3-024 - Processes Related to Dysregulated Behavior in Children with Developmental Disabilities

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children with developmental delay and disabilities often have difficulty with emotion and behavior regulation (Baker et al., 2010; Einfeld & Tonge, 1996). Such dysregulation poses challenges for mothers, fathers, and teachers. This session emphasizes various mechanisms related to dysregulation among children with developmental delays or disabilities based on longitudinal investigations. The first paper considers transactional relations among maternal-reported parenting stress and both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems of children with disabilities from early childhood through adolescence. Results indicate that despite stability, different patterns occur in these transactions over time. The second paper examines two potential mechanisms related to dysregulation in children with developmental delays and those developing typically: child temperament (father reports) and negative impact on parents (mother reports). The findings suggest that processes linking these mechanisms differ for children with typical and atypical development. A third paper focuses on fathers of children with delays and those developing typically and considers the relations between fathers’ reports of child dysregulation and paternal distress. Findings indicate that paternal distress increased over time and varies based on levels of spousal support. The final paper considers the dysregulation of children with atypical development from middle childhood to adolescence based on teacher reports. Early assessed maternal sensitivity predicted children’s later dysregulation in the classroom, and such dysregulation did not decrease over the study period. Taken together, these findings highlight potential intervention mechanisms based on child and family-related processes in efforts to diminish dysregulated behavior in children whose development is not progressing typically.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Penny Hauser-Cram, Boston College

Individual Presentations

• Parenting Stress and Child Behavior Problems in Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities:Transactional Relations - Presenting Author: Helena P Mawdsley, University of Florida; Ashley C Woodman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Penny Hauser-Cram, Boston College

• Temperament and children with developmental risk: Differential mechanisms in the development of dysregulated behavior - Presenting Author: Betty Lin, Arizona State University; Keith A Crnic, Arizona State University; bruce baker, UCLA; jan blacher, University of California Riverside

• Fathers’ perceptions of behavior problems in children with and without disabilities from childhood to early adolescence - Presenting Author: Shana R Cohen, University of California, San Diego; naomi rodas, University of California Riverside; Leigh Ann ann Tipton, Univ of California - Riverside; jan blacher, University of California Riverside; bruce baker, UCLA

• Classroom-based Externalizing Behavior Problems among Children with Developmental Disabilities - Presenting Author: Miriam Heyman, Boston College; Penny Hauser-Cram, Boston College