Evolution of Research on Interventions for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Behavior Analysts

The extraordinary success of behavior-analytic interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has fueled the rapid growth of behavior analysis as a profession. One reason for this success is that for many years behavior analysts were virtually alone in conducting programmatic ASD intervention research. However, that era has ended. Many investigators from other disciplines are now carrying out large-scale intervention studies and beginning to report successes of their own. The increasing number and range of studies has the potential to improve services for individuals with ASD, and it challenges behavior analysts to intensify their research efforts.     

Agnosticism gone awry: Why developmental robotics must commit to an understanding of embodiment and shared intentionality

We argue that developmental robotics, in its integration of developmental psychology and robotics, has the potential to encounter unexpected and unexamined conceptual difficulties. In particular, the various uses of embodiment and shared intentionality single out certain robots and behaviors as more or less relevant for the modeling of social cognition. As these terms have relatively orthogonal histories, there is no account for how their use will interact to shape methodology. We provide a brief discussion of how they may do so. Moreover, theorists often avoid explicit endorsement of some use or another. Although this agnosticism is understandable, we use the model of Dominey and Warneken (2011) as an illustrative example of why it is potentially dangerous. While Dominey and Warneken have succeeded in encouraging theorists to adopt clearer formulations of shared intentionality, their model suffers from important difficulties in interpretation, which, we argue, are a consequence of their uses of embodiment and shared intentionality respectively.     

Adaptation of the Children's Friendship Training Program for Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

ABSTRACT

Previous research attests to the marked impairments in social functioning exhibited by children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), suggesting that such children are in need of social skills intervention. Recently, an existing evidence-based manualized behavioral treatment for improving children's friendships was implemented and demonstrated to be effective with children aged 6–12, diagnosed with FASD. In the present report, we describe methods for adapting this behavioral intervention in line with the specific cognitive and behavioral deficits seen in children with FASD and other developmental disabilities to enhance treatment efficacy.     

The Application of Attachment Theory and Mentalization in Complex Tertiary Structural Dissociation: A Case Study

The concept of structural dissociation can provide useful information for increasingly complex applications of mentalizing in therapeutic settings; however, little integration of the two approaches has emerged. Grounded in the intricate case of a woman diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, this case study integrates and applies the concepts of structural dissociation and mentalizing from an attachment perspective. Client history includes pervasive spiritual and sexual abuse, as well as extreme neglect throughout her development. The presenting problems, relevant history (including the profound impact of neglect), and the therapeutic models that guided treatment are described. Also presented are the specific therapeutic interventions that have facilitated and strengthened therapeutic alliances, levels of integration, and mentalizing capacity in this challenging but rewarding study of human resiliency.     

Fathers,Sons, and Aggression: A Path Model

This study developed and tested a path model that examined the purported relationships between college males’ perceptions of their fathers’ rejection and traditional masculine ideology endorsement, and their own self-reported aggression. The model included participants’ traditional masculine ideology endorsement, masculine gender role stress, self-esteem, shame-proneness, and anger as mediating variables. The results indicated that college-age males’ perceptions of their fathers as rejecting and hypermasculine predicted aggression in the final path model. There was also support for the mediating roles of the son’s traditional masculine ideology endorsement, masculine gender role stress, self-esteem, and anger. It is concluded that fathers could play an integral role in the development of male aggressive behavior. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Childhood Psychological Trauma and First‐Year College Students' Substance Dependence

First‐year college students (N= 143) completed the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory‐3 and a questionnaire about childhood traumatic experiences. As the number of traumatic experiences increases, so does the likelihood of substance use in college.     

School and community participation of in-school teenagers affected by orphanhood in a rural South Africa setting

This study investigated schooling and community participation qualities of teenage learners affected by orphanhood in rural secondary South African setting. Participants were a purposive sample of 30 teenage learners, (female = 60% black = 98%, 12 to 19 years old). Data on their school and community participation were collected using semi-structured individual interviews. The data were thematically analyzed with open-coding. The findings indicated that learners need support for livelihoods, relationship development with extended family or guardians, school attendance, school task engagement and follow through. They experienced material shortages despite state support. From livelihood deprivations and forced opportunities, the learners who had been orphaned enter the working environment earlier than is typical and often do menial jobs.

Children who have been orphaned are those under the age of 18 years who have lost one or both parents from any cause (Jeff & Chris, 2002 Jeff, G., & Chris, D. (2002). Impacts and interventions. South Africa: University of Natal Press. [Google Scholar], UNICEF, 2003). This represents about 18.8% of South African children (3 374 971) and 7.3% of children (24 6373) from the Free State or central province of South Africa alone (Central Statistics South Africa, 2011). According to the World Bank (1998 World Bank. (1998). Confronting AIDS. Washington, DC: World Bank. [Google Scholar]), children affected by orphanhood are less likely to have proper schooling from lack of parenting and the resource deprivation associated with being orphaned. Under guardianship, the host family may reduce a child's attendance at school by labour demands or the inability to pay for schooling (UNICEF, 2003). From these deprivations, learners affected by orphanhood may enter the labour force prematurely, and mostly in the unregulated informal sector (UNICEF, 2012). As a matter of fact, a learner who is orphaned is deprived of childhood from the socio-economic demands on him or her which are developmentally atypical (Ganga & Maphala, 2013).     

A Stage Is a Stage Is a Stage: A Direct Comparison of Two Scoring Systems

L. Kohlberg (1969) argued that his moral stages captured a developmental sequence specific to the moral domain. To explore that contention, the author compared stage assignments obtained with the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby & L. Kohlberg, 1987a, 1987b) and those obtained with a generalized content-independent stage-scoring system called the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (T. L. Dawson, 2002a), on 637 moral judgment interviews (participants' ages ranged from 5 to 86 years). The correlation between stage scores produced with the 2 systems was .88. Although standard issue scoring and hierarchical complexity scoring often awarded different scores up to Kohlberg's Moral Stage 2/3, from his Moral Stage 3 onward, scores awarded with the two systems predominantly agreed. The author explores the implications for developmental research.     

Development of Inhibition as a Function of the Presence of a Supernatural Agent

In this study the author examined the developmental differences in inhibition and cognition of 4–8-year-old children as a function of the suggested presence of a supernatural agent. Previous evolutionarily-relevant research has suggested that humans are naturally primed to think in terms of supernatural agents and that, given the correct context, individuals readily accept novel supernatural entities and alter their behavior accordingly. All children in this study played 4 games designed to assess their present level of inhibitory and cognitive development. Children in the experimental condition were also introduced to an invisible Princess Alice and were told that she was watching during the games. Following these measures, all children engaged in a resistance-to-temptation task. Results revealed that cognitively advanced children were more likely to express belief in Princess Alice than were less cognitively advanced children. This research provides support that cognitive maturity, rather than immaturity, may be necessary for children to express belief in novel supernatural agents.