The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the eyewitness memory performance of 3- and 5-year-old African American children (N = 33) from low-income households. The children were asked to remember the routine details of a physical examination immediately after the physical exam and again after a delay interval of 6 weeks. Age-related changes in children's memory performance were found, with the older children remembering more than the young children. Five-year-olds recalled more information in response to open-ended questions, provided greater elaborative details of the examination, and exhibited greater consistency in their recall across both of the interviews than did their younger counterparts. Children's abilities to resist incongruous questions were markedly low, with correct-denial rates of the 3-year-olds being below chance levels and those of the 5-year-olds just above chance levels. Significant correlations were found between mental age scores derived from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 3rd edition, and the children's rates of correct denials and false alarms. The findings are discussed in terms of cognitive processes and language development among economically disadvantaged African American children.

The study was designed to examine the effects of motivation on young children's recall for object names and early-emerging mnemonic activities. Seventy-two 4-year-old children were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 instructional conditions: incidental, intentional, or motivational. Each child was shown 10 small toy objects and provided a 90 s study period prior to recall. The children's mnemonic behaviors were videotaped for subsequent coding. The children in the incidental condition were instructed to simply look at the toys while children in the intentional and motivational condition were given explicit instructions to remember. The motivational group was also told that they could keep whichever toys they remembered. A recognition memory task was employed to examine the extent to which the stimuli were encoded during the study period. The children's recall memory did not vary as a function of instructional condition. Children's use of singular versus multiple strategies was calculated, along with a weighted summary score giving most weight to the participant's use of mature mnemonic strategies. Significant differences in strategy use were found, favoring the motivational condition. Significant positive correlations were found between the weighted summary scores and object recall, and the teacher ratings of mastery motivation and object recall. Mastery motivation was found to be unrelated to the strategic summary scores, failing to mediate strategic behaviors. The results suggest that when providing incentives to remember, children apparently engaged in more effortful mnemonic processing in order to remember the items, even though a greater number of items were not recalled.

The development of the personal past is complex, requiring the operation of multiple components of cognitive and social functioning. Because many of these components are affected by autism spectrum disorders, it is likely that autobiographical memory in children with Asperger’s Disorder (AD) will be impaired. We predicted that the memory narratives of children with AD, in comparison to typically-developing peers, would reflect less personal interpretation as evidenced by internal states language. Thirty children with AD and 20 typically-developing children aged 6–14 reported their earliest memories and two emotional experiences (one positive and one negative). Consistent with our predictions, children with AD included fewer emotional, cognitive, and perceptual terms than the comparison sample.

This RCT examined the efficacy of a manualized social intervention for children with HFASDs. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment or wait-list conditions. Treatment included instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social skills, face-emotion recognition, interest expansion, and interpretation of non-literal language. A response-cost program was applied to reduce problem behaviors and foster skills acquisition. Significant treatment effects were found for five of seven primary outcome measures (parent ratings and direct child measures). Secondary measures based on staff ratings (treatment group only) corroborated gains reported by parents. High levels of parent, child and staff satisfaction were reported, along with high levels of treatment fidelity. Standardized effect size estimates were primarily in the medium and large ranges and favored the treatment group.

This chapter investigated the psychosocial adjustment of caregivers of children with HFASDs, using the double ABCX model. Sixty-six caregivers completed a packet of survey that measured parenting stress, coping styles, resource availability, and psychosocial adjustment (depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction). Results indicated that 36% of the caregivers displayed clinical depression. Utilizing regression analysis, the three predictor variables (stress, support, and coping) accounted for 39.7% of the observed variance in depression. In addition, three percent of the caregivers experienced significant levels of anxiety, with stress as a significant predictor of anxiety, explaining 14.3% of the observed variance. Two of the three predictor variables were significant in predicting life satisfaction, with 28.4% of total variance in life satisfaction.

The purpose of the current study was to compare the behavioral responses of children with HFASDs in a familiar and an unfamiliar social situation; and to describe how these results compare to those of physiological and self-report measures described in a prior study. Each participant interacted with a familiar and an unfamiliar peer on two separate occasions. The sessions were videotaped and coded for six behaviors: complaining and whining, participating in conversation, irrelevant information, repetitive vocalizing behavior, repetitive motor behavior, and hands in clothing. While results indicated significant main effects for five out of six major comparisons, when age, IQ, parent education, or autistic symptomology variables were controlled for, only four comparisons were interpretable due to low base rates and violations of statistical assumptions. For these four behaviors, the results indicated that interacting with an unfamiliar peer had a negative affect on behavioral performance and reduced participation in conversation for children with HFASDs in the sample. Overall, current finding suggested a pattern inconsistent with the results of the physiological and self-report measures reported in the prior study.

The physical and mental health-related quality of life (QOL) of 89 parents of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) was compared to the health-related QOL of 46 parents of children without disabilities. Parents completed a packet of surveys measuring demographics, parenting stress, coping, resources, and QOL. Results of t tests showed significant differences between the two groups for all variables. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that for parents of children with HFASDs, demographics and psychosocial variables accounted for a significant amount of variance for physical health-related QOL, with income, number of children, and stress being significant variables. Demographics and psychosocial variables also accounted for a significant amount of variance for parents' mental health-related QOL, with income and stress being significant variables.

This paper presents findings from the final two years of a four-year study investigating a manualized social treatment program for high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders. The study sought to (1) replicate and expand findings from years one and two; (2) compare outcomes of participants who received response-cost feedback versus non-categorical feedback; and (3) provide further evidence of program feasibility. Results indicated significant improvements in social skills and problem behaviors, however no significant differences for face emotion recognition. Measures of several socially-related behaviors yielded mixed results based on rater. While parent ratings did not appear to favor one feedback format, staff ratings appeared to favor the response-cost format on some measures. Results also provided support for program feasibility.

