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For young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), early intensive intervention is imperative. The Bridge Skill Development Program is a parent-mediated intervention designed to "bridge the gap" during the period after a diagnosis of ASD while children wait for intensive intervention. This program introduces applied behavior analysis (ABA) teaching techniques, including the use of parent-mediated discrete trial teaching (DTT), to promote skill acquisition of target behaviors. Significant improvements were observed across four target behaviors taught to all participants. The program also aims to connect participants to intensive ABA programming.

Mealtime and feeding problems co-occur in individuals of any age diagnosed with intellectual disability (ID). Many variables may contribute to the emergence, presence, and maintenance of problems related to eating in this patient population including environmental contingencies, medical complexities, adaptive deficits, and neurological conditions. Whatever the reason(s), providing appropriate supports and treatments to improve the individual's nutritional intake is a top priority for fostering growth, cognitive development and learning, and appropriate life span. This present chapter provides a brief introduction and overview of the presence and factors surrounding feeding problems in individuals with ID. Guidelines are provided to assist the clinician in the assessment of behavioral, medical, and physiological factors related to feeding difficulties. Finally, the importance of an interdisciplinary team and collaborative care is discussed as an optimal solution to achieve better outcomes for the individual.

The present article addresses issues within U.S. collegiate sport as it pertains to the physical preparation and health and well-being of intercollegiate athletes. Specifically, the sport coach is often perceived as “all knowing” about every facet of their sport when, in fact, they typically are not formally educated or well-trained in current methods of enhancing sport performance. Often strength and conditioning coaches, who may also be poorly trained, are tied directly (financially and administratively) to the sport coach—a situation which has led to a subservient role heavily influenced by the wishes of the sport coach. This has unfortunately resulted in the multidimensional well-being of the athlete clearly not being a primary objective in many programs.

Planning training programs for strength–power track and field athletes require an understanding of both training principles and training theory. The training principles are overload, variation, and specificity. Each of these principles must be incorporated into an appropriate system of training. Conceptually, periodization embraces training principles and offers advantages in planning, allowing for logical integration and manipulation of training variables such as exercise selection, intensification, and volume factors. The adaptation and progress of the athlete is to a large extent directly related to the ability of the coach/athlete to create and carry an efficient and efficacious training process. This ability includes: an understanding of how exercises affect physiological and performance adaptation (i.e., maximum force, rate of force development, power, etc .), how to optimize transfer of training effect ensuring that training exercises have maximum potential for carryover to performance, and how to implement programs with variations at appropriate levels (macro, meso, and micro) such that fatigue management is enhanced and performance progress is optimized.

The process of strength–power training and the subsequent adaptation is a multi-factorial process. These factors range from the genetics and morphological characteristics of the athlete to how a coach selects, orders, and doses exercises and loading patterns. Consequently, adaptation from these training factors may largely relate to the mode of delivery, in other words, programming tactics. There is strong evidence that the manner and phases in which training is presented to the athlete can make a profound difference in performance outcome. This discussion deals primarily with block periodization concepts and associated methods of programming for strength–power training within track and field.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder often display disrupted sleep patterns that may include fewer hours of total sleep, difficulty falling asleep, middle of the night awakenings, and high activity levels when waking at inappropriate times of the night. These sleep disturbances negatively affect children’s mood, activity levels, attention span, and safety. Family functioning is impaired by the associated effects on caregiver sleep and the stress associated with the possibility that the child might be harmed when engaging in unsupervised activities during the night. This chapter provides therapists with psychoeducation about incidence, characteristics, and etiology of sleep problems in this population. Information is also provided about behavioral and pharmacological treatments used to intervene with these challenging behaviors.

