The association between visual attention and reading development has been investigated as a possible core causal deficit in dyslexia, in addition to phonological awareness. This study aims to provide a meta-analytic review of the research on attentional processes and their relation to reading development, to examine the possible influence on it of orthographic depth, age, and attentional tasks (interpreted as serial or parallel processing indices). We included studies with participants up to 18 years of age that have considered the visual spatial attention orienting that sustains the serial visual analysis involved in the phonological pathway of decoding, and the visual attention span that supports the multielement parallel processing that is thought to influence lexical decoding. The results confirm a strong association between visual attention and reading development; we evaluate the evidence and discuss the possibility that visual attention processes play a causal role in determining individual differences in reading acquisition.

This study aimed to investigate the measurement invariance of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (for both long [APQ-lg] and short [APQ-9] forms) across age, gender, clinical status, and informant (i.e., parent vs. child reports). The sample was composed of adolescents (community sample: N = 1,746; clinical sample: N = 166) and parents ( N = 149). The analyses were conducted in R. Measurement invariance was assessed via multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, equivalence test, and subsampling approach. The original model of APQ-lg (five factors) showed a significantly better fit than other concurrent models (five concurrent models were specified, based on prior literature). For APQ-lg, we found measurement invariance across gender and partial measurement invariance across age, clinical status, and informant. For APQ-9, we confirmed the measurement invariance across gender and clinical status, while across age and informant partial measurement invariance was attested. Overall, our study indicated that APQ-lg and APQ-9 are two valid tools for measuring parenting practices with some caveats.

Social communication represents one of the main areas of impairment in the case of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (APA, 2013). Several studies have investigated predictors in this domain; however, the results are mostly inconsistent or lack clarity. The purpose of this theoretical review is to analyze studies that address vocabulary, prosody, and cognitive flexibility in relation to deficits in pragmatic language, in the case of individuals with ASD. This synthesis was conducted on 18 studies, based on a systematic search of ScienceDirect and NCBI (PubMed and PubMed Central) databases. A number of 1523 participants were included in the analyzed studies. Results indicate that prosody has a major impact on social communication. However, difficulties in processing prosody do not account as the only predictors in the general abilities of language and communication. Regarding the executive functioning, future research is needed to fully understand the relationship between social communication and cognitive flexibility.

(1) Background: Children with reading difficulties may experience negative emotions and social isolation. The cognitive emotion regulation strategies that they use in different reading tasks can make them more vulnerable in the stressful situations. Using adaptative emotion regulation strategies may help them overcome stressful reading situations. (2) Methods: Children identified with poor reading comprehension skills were compared to children without reading comprehension difficulties on measures of self-evaluation and thought in relation to task, and on cognitive coping strategies relevant to performance. The effect of some relevant demographic factors was also investigated, such as gender and urban/rural setting. (3) Results: Our results indicate that children that have poor reading comprehension skills present higher scores on negative self- evaluation and off-task thoughts that are in relation to performance anxiety. Also, in what concerns cognitive coping strategies, students with difficulties in reading comprehension display a greater use of blaming others strategy, which is in relation to the negative self-evaluations. Also, they displayed less use of putting into perspective. No effect of gender and setting emerged for off and on task thoughts and cognitive coping strategies, except for lower scores of students from rural setting in positive self-evaluation. (4) Conclusions: students presenting difficulties in reading comprehension tend to use more negative self-statements and disengagement through off-task thoughts and employ coping strategies directed to protect self-worth.

Background: Up to 80% of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have mental health issues—either emotional or behavioral problems. The underlying mechanisms are still unknown, even if emotional regulation (ER) is considered to play a major role in child and adolescent psychopathology. Several studies link the ability to regulate the intensity and quality of emotions with executive functioning. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between executive functions (EFs) and ER and affective problems in children with ASD. Methods: This meta-analysis is based on a literature search of peer-reviewed journals from the following databases: Scopus, ProQuest, Ebsco, Science Direct, Springer Link and Clarivate. We analyzed 15 studies that investigated the link between EF, ER or affective problems (APs) in children and adolescents with ASD aged between 2 and 18 y with ASD. To assess the effect size of the relationship between EF and ER, and EF and AP, 15 studies comprising 54 effect sizes were analyzed. Results: Our findings revealed a small effect size regarding the association between EF and ER, r = 0.331, p = 0.034, and a small effect size regarding the association between EF and AP, r = −0.213, p = 0.024. No significant moderators were found. The results are presented in regard to the two analyses developed, as well as a short review of the studies included in the meta-analysis. Conclusion: Even if there are several limitations of this study, especially considering the small number of studies included, the results suggest that it is worth considering EF as an underlying mechanism for the appearance of emotional or behavioral problems in children with ASD. These findings have important implications for the development of ASD intervention plans, as well as for increasing awareness among specialists about the importance of executive functions in school adjustment and social functioning.

Recent research indicates there are different cognitive patterns and coping mechanisms related to increased levels of Internet use and emotional distress in adolescents. This study aims to investigate the relationship between coping mechanisms, dysfunctional negative emotions, and Internet use. A total of 54 participants aged between 14 and 19 years old completed a questionnaire containing several measures and demographics information. We measured participants’ coping strategies, emotional distress, social and emotional loneliness, and their online behavior and Internet addiction using self-report questionnaires. In order to identify the relation between the investigated variables, we used correlation analysis and regression, and we tested one mediation model. The results showed that maladaptive coping strategies and Internet use were significant predictors of dysfunctional negative emotions. Moreover, passive wishful thinking, as a pattern of thinking, was associated with anxious and depressed feelings. The relation between Internet use and dysfunctional negative emotions was mediated by participants’ coping mechanisms. Therefore, we can conclude that the level of negative feelings is associated with the coping strategies used while showing an increased level of Internet addiction. Future studies should also consider different and multiple types of measurement other than self-reports, especially related to Internet addiction.