This study examined the effect of social familiarity on salivary cortisol and social anxiety/stress for a sample of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. The relationship between self-reported social anxiety/stress and salivary cortisol was also examined. Participants interacted with a familiar peer on one occasion and an unfamiliar peer on another occasion. Data were collected using salivary cortisol and a scale measuring subjective stress. Results indicated a significant condition by order interaction for salivary cortisol levels, while self-rated stress did not differ significantly across situations. A mild-moderate correlation was found between self-reported distress and salivary cortisol within each condition. Examination of self-rated distress vs. cortisol scatter plots suggested a more complex relationship than the correlation coefficient could adequately convey.

Little research has examined health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults with learning disabilities in post-secondary settings and the potential relationship between a learning disability and anxiety or sadness. This study examined HRQoL in 68 undergraduate students: 34 students who reported having been diagnosed with a "learning disability" were compared to 34 students who indicated they had not been diagnosed with a learning disability. Participants completed an online survey of anxiety, sadness, and HRQoL, including the SF-36. ANCOVAs on the Emotional Well-Being and Role Limitations Due to Emotional Problems scales from the SF-36 revealed that students reporting a diagnosis of a learning disability were significantly more impaired in Emotional Well-Being. Regression analyses suggested that impairment in Emotional Well-Being was mediated by separate ratings of both anxiety and sadness. Results indicated that those undergraduates reporting learning disabilities suffered from an impaired sense of well-being associated with anxious and sad feelings.

Physical Aggression and EBD Students with EBD demonstrate a number of significant externalizing, or acting-out, behaviors that can interfere with their academic and social–emotional development. One of the most problematic and complex externalizing behaviors is physical aggression (Kauffman, 1993; see box, “What Is Physical Aggression?”). Research examining aggression in schools indicates that three fourths of students with EBD demonstrate aggressive behaviors (U.S. Department of Education, 1989). Additionally, teachers of students with EBD have reported daily incidents of some type of aggressive behavior (Ruhl & Hughes, 1985). Reducing physical aggression in students with EBD is important because physical aggression has serious longterm as well as immediate consequences for the aggressive student. The immediate consequences of physical aggression include injuring other students, intimidating them, and disrupting the classroom, whereas the longterm consequences associated with physical aggression include peer rejection, delinquency, and the development of serious lifelong psychosocial problems (Eron, Huesmann, Romanoff, & Yarmel, 1987; Parker & Asher, 1987). Aggressive behavior appears to follow a stable course across time, so intervention should begin as early as possible. For example, studies by Farrington (1978) and West (1967) found that 60% of children identified as aggressive when they were 8-years old were still rated as aggressive between the ages of 12 and 14 years. Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, and Walder (1984) extended the age association when they found that 8-year-old subjects who demonstrated more aggression than other children their age were also more aggressive than others at the age of 30. The short-term and long-term negative consequences associated with aggression necessitate effective treatment interventions. Despite this need, many current approaches have met with limited success. Aggression involves the interplay of psychological, as well as neurophysiological systems. Since aggression is extremely complex, poor treatment outcomes with various interventions are not surprising. Recent research illustrates the critical role of physiology in physical aggression (Lopata, 2003). This research suggests that targeting the physiological aspects of physical aggression should be a central component in the repertoire of available intervention strategies. A key element in the physiology of physical aggression is arousal (the box “Physiology, Arousal, and Aggression” briefly explains how arousal and physiology are implicated in physical aggression).

The current study presents preliminary data from an ongoing research project evaluating a summer treatment program for children with Asperger disorder (AD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive—behavioral treatment program on the social behaviors of 6- to 13-year-old children with AD. Overall program effectiveness was the focus of analyses at this time, but two treatment configurations were also tentatively compared: social skills instruction only (SS) versus social skills instruction and behavioral treatment (SS+BT). Results of the study indicated significant improvement in social skills for the overall program based on parent and staff reports. In addition, parents reported a significant improvement in adaptability and reduction in unusual behavior for their children. In contrast, staff reports reflected no significant change in adaptability and an increase in unusual behaviors. Comparison of the two treatment configurations indicated no significant difference between SS and SS+BT. Implications for treatment and future research are provided.

A microcomputer was inserted into two preschool classrooms—one large and one small—to examine the effects on children's free-play choices and social interactions. Sex differences were also examined. In both classrooms, the introduction of the microcomputer initially disrupted free-play activity patterns; over time, however, most free-play areas returned to baseline levels. Sex differences were apparent in both classrooms. In the large classroom, boys spent significantly more time at the microcomputer than girls. In the small classroom, there was a trend for girls to spend more time at the microcomputer than boys. Social interactions at the microcomputer were similar to interactions in other play areas of the two classrooms. Higher levels of positive social behaviors at the microcomputer compared to other play areas were not found in either classroom.

No abstract available for this article.

There is currently considerable disagreement among educators as to whether or not microcomputers should be a part of preschool education. The debate is intense with few educators suggesting a position predicated on current research or a period of experimental testing Four issues are discussed in this article, cognitive theory/microcomputers, social isolation and social interactions, real life experiences, and the hurried child. Past literature is cited for each issue which shows the microcomputer either as monster or messiah. We enter the debate midway between these two extreems and predicate our arguments on more recent research and theory. Conclusions are drawn for each issue and a recommendation is made for an extended period of testing before educators make pedagogical decisions.