This study evaluated the effectiveness of a tiered model of a family-centered parent training for the families of children with autism spectrum disorder. In Experiment 1, The researchers conducted a family-centered parent training using a group format, evaluated whether the target behaviors of children increased, and categorized their parents’ spontaneous anecdotal descriptions of relevant situations recorded on parent monitoring sheets as relating to the antecedent, behavior, consequence, or setting. In Experiment 2, we examined the effect of an individualized family-centered parent training for a family whose child’s target behavior had not improved in Experiment 1. Both parent training programs consisted of selecting target behaviors, developing parenting procedures that consisted of antecedent control and consequence control, and modifying the parenting procedures on the basis of the results. The results of Experiment 1 suggested that the target behaviors of seven children increased as a result of parent monitoring. Only one parent was unable to increase the target behavior of her child; however, during Experiment 2, the completion rate of the child for the steps involved in his target behavior increased. These findings have implications for a tiered model of a family-centered parent training.

This study aimed to investigate the rate and type of co-occurring disorders in children receiving special support for stuttering in speech and language classrooms (resource rooms and special classes for children with speech and language disorders) and compare the results of the Japanese Checklist for Possible Cluttering (JCPC) ver. 2 between the high-score and not-high-score groups. Results indicated that 27 (11.4%) of 237 children who had fluency disorder and were trained as children who stutter (CWS) were either medically diagnosed or suspected by their teachers as having co-occurring disorders. The co-occurrence of disorders was observed significantly more frequently in the high-score than not-high-score groups. The most frequent co-occurring disorders in the high-score group were “AD/HD (N=4),” followed by “Asperger syndrome (N=3),” “intellectual disability (N=3),” and “LD (N=3),” which were consist with previous studies aside from “intellectual disability.”

Previous studies (N=41) on the self-esteem of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were reviewed, and future issues were investigated. The results of past studies examining the self-esteem level of ASD and typically developing individuals have been inconsistent. Individual differences in the self-esteem level of ASD individuals might be larger than those of typically developing individuals. Moreover, studies on the support for improving the self-esteem of ASD individuals have indicated that although various types of support have been provided, effective support methods have not been developed to date. For the clarification of the self-esteem of ASD individuals, the accumulation of studies on self-esteem from the perspectives of its “stability and level,” as well as its “contingency,” is required in the future. Furthermore, support for ASD children is crucial to prevent the decline in their self-esteem that starts from the upper grades of elementary school.