Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a form of developmental disability that affects many children in the U.S. and abroad. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has indicated that 1 out of every 68 children is diagnosed with ASD in the United States. However, there was limited literature about the attitudinal dispositions of Nigerian mothers toward children with ASD and their lived experiences with a child with autism. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the attitudes of Nigerian mothers toward their children with autism. The theoretical foundation of this study was the variation of the social relational understanding of disability propounded by Carol Thomas. The research questions that guided this study focused on the attitudes of Nigerian mothers toward their children with ASD and the lived experience of a Nigerian mother living with a child with autism. This study utilized the hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of 8 Nigerian mothers with children with autism. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from the participants. Data was coded, categorized and themes were identified through qualitative data analysis. Significant findings of this study included that ASD is a developmental disability and there was positive relationship between children with autism and their families. As such, the knowledge about ASD as a developmental disability and the warm relationship among families with children with autism should be extended to members of the community to increase awareness about ASD. This study's implication for social change is that it can assist governmental agencies and important stakeholders develop better programs and services that will help to increase awareness and strengthen positive dispositions toward children with autism.

Language development and the ability to access reinforcement in young children with autism may be impeded by lack of behavioral variability in verbal behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of simultaneously teaching multiple responses and extinction of repetition on producing varied verbal behavior in young children with autism. In particular, we examined the effects of these procedures on increasing the behavioral variability of mands used to request edibles in preschool children with autism. For all three participants, neither increasing mand repertoires via teaching multiple responses, nor extinction of repetition, by themselves or in combination were effective at producing stable behavioral variability. However, antecedent strategies (presence of visual cues) were effective at producing varied manding for all three participants.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication. Recent studies within the social sciences have espoused a need to reconceptualize autism out of the domain of the intrapersonal and into the realm of the sociocultural. Semi-structured in-depth interviewing was used to examine the selfperceptions and experiences of twelve people who identified as on the autism spectrum. Social scientists have tended to grant the topic of autism to the domain of psychology; as a result autistic perception has been stigmatized resulting in the exclusion of autistic perspectives in knowledge production on the lived experiences of autistic actors. The first-hand accounts examined in this study lend support to the idea that symbolic interactionism provides a more nuanced framework for studying how autistic perception influences autistic experience in contrast to the functionalist-reductionist approach of cognitive psychology. From this perspective we can position autistic differences in disposition and interaction as socioculturally situated rather than as solely a result of individual cognitive impairment. The application of microsociological concepts to autistic perception and interaction has the potential to expand knowledge on both autistic experience and the social construction of normative order.

The purpose of this project was to create a research‑based sibling support group for 7 to 12 year‑old children who have a sibling with autism. Typically‑developing children (N = 3) and their parents attended a four‑week, once‑weekly sibling support group. The program focused on topics found to be the key issues of typically‑developing siblings who have a sibling with autism: discovering that others share similar family circumstances, learning about their sibling with autism’s special needs, discussing issues and problems children with siblings who have ASD typically face (and developing effective coping strategies to deal with these issues), and having an opportunity to express who they are as individuals. Pre‑and post‑ assessments showed that the group only slightly increased their knowledge about autism. Feedback from the children suggested that they especially enjoyed the opportunity to speak openly about their sibling with autism and having the opportunity to share activities and items that were important to them. The children reported that they did not enjoy having to complete worksheets related to information about autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, they did not understand the information that was presented about the programs and interventions that some children with ASD may use. Overall, the sibling support group provided an opportunity for children with a sibling with autism to share feelings and experiences about their sibling, including problems they face.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how special education teachers implement evidence-based practices for non-verbal communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study interviewed six early childhood special education teachers from preschools in the Southern California. According to the teacher interviews, joint attention deficits in children with ASD were overcome using visual aids, toys, and basic sign gestures. Peer tutoring, functional communication training and drawing were found to improve nonverbal communication skills. In addition, children with ASD regularly played with their typically developing peers. In conclusion, a co-teaching model can benefit children with ASD and also reduce the stigma typically developing children may have of their peers in special education classes. However, a larger sample size is needed so that findings from this research can be generalized to a larger population of special education teachers and children with ASD.

