Papers by Raymond Romanczyk
International Journal of Bullying Prevention
Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, 2017
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2021
Bullying victimization is a prevalent concern for neurodivergent (e.g., autistic, ADHD) youth. Bu... more Bullying victimization is a prevalent concern for neurodivergent (e.g., autistic, ADHD) youth. Bullying assessment methods vary widely and there is currently no questionnaire specific to neurodivergent youth. The Assessment of Bullying Experiences (ABE) was created to fill this gap. The ABE questionnaire was completed by 335 parents of school-age youth characterized as autistic, having ADHD, or community comparison. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis identified a four-factor solution, aligning with verbal, physical, relational, and cyber victimization. Construct validity analyses indicate the ABE converges with an existing bullying questionnaire and diverges from disruptive behavior or internalizing symptoms. The ABE questionnaire is a valid measure of bullying that furthers understanding of nuance in peer victimization for neurodivergent youth and informs group-specific intervention.
Contemporary School Psychology, 2019
Bullying is problematic for school-age children and especially for children with autism spectrum ... more Bullying is problematic for school-age children and especially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is commonly defined in research using three themes: intent to harm, repetition, and a power imbalance. Despite encompassing a wide range of behaviors, these themes may not fully align with day-today layperson experiences. They also may not account for the cognitive biases within respondent groups that impact bullying perception. This study used a mixed-methods approach to understand how laypersons determine the presence and type of bullying behavior. The impact of an ASD relationship (i.e., ASD parents and teachers) on perceptions of bullying was also examined. Participants (N = 184 adults) categorized brief, written vignettes describing child dyadic interactions as a type of bullying behavior (i.e., physical, verbal, interpersonal, cyber), non-bullying behavior, or provided an "other" response. Thematic analysis of the qualitative, "other" explanations for bullying ambiguity revealed three themes: a need for more contextual information, the presence of other types of bullying (outside the options provided), and other non-bullying behaviors (e.g., crime, peer pressure). Comparing the probability of use across and within themes revealed statistically significant differences such that layperson views of bullying did not fully align with research definitions. Additionally, perceptions of bullying differed among individuals with and without ASD relationships (i.e., parents, teachers) and undergraduate students. Existing research definitions for bullying do not fully encompass the breadth of daily-lived and cultural experiences of laypersons. We propose an expanded "working definition" of bullying that may be useful to more accurately identify children in need of intervention and generate more reliable estimates of bullying across studies.
Infants & Young Children, 2018
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be diagnosed as early as 18 months of age. State Early Interve... more Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be diagnosed as early as 18 months of age. State Early Intervention (EI) programs under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are serving increasing numbers of children with ASD; however, little is known about outcomes of these services. This study evaluated the impact of EI for toddlers with ASD (n = 193) and other disabilities (n = 129) and their families, using measures that included federal Part C outcome indicators. Children with ASD showed reduced maladaptive behaviors and improved social and communication skills on the PDD Behavior Inventory; some also made progress on the Part C child outcome indicators. Families of children with ASD reported that EI helped them achieve many outcomes identified as important to families participating in EI. Results provide a rich description of outcomes experienced by children with ASD and their families in one of the largest EI programs in the United States. Implications for results-driven accountability and future research are discussed.
Autism, 2019
Children with autism spectrum disorder experience bullying more frequently than their typical pee... more Children with autism spectrum disorder experience bullying more frequently than their typical peers. Inconsistent definitions for and imprecise measurement of bullying in the literature impede a better understanding of this difference, and multiple types of bullying topographies create additional dimensions for analysis. In this study, participants rated the severity of bullying depicted in written vignettes of child-dyadic interactions. The vignettes varied across child age (4–15 years old) and described either one of four different types of bullying or non-bullying behavior. Participants included teachers and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and community members without an autism spectrum disorder child. Participants’ severity ratings of vignettes that described bullying differed by bullying type (i.e. verbal, physical, cyber, and interpersonal). Multilevel modeling revealed that bullying severity ratings are impacted by the age of children in the vignette, being...
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2016
Abstract There is growing, but inconsistent, literature on feeding problems for children with Aut... more Abstract There is growing, but inconsistent, literature on feeding problems for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The purposes of this study were to (a) investigate the relation of feeding problems to autism severity, (b) assess the validity of parent-report questionnaires widely used to assess feeding problems in terms of their relation to systematic behavior observations, and (c) determine the relation between child feeding behavior and family mealtime environment. Thirty-eight children and their parents participated in the study. Parents completed questionnaires, and both parents and children participated in mealtime observations. Results indicated that autism severity predicted scores on a measure of feeding problems as well as the duration of negative vocalizations during meal observations. Food Frequency Questionnaires better predicted behavior during meals than the Brief Mealtime Autism Behavior Inventory. Family environment alone did not explain feeding difficulties.
Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 2017
The PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI) has recently been shown, in a large multisite study, to discri... more The PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI) has recently been shown, in a large multisite study, to discriminate well between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other groups when its scores were examined using a machine learning tool, Classification and Regression Trees (CART). Discrimination was good for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children; generalized across clinical diagnostic sites; and agreed well with Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) classifications. Results also revealed three subtypes of ASD: minimally verbal, verbal, and atypical that differed in developmental history, behavior profiles, and biomedical findings. Seven subtypes of Not-ASD children were identified, two of which were relatively common. Three of the remaining five relatively rare Not-ASD subgroups had highly atypical profiles marked either by extreme aggressiveness or by extreme ritualistic behaviors. PDDBI profiles of these rare subgroups were not previously characterized. In this study, profil...
