support, sense of coherence (SOC) and coping strategies as components. Method: One hundred and eighteen…