According to the Census Bureau, 19% of the United States population lives with some form of disability ( United States Census Bureau, 2012 ). The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a person with a disability as one who lives with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, is perceived as having such an impairment, or has a history or record of such an impairment ( United States Department of Justice, 2009 ). Numerous studies document high rates of victimization among individuals with disabilities, and adults and children with disabilities are significantly more or equally likely than those without disabilities to experience sexual violence as well as other types of violence ( Casteel, Martin, Smith, Gurka, & Kupper, 2008 ; Cohen, Forte, DuMont, Hyman, & Romans, 2006 ; Coker, Smith, & Fadden, 2005 ; Grossman & Lundy, 2008 ; Harrell, 2015 ; Hughes et al., 2012 ; Mahoney & Poling, 2011 ; McCarthy & Thomspon, 1997 ; Mitra, Mouradian, Fox, & Pratt, 2016 ; Plummer & Findley, 2011 ). For example, research conducted by Young, Nosek, Howland, Champong, and Rintala (1997) documented that approximately 40% of women with a disability reported a prior experience of sexual trauma in their lifetime. Further, findings reported by Martin et al. (2006) suggested that women with disabilities were four times more likely to experience sexual assault compared with women without disabilities. This chapter reviews the evaluation research on risk reduction, empowerment self-defense, and organization-wide prevention programs designed to reduce risk of abuse perpetrated against people with disabilities.

This is the second part of a 2-part discussion (the first,"Weightlifting: A Brief Overview," appeared 28(1):50-66, 2006) on weightlifting and will describe the best methods of designing a weightlifting program

The objective of this study was to understand the reasons community-based public health organizations in the United States accept or refuse tobacco industry sponsorship. A formative pilot study involving 13 interviews with representatives of AIDS and Domestic Violence organizations in California or the Northeast was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with leaders and fund-raisers working at AIDS and domestic violence organizations that either accepted grants from the tobacco industry or explicitly refused tobacco corporate support. Respondents that accepted grants did so because they believed that the tangible benefits of additional capacity to serve their constituents outweighed the minimal effect they believed refusing funds could have on tobacco control and prevention. Organizations that refused sponsorship either saw tobacco prevention as part of their mission of promoting overall health or social justice, or expressed concern about public association with the tobacco industry. Public health responses to this phenomenon are most effective when they are informed by the realities facing nonprofit leaders as they grapple with the question of whether to accept industry funds. Further research is needed to determine whether accepting sponsorship results in a change in public opinion about tobacco control. Possible interventions include creating positive publicity for organizations that refuse tobacco industry philanthropy.

Background A high rate of unnecessary rehospitalization has been shown to be related to a poorly managed discharge processes. Objective A qualitative study was conducted in order to understand the phenomenon of frequent rehospitalization from the perspective of discharged patients and to determine if activities at the time of discharge could be designed to reduce the number of adverse events and rehospitalization. Design Semistructured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 21 patients during their hospital stay at Boston Medical Center. Interviews assessed continuity of care after discharge, need for and availability of social support, and ability to obtain follow-up medical care. Results Difficult life circumstances posed a greater barrier to recuperation than lack of medical knowledge. All participants were able to describe their medical condition, the reasons they were admitted to the hospital, and the discharge instructions they received. All reported the types of medications being taken or the conditions for which the medications were prescribed. Recuperation was compromised by factors that contribute to undermining the ability of patients to follow their doctors' recommendations including support for medical and basic needs, substance use, and limitations in the availability of transportation to medical appointments. Distress, particularly depression, further contributed to poor health and undermined the ability to follow doctors' recommendations and the discharge plans. Conclusions Discharge interventions that assess the need for social support and provide access and services have the potential to reduce chronic rehospitalization.

Principles and Practice of Resistance Training represents a true breakthrough in planning and monitoring strength training programs. This research-based book details how to systematically examine the physical, physiological, and biomechanical parameters associated with crafting resistance training programs to improve sport performance and strength and power in athletes. The authors bring together more than 100 collective years of teaching, conducting research, and coaching national- and international-level athletes to share their unique insights concerning adaptations to strength and conditioning. The text is written in a manner that challenges professionals while remaining accessible to advanced coaches. It begins by presenting readers with an understanding of basic science. This scientific foundation allows readers to formulate a sound training process that is more likely to produce the desired short- and long-term results. Next, the text examines how to test, monitor, and evaluate adaptations to various types of training programs. It emphasizes the significance of appropriately monitoring training programs to identify elements of the program to adjust so the goals of clients or athletes are more effectively and efficiently achieved. Finally, the authors discuss exercise selection and present a practical example so readers can learn to apply the information in the text to build their own training programs. Each chapter is written in a “stand-alone” manner so that readers can refer back to the material as needed. Principles and Practice of Resistance Training also explores key questions that currently have no clear, scientifically proven answers. For these issues, the authors offer reasoned, speculative explanations based on the best available information and data--including anecdotal evidence-- intended to stimulate additional observation and research that will eventually offer a clearer understanding and resolution of the issues involved. In sharing their personal experiences as coaches and research scientists, the authors are able to address issues that are not normally dealt with in academic programs. Principles and Practice of Resistance Training is far more than a general guide for strength training. It is an in-depth exploration of the science behind the training. Armed with the scientific understanding and the tools to put that information into practice, you will be able to develop training programs that help your athletes or clients excel.

