Tiffany L. Hutchins

Mindfulness Meditation May Lessen Anxiety, Promote Social Skills, and Improve Academic Performance Among Adolescents With Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities (LD; defined by compromised academic performance) often have higher levels of anxiety, school-related stress, and less optimal social skills compared with their typically developing peers. Previous health research indicates that meditation and relaxation training may be effective in reducing anxiety and promoting social skills. This pilot study used a pre—post no-control design to examine feasibility of, attitudes toward, and outcomes of a 5-week mindfulness meditation intervention administered to 34 adolescents diagnosed with LD. Postintervention survey responses overwhelmingly expressed positive attitudes toward the program. All outcome measures showed significant improvement, with participants who completed the program demonstrating decreased state and trait anxiety, enhanced social skills, and improved academic performance. Although not directly assessed, the outcomes are consistent with a cognitive-interference model of learning disability and suggest that mindfulness meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus of attention, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic outcomes.

Brief Report: Preliminary Evaluation of the Theory of Mind Inventory and its Relationship to Measures of Social Skills

This study presents updated information on a parent-report measure of Theory of Mind (ToM), formerly called the Perception of Children’s Theory of Mind Measure (Hutchins et al., J Autism Dev Disord 38:143–155, 2008), renamed the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI), for use with parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examines the responses of parents of adolescents with ASDs and explores the relationship of parental responses on the ToMI to measures of autistic symptoms and social skills. Descriptive statistics were compared to previous samples; correlations and regressions were conducted to examine the ToMI’s criterion-related validity with social skills and ASD symptoms. Results support use of the ToMI with adolescent samples and its relationship to social impairments in ASDs.

Supporting Theory of Mind Development: Considerations and Recommendations for Professionals Providing Services to Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Theory of mind (ToM) difficulties represent a core deficit underlying the social, behavioral, and communicative impairments characteristic of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This article provides a developmental perspective on ToM that can serve as a framework for understanding and addressing ToM deficits characteristic of individuals with ASD to assist in education planning. Popular methods for assessing ToM are reviewed and the use of social stories and comic strip conversations to facilitate ToM understanding is described in a case vignette, which provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility of this type of intervention for encouraging ToM development in children with ASD. Professionals who provide services to individuals with ASD are encouraged to incorporate assessment and intervention procedures that acknowledge the importance of ToM in their program plan and to consider the connections between ToM and communicative and behavioral functioning.

Family-Centered Intervention and Satisfaction with AAC Device Training.

The purpose of this article is to describe a family-centered collaborative approach for developing and implementing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device training for one family. Family-centered training emphasized collaboration with the primary investigator and focused on needs assessment, the identification of priority communicative contexts, AAC device implementation, and communication partner training. Responses to a questionnaire to assess satisfaction at posttraining revealed high degrees of satisfaction for most dimensions (e.g., expertise and sensitivity of the trainer, relevance and appropriateness of the training). Other dimensions (e.g., familys comfort when using the AAC device), by comparison, were associated with less satisfaction, which provides important information to guide further intervention efforts. Clinical implications, directions for future research, and the importance of a family-centered approach to practice are discussed.

Test-Retest Reliability of a Theory of Mind Task Battery for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders:

This study examined for the first time the test-retest reliability of theory-of-mind tasks when administered to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A total of 16 questions within 9 tasks targeting a range of content and complexity were administered at 2 times to 17 children with ASD. In all, 13 questions demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability and high internal consistency. Items that did not achieve reliability violated a pragmatic convention, were ambiguous, or were associated with a response bias. No effect of verbal ability or diagnosis was found on consistency of performance. There was no effect of interval (i.e., short vs. long) on change in score although modest increases in performance occurred generally across administrations. Implications for research and practice are considered.

Methods for controlling amount of talk: Difficulties, considerations and recommendations

The aim of this article is to focus researchers’ attention on some central methodological issues involving control of amount of talk (AOT). First, appropriate methods for standardizing the size of language samples are considered. Second, the common practice of deriving linguistic rates by dividing the frequency of some linguistic variable of interest by a frequency tapping AOT is challenged. This operation does not adequately control for AOT and may result in spurious findings. Third, appropriate contexts for achieving control of AOT through statistical partialling are discussed. Some recommendations for research are offered.

Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Social Behavior The Social Validity of Social Stories™ and Comic Strip Conversations

This article describes a family-centered collaborative approach to the development and socially valid assessment of Social Stories™ and comic strip conversations (CSCs) for supporting the social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Seventeen children with ASD (ages 4–12 years) participated in either an immediate or a wait-intervention control group. Parents’ perceptions of the effects of Social Stories™ and CSCs to promote more appropriate social behaviors were compared across baseline, intervention, and withdrawal phases of study. Visual analyses of subjective ratings indicated that the intervention was effective for 13 of 17 children (i.e., for 76.5% of cases). Perceived effects of treatment were linked only to the variable of verbal mental age with a minimum age of 3 years predicting success. The authors argue that Social Stories™ and CSCs lead to socially valid outcomes. Although there are exceptions, they are most likely to be effective for addressing social behaviors in the context of interpersonal conflicts when children demonstrate a minimum verbal age of 3 years. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The social validity of Social Stories™ for supporting the behavioural and communicative functioning of children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract This study examines the social validity of a family-centred collaborative approach to developing Social Stories™ to support the behavioural and communicative functioning of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty children with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)/Autism, PDD-Not Otherwise Specified, or Aspergers Disorder (aged 4–12 years) participated in a multiple baseline design across behaviours with a 6-week follow-up. The effects of behaviour stories (to reduce problem behaviours) and communication stories (to facilitate communication) as assessed by parental subjective perceptions of child functioning were evaluated and compared. Using daily parental ratings, behaviour stories were deemed effective for 11 of 17 stories (64.7%), whereas communication stories were deemed effective for 10 of 19 stories (52.6%), with great variability in effect size for both. Results also indicated variability in performance across specific story targets, although parents’ perceived effects of Social Stories™ were not linked to any known child characteristics. This study argues that intervention using Social Stories™ to address behavioural and communicative functioning can yield socially valid outcomes across a range of child characteristics and intervention targets. Implications for clinical practice and how present methodological limitations can be addressed in future research are considered.

The Role of Family-Centered Care in Research: Supporting the Social Communication of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Families and their children with special healthcare needs require effective interventions to address childrens needs in the context of daily family interactions. This article offers a unique perspective to understanding the role of family-centered care. It extends beyond expected practice in service delivery to the role of families in the implementation of intervention research, specifically when collaborating with families of children with autism spectrum disorder. Two intervention studies are described involving children with autism spectrum disorder and their families and the application of principles of family-centered care. Elements of family-centered care demonstrated in the intervention research are summarized. Finally, specific challenges are described associated with conducting family-centered intervention research and suggestions are offered to clinical researchers to inform future research endeavors.

Retention of School-Based SLPs: Relationships Among Caseload Size, Workload Satisfaction, Job Satisfaction, and Best Practice:

Nationally, the shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the schools is growing. As such, it is important to understand factors related to the retention of SLPs in this setting. This study expanded on previous research by examining a wider range of factors that may be related to the retention of SLPs including caseload size, workload satisfaction, job satisfaction, and time available to conduct best practice. Participants were 75 full-time SLPs working in a school setting in the state of Vermont who completed a survey designed to solicit information concerning the variables of interest. Several dimensions of job satisfaction and best practice predicted retention, caseload, and especially workload. The results also suggested that high workloads complicate the implementation of best practice and have implications for retention. Limitations of the research and implications for practice are discussed.