Two drugs, risperidone (Risperdal®) and aripiprazole (Abilify®), are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating "irritability" in young people with autism and are often used for that purpose. Several other drugs also are commonly prescribed in the hope of improving behavior. This chapter overviews the use of behavior-change drugs in people with autism. Topics that are considered include the prevalence of drug use, the rationale for drug use, research findings, and steps that can be taken to ensure that medications are used wisely and effectively.

This chapter describes the value of providing interdisciplinary graduate training in special education and behavior analysis to prepare professionals to meet the high intensity needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Within the chapter, we provide a detailed description of the development, goals, and implementation of a master's-level interdisciplinary training program. The program was developed by special education and behavior analysis faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU). Scholars admitted into the program obtained a master's degree in special education or behavior analysis and met the requirements to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Special education scholars also met the requirements for a teaching endorsement in ASD. The program was supported by a personnel preparation grant funded by the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP; Ehrhardt et al., 2017) and directed by Kristal Ehrhardt.

Autism spectrum disorder is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive patterns of behavior and deficits in social communication that affects approximately 1 in 45 adults. Many members of this population receive psychotropic medication, typically to reduce challenging responses or to treat comorbid psychiatric conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The scientific literature that supports this practice is neither large nor high quality and does not provide compelling support for the use of any medication for any purpose in this population. It leaves many important questions unanswered. We do not know, for instance, whether age modulates drug effects in people with autism spectrum disorder or whether autism spectrum disorder alters the effects of drugs. We also know very little about the long-term effects of psychotropic medications or about the effects of drug combinations, which is commonly prescribed. Despite the limitation of the literate, it is important to recognize that most studies report positive results, and it is clear that some adults with autism spectrum disorder derive significant benefit from psychotropic medications. Appropriate use of such drugs requires caregivers to ensure that (a) the goals of treatment are clear and in the client's best interest, (b) treatment decisions are made on the basis of real drug effects, and (c) drug therapy is flexible and integrated with non-pharmacological interventions. If these provisions are met, psychotropic drugs can be a powerful tool for improving the lives of adults with autism.

Objectives Aripiprazole (Abilify) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating irritability associated with autism in young people and is widely used for that purpose. Our objectives were to summarize the conclusions of other authors who reviewed the effects of aripiprazole in people with autism spectrum disorder, to analyze critically the findings of studies that examined the behavioral effects of aripiprazole in this population, and to draw conclusions concerning what research has revealed and what future research should examine. Methods We examined review and research articles revealed by a search of the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. Results Twelve review articles and 14 research articles met our criteria for inclusion. Those articles provided clear evidence that aripiprazole reduces "irritability" as indexed by the Irritability subscale of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist and related measures, but the drug's behavioral effects have not been examined adequately and the variables that modulate its effects are unknown. The drug sometimes produces serious adverse effects. Conclusion Aripiprazole can be useful in the short-term management of challenging behavior in young people with autism spectrum disorder, but too little is known about the drug's behavioral effects to maximize its value. Further research, with better measures of behavior and greater attention to potential modulators of drug action, is needed.

The current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association indicates that the sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disability status of research participants should be reported. The present study found that most (90.6%) of the manuscripts describing clinical interventions and published from 2013–2015 in five journals sympathetic to behavior analysis reported the sex of participants. Fewer such articles described participants’ disability status (69.1%), race/ethnicity (10.7%), or socioeconomic status (2.8%). Although there is general agreement that participant characteristics likely to influence responsiveness to the intervention being examined should be reported, there apparently is no agreement as to whether race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disability status constitute such characteristics. The purpose of this article is to encourage authors, reviewers, editors, and readers of behavior-analytic research articles to consider which characteristics of participants merit reporting and the consequences of not consistently reporting those characteristics.

Learning to read is one of the greatest achievements of childhood. Not only is the ability to interpret meaning from the written word exciting in its own right, it is also a fundamental skill necessary for development and all future learning. Many people believe that children learn to read once they begin formal schooling; however, emergent literacy actually begins as early as birth. Young children learn literacy skills through interactions with the adults around them and gain the most when those adults, particularly parents and teachers, are both knowledgeable and intentional in how they support and nurture early literacy. Repeated Interactive Read-aloud (RIR-A) is one research-based technique that has been effective in increasing children's engagement in and understanding and appreciation of reading in preschool and kindergarten settings. Disadvantaged children who have fewer at-home opportunities for literacy development can especially benefit. In this article, Rao, Newlin-Haus, and Ehrhardt provide a highly descriptive, step-by-step explanation of how early childhood educators can incorporate RIR-A into their teaching practice.

