Examining efficacy and potential mechanisms of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for anxiety and stress reduction among college students in a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

The pervasiveness of anxiety and stress among college students necessitates the investigation of potential alternative and accessible interventions which can be implemented into existing curricular and student-support programming to improve students' mental health. Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) smartphone applications have shown promising outcomes in alleviating anxiety and stress. However, it is essential to gain insight into the feasibility and efficacy of such an interventional approach in a collegiate population, as well as explore potential underlying mechanisms, which could be better targeted to enhance the efficacy of future interventions for promoting mental health and well-being.

Effects of AFQ056 on language learning in fragile X syndrome.

BACKGROUNDFXLEARN, the first-ever large multisite trial of effects of disease-targeted pharmacotherapy on learning, was designed to explore a paradigm for measuring effects of mechanism-targeted treatment in fragile X syndrome (FXS). In FXLEARN, the effects of metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 (mGluR5) negative allosteric modulator (NAM) AFQ056 on language learning were evaluated in 3- to 6-year-old children with FXS, expected to have more learning plasticity than adults, for whom prior trials of mGluR5 NAMs have failed.METHODSAfter a 4-month single-blind placebo lead-in, participants were randomized 1:1 to AFQ056 or placebo, with 2 months of dose optimization to the maximum tolerated dose, then 6 months of treatment during which a language-learning intervention was implemented for both groups.

Family and Caregiver Characteristics Contribute to Caregiver Change in Use of Strategies and Growth in Child Spoken Language in a Parent-Implemented Language Intervention in Fragile X Syndrome.

Purpose: This study examined relationships among family characteristics, caregiver change in use of strategies, and child growth in spoken language over the course of a parent-implemented language intervention (PILI) that was developed to address some of the challenges associated with the fragile X syndrome (FXS) phenotype.

Method: Participants were 43 parent-child dyads from two different PILI studies, both of which taught parents various language facilitation strategies to support child language. Before starting the intervention, parents reported on their mental health, parenting stress, and parenting competence.

Defining Expressive Language Benchmarks for Children with Down Syndrome.

Establishing expressive language benchmarks (ELBs) for children with Down syndrome (DS), as developed by Tager-Flusberg et al. for children with autism, is critically needed to inform the development of novel treatments, identify individualized treatment targets, and promote accurate monitoring of progress. In the present study, we assessed ELB assignments in three language domains (phonology, vocabulary, and grammar) for 53 young children with DS (CA range: 2.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Related Self-Reported Symptoms Are Associated With Elevated Concussion Symptomatology.

The aim of the present investigation was to provide insight into how postconcussion symptomatology may be altered in individuals exhibiting attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behaviors and examine factors that may be responsible for driving such relationships. A total of 99 individuals were assessed during the subacute phase of concussion recovery. Inattentive symptomatology, but not diagnosis of ADHD, was related to greater concussion-symptom severity and overall symptoms endorsed.

Using telehealth-delivered procedures to collect a parent-implemented expressive language sampling narrative task in monolingual and bilingual families with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A pilot study.

Language impairments are frequent, severe, and of prognostic value in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Unfortunately, the evaluation of the efficacy of treatments targeting the language skills of those with ASD continues to be hindered by a lack of psychometrically sound outcome measures. Expressive Language Sampling (ELS) procedures offer a promising alternative to norm-referenced standardized tests for assessing expressive language in treatment studies.

Daily Living Skills in Adolescent and Young Adult Males With Fragile X Syndrome.

By adulthood, most males with fragile X syndrome (FXS) require support to navigate day-to-day settings. The present study cross-sectionally: (1) characterized the profile of daily living skills in males with FXS and (2) examined associated participant characteristics (i.e.

Maternal Mental Health and Parenting Stress and Their Relationships to Characteristics of the Child With Fragile X Syndrome.

Although previous research supports the notion that characteristics of both the child and the mother impact maternal well-being and parenting stress in mothers of children with FXS, more work is needed in which self-report measures are supplemented by physiological measures of stress and well-being. The inclusion of physiological measures, such as heart rate variability (HRV), may provide a window into the biological origins and consequences of maternal perceptions of their experiences, including the challenges of raising a child with developmental challenges. The proposed project, therefore, involved the collection of multimodal assessment data from mothers and their school-aged children with FXS.

