Children's Friendship Training


Book Description

First published in 2003. Children's Friendship Training is a complete manualized guide for therapists treating children with peer problems. This unique, empirically validated treatment is the first to integrate parents into the therapy process to ensure generalization to school and home. Representing over twelve years of research, Children's Friendship Training presents the comprehensive social skills training program developed by these pioneering authors. Step-by-step interventions help children develop the skills to initiate mutually satisfying social interactions. These interactions can lead to higher regard within the peer group and the development of satisfying dyadic relationships that will, in turn, serve to enhance overall well being. Clinical and empirical rationales, illustrative case examples and parent handouts that educate parents and give specific guidelines for homework assignments are presented for each treatment module. Brief relevant reviews of the child development literature and selective reviews of assessment techniques and other approached to children's social skills training are presented to sufficiently acquaint therapists interested in implementing children's friendship training.




Handbook of Executive Functioning


Book Description

Planning. Attention. Memory. Self-regulation. These and other core cognitive and behavioral operations of daily life comprise what we know as executive functioning (EF). But despite all we know, the concept has engendered multiple, often conflicting definitions and its components are sometimes loosely defined and poorly understood. The Handbook of Executive Functioning cuts through the confusion, analyzing both the whole and its parts in comprehensive, practical detail for scholar and clinician alike. Background chapters examine influential models of EF, tour the brain geography of the executive system and pose salient developmental questions. A section on practical implications relates early deficits in executive functioning to ADD and other disorders in children and considers autism and later-life dementias from an EF standpoint. Further chapters weigh the merits of widely used instruments for assessing executive functioning and review interventions for its enhancement, with special emphasis on children and adolescents. Featured in the Handbook: The development of hot and cool executive function in childhood and adolescence. A review of the use of executive function tasks in externalizing and internalizing disorders. Executive functioning as a mediator of age-related cognitive decline in adults. Treatment integrity in interventions that target executive function. Supporting and strengthening working memory in the classroom to enhance executive functioning. The Handbook of Executive Functioning is an essential resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners and graduate students in clinical child, school and educational psychology; child and adolescent psychiatry; neurobiology; developmental psychology; rehabilitation medicine/therapy and social work.




Handbook of Social Skills and Autism Spectrum Disorder


Book Description

This handbook identifies the various social deficiencies widely associated with children and youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It discusses possible causes as well as the lifelong effects if these deficiencies are not addressed. The handbook presents current behavioral and curriculum-based methods for assessing social deficits. Chapters examine the various interventions that have been used to improve social skills and behavior, including video modeling, peer-mediated interventions, and script fading. Chapters also assess various interventions using empirically based procedures, evaluate the research of each of these procedures, provide guidelines for treatment planning, and offer clinical recommendations. The handbook concludes with future directions for the development of both social behavior and clinical social skills interventions. Topics featured in the Handbook include: Impairments in social behavior that may result in negative outcomes such as depression, loneliness, and suicide in individuals with ASD. Bullying among youth with ASD. Behavioral skills training to promote social behavior of individuals with ASD. The Early Start Denver Model approach to helping young children with ASD. The implementation of social skills groups for individuals diagnosed with ASD. The Handbook of Social Skills and Autism Spectrum Disorder is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, behavioral therapy, and social work, as well as such interrelated disciplines as child and adolescent psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine/therapy, pediatrics, and special education/educational psychology.