Many people with developmental disabilities receive medications prescribed to improve behavior. This manuscript overviews the psychopharmacology of developmental disabilities and considers how practitioners can assist in improving the quality of the pharmacological treatments that their clients receive.

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 examined the two in combination. The research methods characteristic of applied behavior analysis may provide a useful basis for comparing the effects of risperidone and behavior-analytic treatments, alone and in combination, and researchers are encouraged to pursue this line of investigation.

The present study examined all articles published in School Psychology International from 1995 to 2007 to obtain data relevant to seven research questions: (1) which nations contributed articles to SPI? (2) how many SPI manuscripts involved multi-author (and multi-national) collaboration? (3) which institutions were the most prolific contributors to SPI? (4) what is the self-citation rate in SPI? (5) how often does SPI cite other major school psychology journals? (6) which first authors or editors were most frequently cited in SPI? (7) which books were the most frequently cited in SPI? Results indicate that the journal is broad in scope, interdisciplinary and truly international with respect to its contributors. Moreover, a substantial number of its contributions involve authors from two or more nations. In these regards, SPI is unique and, in our opinion, uniquely important for the international community of school psychologists.

Self- and cross-citations in JABA and JEAB from 1993 through 2003 were examined. Yearly mean levels of self-citation for JABA and JEAB were 34.9% and 33.2%, respectively. Overall, 7.8% of JABA citations were JEAB articles, and 0.6% of JEAB citations were JABA articles. The former value, but not the latter, is substantially higher than the cross-citation level reported for earlier years. The two JEAB articles most often cited in JABA were published over 20 years ago and are concerned with establishing operations and the matching law.

Overall, 35 percent of the articles published in Journal of School Psychology, School Psychology International, School Psychology Quarterly and School Psychology Review from 1985 through 1999 that used participants failed to report whether they were female or male. Three, six and 56 percent of articles with participants used only females, only males, and both females and males; respectively. The failure of many articles to specify the sex of participants is a potentially serious problem. Unless the sex of participants is reported, one cannot ascertain to whom results should generalize or whether the sex of participants affects the variable under investigation. For these and other reasons, we recommend that researchers routinely specify how many of their participants are males and how many are females. This information requires little space to report and in most cases is easy to obtain.

This article provides a wide range of information for 100 articles published from January 1980 through July 1999 that describe the functional assessment (FA) of behavior in school settings. Results indicate that FA is useful for ascertaining the variables that control high-frequency problem behaviors in students with low-incidence disabilities and for designing effective interventions for those behaviors. Few studies, however, have examined low-rate problem behaviors and involved students with no disabilities. Moreover, few studies have applied FA to academic behaviors, had school personnel conduct FA without assistance, presented social validity data, or ascertained the relative effectiveness of different variations of FA. FA has great promise for school psychologists, but more work in several areas is needed if this promise; is to be fulfilled.

This manuscript traces functional assessment (FA) in school settings to early contributions by B. F Skinner that are evident in Science and Human Behavior (1953). The logic and methods of functional assessment are evident in Skinner's writings, and many early researchers and practitioners influenced by his ideas employed FA in designing interventions in schools and other settings. FA has continued to play an important role in behavior analysis, and the value of this approach in dealing with behavior problems in many settings, including schools, has long been evident. Although interest in FA in school settings has only recently become widespread, FA in education has a long and impressive history.

Although rarely used in this context, research techniques associated with applied behavior analysis may be especially useful for examining the effects of psychotropic medications in people with mental retardation. One characteristic of applied behavior analysis is that researchers often report social validity data, in addition to data that quantify the behaviors targeted for change. Social validity data reflect the social significance of target behaviors, the appropriateness of procedures, and the perceived importance of results. They are important because they can be used to predict whether a given intervention will be used and, if used, whether consumers are likely to be satisfied with it. Social validity merits consideration in studies of the psychopharmacology of mental retardation, but researchers have largely ignored the topic. MRDD Research Reviews 1999;5:342–347. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The purpose of this report is to present the evaluation design and case study outcomes for 28 children from the first three years of the Ohio Early Childhood Intervention project (ECI). The ECI project was designed to help build the capacity of professionals for intervention design. Capacity building refers to preparing educational systems for change and, specific to this report, providing valid conceptual and procedural guidelines for early intervention. The foundations of the ECI project are ecobehavioral analysis, ecological consultation, and naturalistic intervention design. The acronym PASSKey (Planned Activity, Strategic Sampling, Keystone behavior) describes three major aspects of the assessment-intervention guidelines. Validity evidence for the guidelines is based on single case quasi-experimental (accountability and case study) designs documented by comprehensive early childhood case portfolios. In addition, estimates were obtained of the consultants' time spent in problem solving.