Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Interfering Anxiety: Impact on Caregiver-Defined Goals

Central challenges for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can include difficulties with social communication, symptoms of emotional dysregulation, and pervasive effects of rigid and repetitive behaviors (Cuccaro et al., 2003; Matson & Nebel-Schwalm, 2007; Samson et al., 2014). Further, the heterogeneous phenotypes of individuals with ASD are often typified by additional forms of psychopathology. Nearly 40% of children with ASD are estimated to present with clinically elevated levels of anxiety (Van Steensel et al., 2011). Psychotherapy is a commonly used treatment for school-aged children with ASD and co-occurring anxiety. This secondary data analysis of a multisite randomized clinical trial (Wood et al., 2019) compared two variants of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to explore the most efficacious treatment for addressing specific caregiver-defined goals. In this study, adapted CBT (BIACA; Wood et al., 2009) and standard-of-practice CBT (Coping Cat; Kendall & Hedtke, 2006) were compared: (1) to better understand the varying types of clinical needs that children with ASD and anxiety present with, and (2) to investigate which CBT approach is best suited to support these varying clinical needs. In this study’s subsample, children with ASD and clinical levels of anxiety (N=148; aged 7-13 years, Mage=9.90, SD=1.78) were randomly assigned to a treatment condition (BIACA or Coping Cat). Both treatments provided 16 therapy sessions. BIACA personalized treatment through the utilization of a modular design which apportioned evidence-based treatment elements based on each child’s clinical need. Coping Cat provided CBT in a prescriptive format regardless of child’s overall clinical presentation. The primary outcome measure was parent severity ratings on caregiver-defined goals throughout treatment (Youth Top Problems; Weisz et al., 2011). BIACA outperformed Coping Cat on the primary outcome measure (p=.005). The findings from this study can inform clinicians about the benefits of personalized treatment plans as well as which caregiver-defined goals are better served by the modular/personalized format of adapted CBT. Further research should explore the feasibility of implementation by clinicians in varying contexts

The Michigan Disability Prevention Study: Research Highlights

This 3-year collaborative research project was designed to provide empirical evidence to substantiate the impact of various employer policies and practices on the prevention and management of workplace disability. It studied a random sample of 220 Michigan establishments with more than 100 employees from seven different industries who responded to a mail survey in the first half of 1991. The study correlates differences in employer-reported levels of achievement on policy and practice dimensions with performance on disability outcome measures, while controlling for a set of establishment characteristics in a multivariate regression analysis

The Michigan Disability Prevention Study: Research Highlights

This 3-year collaborative research project was designed to provide empirical evidence to substantiate the impact of various employer policies and practices on the prevention and management of workplace disability. It studied a random sample of 220 Michigan establishments with more than 100 employees from seven different industries who responded to a mail survey in the first half of 1991. The study correlates differences in employer-reported levels of achievement on policy and practice dimensions with performance on disability outcome measures, while controlling for a set of establishment characteristics in a multivariate regression analysis

Zambian Disability Policy Stakeholder Perspectives on the Ways that International Initiatives Influence Domestic Disability Policies

Disability has attracted attention in international human rights and development circles and Zambian domestic policy. The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of Zambian disability policy stakeholders about the ways that two international initiatives, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are being reflected in domestic policy. We collected data through semi-structured interviews with 22 policy stakeholders (12 disability advocates and 10 policymakers) and analysed these data using thematic analysis. The UNCRPD was perceived to be progressively integrated into Zambian disability policy although insufficiently implemented while the SDGs have provided rhetorical influence

Zambian Disability Policy Stakeholder Perspectives on the Ways that International Initiatives Influence Domestic Disability Policies

Disability has attracted attention in international human rights and development circles and Zambian domestic policy. The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of Zambian disability policy stakeholders about the ways that two international initiatives, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are being reflected in domestic policy. We collected data through semi-structured interviews with 22 policy stakeholders (12 disability advocates and 10 policymakers) and analysed these data using thematic analysis. The UNCRPD was perceived to be progressively integrated into Zambian disability policy although insufficiently implemented while the SDGs have provided rhetorical influence