Drawing on Bowen's family systems theory, this study was designed to fill a gap in research regarding how raising a child with autism impacts the systemic functioning of a family unit, and provide evidence of the need for more comprehensive resources and support for families of children with autism. In this study, families of children with autism were invited to complete the Parenting Stress Index and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. These measures were used to determine the relationship between the level of problem behavior of a child with autism and the level of problem behavior of a typically-developing sibling when these variables are moderated by maternal parenting stress. For each family, a secondary caregiver perspective on the problem behavior of the typically developing sibling was also considered. A purposeful sampling procedure yielded only 21 usable pairs of data on primary caregiver parenting stress and problem behavior of a child with autism; thus, the planned analyses were revised and a bivariate correlation was run on these variables. Although this revised study did not yield significant results in the particular sample obtained, it highlights the challenges encountered when intending to run research such as this and indicated ways future researcher could attempt to proactively address these challenges. This study also shows the potential for positive social change from more comprehensive supports for families of children with autism that may decrease parenting stress, reduce problem behaviors of typically-developing siblings, and improve treatment outcomes for children with autism.

Nathan Phillip Stout

The present study investigated the use of stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) as the first step to build an echoic repertoire with children with no vocal communication skills. We began with echoic probes to establish the child did not have the target sound in their echoic repertoire, then implemented SSP to increase the rate of the target vocalization, and systematically added direct reinforcement, and a delay, until the participant responded in 80% of trials; we then implemented echoic training. We conducted this procedure with 3 young children with autism. This procedure was effective for one of three participants, and her echoic learning history immediately generalized to other sounds. For the other two participants, SSP increased the rate of vocalizations; however, they did not respond in enough trials to move to echoic training before withdrawing from the study. This study provides preliminary evidence for the use of SSP as part of echoic training for children with limited functional communication.

The diagnostic category of autism has been extensively investigated over the past 65 years since the condition was first described by Dr. Leo Kanner (1943), making it one of the most validated psychological disorders. Research has examined the characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across a variety of domains, including diagnostic symptomology, intellectual profiles, adaptive behavior, and psychosocial functioning. However, there exists a paucity of empirical research on intellectually gifted children with ASD. The goal of the current study was to compare the psychometric profiles of gifted youth with and without ASD across the domains of intellectual functioning, psychosocial/behavioral functioning, social skills, and adaptive behavior using an empirical, group study design. It was hypothesized that, in comparison to the group of youth without ASD, the group of youth with ASD would demonstrate equally strong verbal and nonverbal intellectual abilities with relatively poorer processing speed, poorer adaptive functioning skills, more psychosocial/behavior concerns, and poorer social skills. Data from 81 school-age youth who had been identified as intellectually gifted were included in the present study. Forty of the participants in this study met DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for ASD; the remaining 41 participants did not meet diagnostic criteria for an Axis I or Axis II psychological disorder. Statistical analyses included independent-samples t tests and split-plot analyses. Results of the current study demonstrate that statistically significant differences exist between gifted youth with and without ASD in the areas of processing speed, adaptive functioning, psychosocial/behavioral functioning, and social skills, despite equivalent verbal and nonverbal intellectual functioning. The current study is unique in that it is the first to examine these domains of functioning and make empirical comparisons of characteristics among gifted individuals with ASD using a group study design. Importantly, this study has significant implications for diagnosis of ASD and will provide an empirical foundation upon which to develop effective classroom interventions to best meet the unique needs of this twice-exceptional population.

Social skills interventions for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are needed as the number of students with ASD are increasing in educational settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate school psychologists ' perceptions on the effectiveness and generalization of social skills interventions for students with ASD. Training and confidence of providing services to students with ASD was also examined in the study. A survey was administered to a sample of school psychologists from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). In total, 221 responses were received and 136 of those responders indicated that they have implemented or organized a social skills intervention for a student(s) with ASD. It was found that the majority of school psychologists were implementing, organizing or recommending Social Stories and Pivotal Response Training /Direct Instruction interventions. It was also discovered that Pivotal Response Training / Direct Instruction was perceived as one of the most effective social skills interventions. Peer mediated interventions were perceived to be better at generalizing social skills interactions outside of training. School psychologists rated their confidence in providing direct/indirect social skills interventions as moderate.