Psychology

Volume I: Methods and Principles provides comprehensive coverage of the logic, clinical utility, and methods of single-case research designs. Chapters walk the reader through the design, data collection, and data analysis phases and are appropriate for students, researchers, and clinicians concerned with best practice. Volume I also provides an overview of the experimental analysis of behaviour, and chapters reviewing some of the most important areas of contemporary laboratory research in behaviour analysis. Topics covered include memory, attention, choice, behavioural neuroscience, and behavioural pharmacology.

Volume II: Translating Principles into Practice includes 10 chapters illustrating how principles of behaviour discovered in basic-science laboratories have provided insights on socially important human behaviour ranging from the complex discriminations that underlie human language to disorders treated by clinical psychologists. The second section of Volume II includes 12 chapters, each devoted to a particular behavioural/developmental disorder (e.g., behavioural treatments of ADHD, autism) or to behaviour of societal importance (e.g., effective college teaching, effective treatment of substance abuse). Each of these chapters provides a review of what works and where additional research is needed.

This textbook offers real-world case studies for using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to create, implement, and appraise behavior intervention programs across a variety of client situations. Its chapters are formatted for ease of use and retention and organized to focus on the core components of ABA: assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and research/ethics. Illustrative cases represent a diversity of problem behaviors, settings, social contexts, and life stages, and includes questions about data collection, goal setting, communication with families, and other processes of effective ABA practice. Together they emphasize not only the content knowledge involved in designing interventions, but also the interpersonal skills necessary for helping change complex challenging behaviors.

The textbook provides an advanced introduction to operant conditioning from a very consistent Skinnerian perspective. It covers a range of principles from basic respondent and operant conditioning through applied behavior analysis into cultural design. Elaborating on Darwinian components and biological connections with behavior, the book treats the topic from a consistent worldview of selectionism. The functional relations between the organism and the environment are described, and their application in accounting for old behavior and generating new behavior is illustrated. The chapter on verbal behavior is expanded to include new research on stimulus equivalence and naming; there is also a more detailed and updated analysis of learning by imitation and its possible links to mirror neurons. In the chapter on applied behavior analysis (ABA), new emphasis is given to contingency management of addiction, applications to education, ABA and autism, and prevention and treatment of health-related problems.

This book shows teachers and other human service professionals working in school settings how to employ non-aversive, behavior analysis principles in classrooms and other school settings. Marked by its clear writing and multitude of real-classroom examples, this book is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses in teacher education, special education, school psychology, and school counseling.

Comprehensive in breath and textbook in depth, the Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders serves as a reference repository of knowledge in the field as well as a regularly updated conduit of new knowledge long before such information trickles down from research to standard textbooks. The Encyclopedia consists of 5 volumes and approximately 1,500 entries divided by the major conceptual areas of ASD and PDDs, including:

- Research trends and findings
- Behavior/speech
- Communication
- Treatments
- Education

Taking advantage of the techniques offered by the electronic medium, the Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders offers an extensive cross-referencing system facilitating search and retrieval of information.

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.

This book discusses the deficits in the development and presentation of play behavior and social skills that are considered central characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The book explains why play provides an important context for social interactions and how its absence can further exacerbate social deficits over time. It highlights the critical roles of social skills in development, and the social, cognitive, communication, and motor components of play. Topics featured in this book include: Naturalistic Teaching Strategies (NaTS) for developing play and social skills. Teaching play and social skills with video modeling. Peer-mediated intervention (PMI) strategies that promote positive social interactions between children with ASD and their peers. Visual Activity Schedules and Scripts. Parent-implemented play and social skills intervention. Play and Social Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in clinical child and school psychology, behavioral therapy/rehabilitation, social work, public health, and related psychology, education, and behavioral health fields.

Helena Hartmann examines the crucial concepts of cognitive empathy, emotional egocentricity and social pain of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She thereby provides valuable insights into the investigation of social cognition of both the neurotypical as well as autistic population. Since past research has revealed that individuals with ASD often face problems regarding cognitive empathy, they might also exhibit more difficulties in correctly classifying and distinguishing feelings of themselves and other people. In order to verify this hypothesis, one group with and one without ASD underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing Cyberball;a virtual ball-toss game known to create feelings of social inclusion or exclusion. These findings should not only expand former research but also contribute to a better understanding of the social and emotional impairments of this group.