Psychiatric hospitalization of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or intellectual disability is common, however, the effectiveness of this intervention is largely unknown. Thirty-eight clinically-referred children 8-19 years old admitted to a specialized inpatient psychiatry unit were assessed by a consistent caregiver on the Aberrant…

Repetitive behavior is a core feature of autism spectrum disorder. We used 8-week data from two federally funded, multi-site, randomized trials with risperidone conducted by the Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Autism Network to evaluate the sensitivity of the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified for autism…

The definition of conduct disorder in "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (5th ed.; DSMV) includes a new "limited prosocial emotions" specifier, designed to assist in the identification of those with more severe and persistent difficulties and the better targeting of interventions. This study set out to…

Research suggests that restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) can be subdivided into Repetitive Sensory Motor (RSM) and Insistence on Sameness (IS) behaviors. However, because the majority of previous studies have used the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), it is not clear whether these subcategories reflect the actual organization…

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have proven important for designating children and adolescents showing a pattern of particularly severe, stable, and aggressive antisocial behaviors (Frick, Ray, Thornton, & Kahn, 2014). Individuals with secondary CU traits represent a subpopulation that are distinguished from those with primary CU traits by…

This study of 182 secondary special education students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders investigated their classification by their school districts, in particular how well they were distinguished and represented by their federal categories. The districts used four classification groups (emotional disturbance, other health impairment…

In the present study, the applicability of The Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised (SESBI-R) was explored within a Norwegian sample of 983 children aged 3-8 years. By using an exploratory factor analysis the same 2-factor solution as the original SESBI-R was supported by Principal Component Analysis. Good internal consistency (alpha…

Objective: To assess the comorbidity of bipolar disorder (BPD) in children with ADHD and to study the psychopathological profile of ADHD children with and without mania. Method: A total of 100 children with ADHD were assessed with a semistructured diagnostic interview and questionnaires of mania, ADHD, and general psychopathology. Results: 8% of…

Objective: To assess how threshold oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), inattention, and hyperactivity-impulsivity affect the response to atomoxetine versus methylphenidate. Method: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs; greater than or equal to 6 weeks follow-up). The primary measure was core symptom response--greater than or…

This investigation examined how two commonly employed measures of functional impairment (the "Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale" [CAFAS] and the "Global Assessment of Functioning" [GAF] scale) perform with respect to assessing levels of functional impairment and, hence, identifying rates of serious emotional…

A new inventory assessing thought-action fusion (TAF) in children is presented. We explore the psychometric properties of this instrument and examine the associations between TAF, ritualistic and compulsive-like behavior (CLB) and anxiety. Three hundred thirteen children ages 7-14 (M = 10.16, SD = 1.92) representing six grades (grouped into three…

The atypical antipsychotic medication aripiprazole was evaluated using a randomized AB multiple baseline, double-blind, placebo-controlled design for the treatment of severe problem behavior with 4 children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Functional analysis (FA) was conducted concurrent with the medication evaluation to…

Objective: To examine the effects of symptoms of ADHD and ODD and cognitive functioning on social acceptance and positive bias in children. Method: The sample consisted of 86 children (49 girls) between 7 and 13 years old, recruited to reflect a wide range of ADHD symptoms. Parents and teachers reported on ADHD and ODD symptoms and social…

Background: The quality of behaviour support plans (BSPs) can be an important influence on the quality of the support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviours. The Behavior Support Plan Quality Evaluation Guide II (BSP-QE II) is one tool that may be useful in assessing the quality of behaviour support plans. It has…

Depression is the most common comorbidity among adults with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), yet little is known about depressive symptoms in childhood OCD. This study examined clinical and cognitive variables associated with depressive symptomatology in 71 youths (62% male, M age = 12.7 years) with primary OCD. Youths presented with a range…