Youth with ASD often show limited or atypical empathic responsiveness. The direct effects of social skills interventions on enhancing empathic responsiveness is unknown. Data from a randomized controlled trial were used to investigate whether a Theory of Mind training improves the empathic responsiveness, measured through structured observations.…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between social-emotional and language development in a sample of 3-5-year-old children in community-based early childhood education and care (N = 90). Children's theory of mind understanding, affect recognition and language abilities were tested with neuropsychological measurements,…

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a skill of social cognition recently of interest to literacy researchers. This article presents initial findings from a pilot study investigating the use of ToM to teach theme identification and theme statement formation to beginning readers who are less-skilled in comprehension. The authors designed a brief, 1:1 listening…

Interest continues to be high in technology-based interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Understanding the preferences and challenges of technology use among individuals with ASD can inform the design of such interventions. Through 18 interviews with parents, we used an iterative inductive-deductive approach to…

Mindfulness has been gaining momentum in the field of school psychology, however compared to other applied psychology fields, less research on mindfulness interventions has been conducted. This study systematically reviewed mindfulness literature and empirical studies in nine school psychology journals from 2006-2016. The prevalence of mindfulness…

We explore the relationship between the "theory of mind" (ToM) and "central coherence" difficulties of autism. We introduce covariation between hierarchically-embedded categories and social information--at the local level, the global level, or at both levels simultaneously--within a category confusion task. We then ask…

Interest continues to be high in technology-based interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Understanding the preferences and challenges of technology use among individuals with ASD can inform the design of such interventions. Through 18 interviews with parents, we used an iterative inductive-deductive approach to…

Social-emotional factors associated with youth aggression have largely been studied in the context of social information-processing models. The ability to accurately encode and appropriately interpret others' emotions has yet to be fully examined in the context of aggressive behavior, particularly during adolescence. Using cross-sectional data…

Effective communication requires an understanding of the interlocutor's perspective. Being able to infer someone else's knowledge about a situation is a critical skill in any communication and social interaction. These abilities are part of Theory of Mind (ToM) skills and are known to be impaired in Down syndrome (DS). It therefore makes sense to…

Listening to narrative material stimulates and activates multiple areas in the cerebral cortex. It has been shown that such activations produce significant changes in the connectivity of the brain. In literature, findings have shown that in pathological aging (i.e., cognitive decline) patients who underwent a daily narrative training showed some…

Growing up in a high family risk (HFR) environment is accompanied by difficulties in executive functions (EFs) and interpersonal skills (IS) that may persist into adulthood. Because preadolescence is a critical period, this study will assess a multicomponent mediational intervention program, to determine the possibility of improving these skills.…

Despite the increasing utilisation of mindfulness-based interventions in children, research investigating the impact of these interventions in children is still in its infancy. One significant gap in the literature is the general omission of the child's voice in how they experience and benefit from mindfulness-based intervention. Therefore, the…

Perspective taking, defined as the ability to take on the visual, cognitive, and affective perspective of others, is considered a highly adaptive skill, vital for the child's social, intellectual, and emotional development. This article provides a critical analysis of scientific psychological literature from 1995 to the present on the main methods…

Despite the movement toward identification of evidence-based practices (EBPs), there is a discrepancy in the availability of school-based EBPs targeting the unique needs of students with high functioning forms of autism and related social needs. Based on calls for systematic intervention development and evaluation processes, the current study…

In 2 cross-lagged, longitudinal studies we contrasted parental talk about want in a single context versus multiple contexts. Study 1 examined thirty-two 2 year olds, with mothers describing pictures to children. Mothers could use want in zero, one, or multiple contexts. Children whose mothers used want in multiple contexts experienced a…