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There is an increasing number of autistic students being educated alongside their neurotypical peers. However, placing a student in the general education setting is not sufficient for meaningful inclusion. Historically, autistic students have had fewer friendships, been less accepted, and experienced stigmatization. Interventions to increase peer attitudes toward autism have emerged as a method for creating more inclusive environments. The purpose of this literature review was to describe the interventions to improve peer attitudes toward autism, review the quality of the research, and determine the effectiveness of interventions. Specifically, this review aimed to answer the following questions: (1) what are participant characteristics and components of interventions designed to improve attitudes toward autistic individuals? (2) What is the methodological quality of interventions designed to improve attitudes toward autistic individuals, as measured by Council for Exceptional Children standards for evidence-based practices in special education (2014) criteria? (3) What is the effectiveness of interventions to improve attitudes toward autistic individuals? A total of 13 studies were located through a systematic search. Included studies were coded for study characteristics, participant characteristics, intervention, and outcomes. Across the studies, there were a total of 2097 participants. All studies included contact (either direct, indirect, or peer-mediation) and most included an education component (k = 10). Findings indicated that interventions are effective at improving attitudes toward autism, but further research is required to determine their overall impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with emotional and behavioral problems have poor academic and behavioral outcomes, both short- and long-term. Psychotropic medications are commonly used as an intervention with this population and their use has increased significantly. This study investigated adolescent and family variables associated with medication use among high school students with elevated emotional and behavioral problems, including those with a label of emotional and behavioral disorders. Participants included 548 adolescents from a larger randomized controlled trial, 184 (33.6%) of whom were receiving medication. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that special education status, externalizing and internalizing behavior symptoms and participant race were significant student predictors of medication use. Parenting stress, family structure, positive parenting, and poor monitoring were significant family predictors of participants' medication use. These findings have implications for current practices in schools pertaining to screening and access to interventions as well as future research focused on the parent and student decision making process for choice of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement in early childhood has been linked with later achievement, but the relation between these variables and how they are measured in early childhood requires examination. We estimated the overall association between academic engagement and achievement in children prior to kindergarten entry. Our systematic literature search yielded 13,521 reports for structured eligibility screening; from this pool of studies, we identified 21 unique data sets, with 199 effect sizes for analysis. We coded eligible studies, extracted effect sizes, accounted for effect size dependency, and used random-effects models to synthesize findings. The overall correlation between academic engagement and achievement was r =.24 (range: −.08 to.71), and moderator analyses did not significantly predict the relation between the two constructs. This study aligns with previous research on this topic and examines issues related to these measures, their constraints, and applications as they pertain to early childhood research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]