Advances in Developmental and Educational Psychology

Teaching rural educators to ask follow-up questions during open-ended interviews via telehealth

Patrick W. Romani — 2022-06-22

Educators are mandated to complete functional behavior assessment (FBA) prior to the development of a behavior intervention plan for students in need of special education support for emotional or behavioral needs. FBAs lead to hypotheses as to the function(s) of problem behavior (e.g., to gain access to attention). Research shows educators most often use open-ended interviews to complete FBA within school settings. Interviewers ask questions to gain information about topics, like antecedents and consequences to problem behavior, to inform subsequent assessment or treatment. Unfortunately, research documents variability in the quality of school-based FBAs, particularly with regards to interviewing. Given the variability in quality of open-ended interviews, studies teaching core interviewing skills to educators are sorely needed. Thus, the current study delivered telehealth-based training to six educators who regularly completed open-ended interviews as part of FBAs. Following baseline, showing that educators (a) did not ask relevant questions and (b) did not ask follow-up questions when they needed to, training occurred to teach interviewing skills. The current study showed improvements in interviewing skills following a didactic presentation and behavioral skills training delivered via telehealth. Four of the six educators successfully interviewed a parent with high integrity following training. These results will be discussed in terms of strategies to improve interviewing skills for educators using telehealth services.

Parents' perceptions of autism and their challenges in China

Wangqian Fu — 2022-01-10

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Parents play a significant role in research, clinical practice and policy development on autism. Parents' perceptions of autism can affect not only their own well-being, but also their children's development. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the parents’ perception of autism in Chinese context. The parents’ perception of autism questionnaire was applied to collect information from 171 families of children with ASD, mainly to investigate the knowledge of autistic children and the difficulties the family facing. The following conclusions were drawn from this study: (1) Mother as the primary caregiver for children with ASD; (2) Parents’ perception of ASD were various parents of autistic children have a good understanding of the symptoms, causes, age of onset and interventions, and their expectations of the prognosis and the future life of their autistic children are high; (3) The difficulties that faced by the parents are mainly composed of low social acceptance, family pressure and concerns about the effectiveness of interventions for their children. In consideration of the future development of children with autism and the mental health development of their parents, it is particularly crucial to support their parents with multifaceted support.

Detection and first step intervention for child victims of bullying

John S. Saroyan — 2022-03-22

Bullying behavior towards young children and adolescents can occur in schools, neighborhoods and structured group activities, including sports teams or after school programs. While some children manage to avoid harmful negative contacts prompted by their peers, other children suffer repeated verbal abuse, physical assaults, gossip, harassment and/or group rejection. Ultimately this can affect their self esteem and social interactions. Such victims commonly develop symptoms related to depression and anxiety that are not easily observable to teachers and parents or other concerned adults. Family physicians and pediatricians may however carry the role as a child’s trusted and caring support, to help uncover issues related to a child as a victim. They may provide opportunities for a child to open up and share personal problems related to bullying along with other related mental health concerns needing attention. Detecting victimization may be recognized after viewing initial prompts or questionnaires given at intake. The addition of a quantifiable instrument related to bullying may also aid in discerning whether a problem exists. Recognizing symptoms of bullied children provides an opportunity for physicians to further inquire about the emotional impact bullying has on the child. Children and parents should both experience support during this process. The addition of educational resources, group referrals and individual/family counseling should also be recommended with follow ups to review progress.