Responsive Parenting as a Target for Telehealth Language Interventions in Fragile X Syndrome: Implications for Scalability and Best Practices.

This review highlights the ways in which telehealth procedures can be implemented to help bridge the research-to-practice gap in supporting developmental outcomes for youth with fragile X syndrome (FXS). We review how the literature to date has informed potential treatment targets in the areas of speech and language development with a focus on understanding and supporting the dyadic relationship between the child and their biological mother, who is also impacted biologically. Notably, parental responsivity is an area that is strongly related to child language outcomes, both early and into adolescence, and thus, it is an important treatment target for subsequent interventions.

Providing a parent-administered outcome measure in a bilingual family of a father and a mother of two adolescents with ASD: brief report.

There is a need for psychometrically sound outcome measures for treatment studies that have a low burden for families and that are available in multiple languages. We have developed a language assessment in English and Spanish that parents can administer to their children at home via telehealth-delivered procedures. The current case study presents descriptive data on a single family of two parent-child dyads.

Exploring the feasibility of collecting multimodal multiperson assessment data via distance in families affected by fragile X syndrome.

Introduction: Telehealth is an important tool in helping to provide services for hard-to-reach populations. One population that might benefit from telehealth are individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Although FXS is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability, it is nonetheless a low incidence disorder.

Controlled trial of lovastatin combined with an open-label treatment of a parent-implemented language intervention in youth with fragile X syndrome.

Background: The purpose of this study was to conduct a 20-week controlled trial of lovastatin (10 to 40 mg/day) in youth with fragile X syndrome (FXS) ages 10 to 17 years, combined with an open-label treatment of a parent-implemented language intervention (PILI), delivered via distance video teleconferencing to both treatment groups, lovastatin and placebo.

Method: A randomized, double-blind trial was conducted at one site in the Sacramento, California, metropolitan area. Fourteen participants were assigned to the lovastatin group; two participants terminated early from the study.

Distance delivery of a spoken language intervention for school-aged and adolescent boys with fragile X syndrome.

A small randomized group design (N = 20) was used to examine a parent-implemented intervention designed to improve the spoken language skills of school-aged and adolescent boys with FXS, the leading cause of inherited intellectual disability. The intervention was implemented by speech-language pathologists who used distance video-teleconferencing to deliver the intervention. The intervention taught mothers to use a set of language facilitation strategies while interacting with their children in the context of shared story-telling.

Distance delivery of a parent-implemented language intervention for young boys with fragile X syndrome.

Background: In addition to significant cognitive delays, boys with fragile X syndrome display phenotypic characteristics that include delays in language, inattention, social anxiety, and escape-maintained challenging behaviors. Despite these challenges, families affected by fragile X syndrome often have limited access to center-based intervention programs.

Methods: The present study utilized a multiple baseline design across participants to examine the preliminary effectiveness of a 12-week, parent-implemented spoken language intervention for three 5- to 7-year-old boys with fragile X syndrome.

A Spoken-Language Intervention for School-Aged Boys With Fragile X Syndrome.

Using a single case design, a parent-mediated spoken-language intervention was delivered to three mothers and their school-aged sons with fragile X syndrome, the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability. The intervention was embedded in the context of shared storytelling using wordless picture books and targeted three empirically derived language-support strategies. All sessions were implemented through distance videoteleconferencing.

Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with Down syndrome.

This study was designed to examine the narrative language abilities of children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) in comparison to same-age peers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and younger typically developing (TD) children matched by nonverbal cognitive ability levels. Participants produced narrative retells from a wordless picture book. Narratives were analyzed at the macrostructural (i.

Early Language Intervention Using Distance Video-Teleconferencing: A Pilot Study of Young Boys With Fragile X Syndrome and Their Mothers.

Purpose: This study examined the effects of a naturalistic parent-implemented language intervention on the use of verbally responsive language by mothers of 6 young boys with fragile X syndrome. The intervention included parent education sessions and clinician coaching delivered onsite and by distance video-teleconferencing.

Method: A single-case multiple baseline across participants was used to examine intervention effects on maternal use of language support strategies.