Speech and language abilities are of great importance for later participation in economical and social life. In Lower Saxony/Germany, severely speech-/language (SL) impaired children may obtain special treatment during preschool in a so-called "Sprachheilkindergarten" (STK), a kindergarten focusing on early SL therapy. Purpose: This work…

Richard Simpson is professor of special education at the University of Kansas (KU). Dr. Simpson's duties at KU have included roles of staff psychologist, teaching associate, assistant professor, project director, associate professor, professor, and chairperson for the Department of Special Education. He has directed numerous University of Kansas…

Sheldon Braaten career has focused on children and youth with significant behavior and emotional challenges. His career has spanned experiences from a mental health therapist, special education teacher, school administrator, and university professor. Sheldon founded the Behavioral Institute for Children and Adolescents and initiated the…

Healthy social-emotional growth in infants and toddlers, also known as infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH), provides an essential foundation for early learning, school readiness, and long-term success. Social-emotional development is intertwined with cognitive development. This connection and its role in learning can be observed in…

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often carry co-morbid diagnoses and present with impairing heterogeneous symptomatology (Leyfer et al. in "J Autism Dev Disord" 36(7): 849-861, 2006. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0123-0). However, research from controlled laboratory settings often fails to examine the vast number of…

Student surveys are often used for school-based mental health screening; hence, it is critical to evaluate the authenticity of information obtained via the self-report format. The objective of this study was to examine the possible effects of mischievous response patterns on school-based screening results. The present study included 1,857 high…

Research within physical education (PE) utilising the occupational socialisation framework indicates that the childhood phase of socialisation is the most powerful phase of socialisation. However, for most teachers working with pupils experiencing special educational needs (SEN), the childhood phase often lacks direct experience of SEN and thus…

The goal of the current investigation was to test emotion dysregulation as a mechanism explaining the longitudinal association between peer rejection and depressive symptoms across 1 school year in middle childhood and to determine whether this process differed based on gender and grade. Youth in Grades 3 through 6 (N = 131; 71 girls) and their…

Although daily hassles and coping are associated with behavior and emotional problems in non-clinical populations, few studies have investigated these relationships in individuals with high-functioning autism/Asperger's Disorder (HFASD). This study examined the relationships between daily hassles, coping and behavior and emotional problems in…

Infant-toddler teachers are often the first people outside of families to interact with infants on a daily basis. Through these interactions teachers can promote infant mental health, prevent problems, screen and identify infants experiencing difficulties, make referrals, and work as members of interdisciplinary intervention teams. However,…

A growing body of research, largely from the global North, and particularly from North America, highlights the increasing psychiatrisation, medicalisation and psychologisation of children and childhood, and suggests that schools and educators play a key role in these processes. This increasing diffusion of psy-expertise within educational spaces…

Playground design is critical to school-based practice, insuring access and use for all children. The play behavior of children with special needs is qualitatively and quantitatively different than their typically developing peers. However, empirical data is needed to support the therapeutic value of playground equipment used with school-aged…

The identification of disengaged early school leavers as young people "at risk" can lead to a deficit-based framing of how educational institutions respond to them. A rural secondary school in Victoria, Australia established an alternative education programme to cater for local disengaged young people. A critical ethnographic study was…

Background: Recent research suggests that around 16% to 18% of children with Down syndrome (DS) also meet diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there are indications that profiles of autism symptoms in this group may vary from those typically described in children with ASD. Method: Rates of autism symptoms and emotional…

The aim of this study was to provide psychometric evidence related to the "Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Teacher Rating Scale-Preschool" form's (BESS TRS-P) ability to identify emerging problems in preschool children. Reliability and validity associated with screener scores were compared by analyzing teacher ratings of…