Endurance can be defined as the ability to maintain or to repeat a given force or power output. The sport performance-endurance relationship is a multi-factorial concept. However, evidence indicates that maximum strength is a major component. Conceptually, endurance is a continuum. The literature indicates that (a) maximum strength is moderately to strongly related to endurance capabilities and associated factors, a relationship that is likely stronger for high intensity exercise endurance (HIEE) activities than for low intensity exercise endurance (LIEE); (b) strength training can increase both HIEE and LIEE, the effect being greater for HIEE; (c) the volume of strength training plays a role in endurance adaptation; and (d) mechanical specificity and training program variables also play a role in the degree of adaptation.

This is the first part of a 2-part discussion on weightlifting and will describe the historical and scientific background of the sport

This study compares the effects of 3 weight-training programs on the 1 repetition maximum (1RM) squat (SQ). Subjects were 21 college-age men. The criteria for subject inclusion was initial 1RM > 110 kg and > 1.3 × body mass and the ability to complete > 80% of the programmed repetitions. The

The effects of creatine supplementation on force-time curve (FTC) characteristics were investigated in collegiate track athletes. Sixteen male and 20 female athletes were randomly divided into a placebo (P, n = 21) and a creatine (Cr, n = 15) group. Six weeks of supplementation consisted 0.3 g per kilogram of body weight per day of Cr monohydrate or non-nutritive placebo. Subjects were involved in a periodized weight-training program centered on explosive exercises. Pretesting and posttesting consisted of 7-site skinfold analysis, countermovement vertical jump (CMJ), and static vertical jump (SJ). SJ was performed on a 61.0-χ 121.9-cm ATMI (Advanced Medical Technologies, Newton, MA) force plate and was analyzed for FTC. No differences were found between the 2 treatments for FTC. The CMJ showed a significant group by time interaction with the Cr group improving at a greater rate than did the P group. Lean body mass (LBM) significantly increased in the Cr group after the treatment period. These results suggest that 6 weeks of Cr supplementation can favorably enhance LBM and CMJ performance in track athletes.

Thirty-six (16 men, 20 women) collegiate track and field athletes (sprinter, jumpers, and throwers) were randomly divided into a placebo (P, n = 21) group and a creatine supplemented (C, n = 15) group. Six weeks of supplementation consisted of 0.30 g?kg−1?d−1 of creatine monohydrate (Crm) or a placebo. Subjects were involved in a preseason conditioning program that consisted of interval sprinting and multijoint, large-muscle-group weight-training movements programmed in a periodized manner. Pretesting (PRE) and posttesting (POS) consisted of a 7-site skinfold analysis, hydrostatic weighing, countermovement vertical jump, static vertical jump, and 5 ± 10-second maximum cycle ergometer rides. Data were analyzed using G T analysis of variance. Significant interactions occurred for several variables. Creatine effected superior gains (percent change creatine vs. placebo) in countermovement vertical jump height (7.0 vs. 2.3%), countermovement vertical jump power index (6.8 vs. 3.1%), average cycle peak power (12.8 vs. 4.8%), cycle average power (10.8 vs. 3.1%), cycle total work (10.8 vs. 3.5%), cycle initial rate of power production (30.0 vs. 11.2%), and lean body mass. These results suggest that 6 weeks of Crm intake can favorably enhance vertical jump, power output, work capacity, and lean body mass in men and women collegiate track and field athletes following a periodized training program.