Twice Exceptional


Book Description

In an educational system founded on rigid standards and categories, students who demonstrate a very specific manifestation of intelligence flourish, while those who deviate tend to fall between the cracks. Too often, talents and interests that do not align with classroom conventions are left unrecognized and unexplored in children with extraordinary potential but little opportunity. For twice-exceptional (2e) children, who have extraordinary strengths coupled with learning difficulties, the problem is compounded by the paradoxical nature of their intellect and an unbending system, ill-equipped to cater to their unique learning needs. Twice Exceptional: Supporting and Educating Bright and Creative Students with Learning Difficulties provides cutting-edge, evidence-based approaches to creating an environment where twice-exceptional students can thrive. Viewing the 2e student as neither exclusively disabled nor exclusively gifted, but, rather, as a dynamic interaction of both, leading experts offer holistic insight into identification, social-emotional development, advocacy, and support for 2e students. With chapters focusing on special populations (including autism, dyslexia, and ADHD) as well as the intersection of race and 2e, this book highlights practical recommendations for school and social contexts. In expounding the unique challenges faced by the 2e population, Twice Exceptional makes a case for greater flexibility in our approach to education and a wider notion of what it means to be academically successful.




Evidence-Based Assessment in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)


Book Description

Advocating for an increased emphasis on evidence-based practice, this book describes and analyses a wide range of available Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) assessment measures. The author offers guidance on how to evaluate services and programmes and how to recognise which will be most effective in different scenarios for people with differing needs. A wide range of measures are reviewed in detail, including assessments used in situations often ignored in overviews relevant to ASD, such as assessments of internet addiction, response to traumatic stress, and criminal offending risk and witness credibility. This book is an invaluable resource to professionals who support people with ASDs, including social workers and teachers, and who are under increasing pressure to reliably assess which services, programmes and therapies are effective and fit-for-purpose.




A Computational View of Autism


Book Description

This book first explains autism, its prevalence, and some conventional intervention techniques, and it then describes how virtual reality technology can support autism intervention and skills training. The approaches and technologies covered include immersive virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. The tasks covered include emotion recognition, affective computing, teaching communication skills, imparting literacy skills, training for imitation skills, and joint attention skills. Most of the chapters assume no prerequisite knowledge of autism or virtual reality, and they are supported throughout with detailed references for further investigation. While the author is an engineer by profession, with specialist knowledge in robotics and computer-based platforms, in this book she adopts a user perspective and cites many real-life examples from her own experience. The book is suitable for students of cognitive science, and researchers and practitioners engaged with designing and offering technological assistance for special needs training.




Autism Spectrum Disorders


Book Description

The fourth edition of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Identification, Education, and Treatment continues the mission of its predecessors: to present a comprehensive, readable, and up-to-date overview of the field of autism; one that links research, theory, and practice in ways that are accessible to students, practitioners, and parents. During the last decade, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have emerged as the fastest growing developmental disability, and, in response to the dramatic increase in diagnoses, diagnostic criteria in the newly published DSM-5 are significantly different than they were in the DSM IV-R. The structure, content, and format of Autism Spectrum Disorders, 4th Edition have been revised to accommodate changes in the field and to illuminate the current state of the art in the study of autism. New information on early identification, transition education from adolescence through to adulthood, neurobiological research, and technology-based solutions is included.




Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Schizophrenia


Book Description

Could CRT provide the first structured method of alleviating cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia? Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Schizophrenia describes the background and development of this new psychological therapy and demonstrates how it provides the first structured help to overcome the thinking problems associated with schizophrenia. In three sections, the book covers the theoretical and empirical underpinning of cognitive remediation therapy and explores its application. Part I, 'The Development of Therapy', provides the historical context and theoretical background to the therapy and emphasizes the value of rehabilitating cognitive deficits. In Part II, 'Improving Cognitive Processes', the process and effects of changing cognition are examined. Finally, in Part III, 'The Process of Therapy', the authors provide a clinical guide to the delivery of cognitive remediation therapy and use case examples to support its efficacy. This book is the first to describe an individual cognitive remediation therapy programme based on a clear model of the relationship between thinking and behaviour. It will be of both academic and clinical value to all those health professionals and clinical academics who want not only to understand the relationships between thought and action but also to intervene to improve therapy.




Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder


Book Description

This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI), which are evidence-based interventions that integrate both behavioral and developmental approaches in the treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.