Consent to Participate: All participants provided informed consent prior to initiating study proc... more Consent to Participate: All participants provided informed consent prior to initiating study procedures.
Background: Neurodivergent youth (i.e., youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention-Defi... more Background: Neurodivergent youth (i.e., youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are at high risk for engaging in school refusal behaviors, which are associated with negative consequences across multiple domains. However, the literature on factors associated with risk for school refusal behavior among neurodivergent youth is scarce. Method: Latent Profile Analysis is used to identify homogenous groups of neurodivergent youth that are at higher risk for school refusal. Parent-reported data on 482 school-aged youth (Mage = 11.51; SDage = 3.44) with varying levels of neurodivergence were collected. Results: Findings suggest that there are four profiles of youth with varying levels of school refusal: (1) community youth with low school refusal and frequent time in general education, (2) neurodivergent youth with low school refusal and infrequent time in general education, (3) neurodivergent youth with high school refusal and infrequent time in...
Disabled youth, especially autistic and ADHD youth, are at increased risk for bullying victimizat... more Disabled youth, especially autistic and ADHD youth, are at increased risk for bullying victimization compared to their peers; however, prevalence estimates vary widely. Examining prevalence rates by assessment tool, timeframe, and bullying type may clarify this variability. Parents of 335 neurodiverse youth (i.e., autism+ADHD, n=113; autism, n=105; ADHD, n=38; or community comparison, n=79) completed clinical questionnaires and several measures of bullying victimization via an online survey. Bullying prevalence was higher for longer timeframe cutoffs and more consistent for multi-item measures, particularly for neurodivergent youth. Autism+ADHD youth were more likely to be bullied than community youth; internalizing and externalizing behaviors fully moderated this relation for general assessments and partially so for a disability-specific questionnaire. Autism+ADHD youth were uniquely more vulnerable to verbal, relational, and physical bullying than community youth. Bullying in auti...
Prevalence rates for bullying vary widely and are likely impacted by adult interpretation of yout... more Prevalence rates for bullying vary widely and are likely impacted by adult interpretation of youths’ experiences. This study examined how bullying type, child age, and respondent demographics impact bullying identification. Participants were 588 adults with and without Autism relationships who characterized vignettes as verbal, physical, cyber, or interpersonal bullying or non-bullying. Vignette identification was more accurate for physical bullying and less accurate for interpersonal bullying. Bullying identification in middle school-age vignettes was lower compared to other ages. Participant female gender and White race predicted increased accuracy; there was no impact of an Autism relationship. Researchers and educators should assess for each bullying type and consider how child and observer characteristics impact bullying perceptions.
pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. Journal of Autism and Developmental Dis... more pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(5),
The psychological distress that has been observed among parents of children with developmental di... more The psychological distress that has been observed among parents of children with developmental disabilities can serve as a direct obstacle to the effectiveness of interventions for these children. Consequently, parent-focused interventions designed to decrease parental distress in this population have been recognized as an important component of comprehensive interventions for children with developmental disabilities. In a recent meta-analysis of parenting and stress management interventions for parents of children with developmental disabilities Singer, Ethridge and Aldana (2007) found that multi-component interventions that incorporated both child-focused interventions and parent-focused interventions were more effective in reducing parent distress than child-focused interventions alone. While clinicians in the field of developmental disabilities recognize the importance of promoting well-being among parents, the current body of empirical literature lacks the breadth and methodolo...
Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, 2021
Recibido 4 de enero de 2021 Aceptado 3 de abril de 2021 Susan Hill ha publicado una serie de nove... more Recibido 4 de enero de 2021 Aceptado 3 de abril de 2021 Susan Hill ha publicado una serie de novelas de fantasmas que rinden homenaje a las narraciones clásicas victorianas. La crítica neo-victoriana investiga obras contemporáneas que evocan el pasado victoriano con el propósito de revisitar y reinterpretar este periodo histórico desde una perspectiva actual. La novela La mujer de negro (1983) de Susan Hill presenta importantes paralelismos con la novela victoriana tardía de Bram Stoker, Drácula (1897), especialmente en la caracterización de la Mujer de Negro, puesto que, pese a tratarse de un fantasma, este personaje muestra una similitud reveladora con la mujer vampiro Lucy Westenra e incluso con el propio Drácula, a la par que rememora arquetipos victorianos de género, como la mujer caída o la figura del dandi que el arquetipo gótico del vampiro simboliza. Este artículo pretende aproximarse a ambos textos desde una perspectiva comparatista, centrándose en el análisis de los arquetipos góticos del fantasma y del vampiro, así como de los arquetipos de género de la mujer caída y del dandi, con el propósito de probar la intertextualidad existente entre ambas obras, mostrando así el efecto hipnótico que el pasado victoriano aún ejerce en las narraciones góticas contemporáneas y la necesidad de recuperar las voces que todavía permanecen en los márgenes de las obras clásicas victorianas.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 2004
A critique is presented of the etiological model for autism as presented by Drash and Tudor. The ... more A critique is presented of the etiological model for autism as presented by Drash and Tudor. The model is rejected based upon conceptual and methodological grounds. The major points raised concern overgeneralization of research findings, limitations of single subject methodology to answer population based questions, current neurobiological research, and the danger of uni-dimensional models. Specific examples of cases that do not fit Drash and Tudor model are presented.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2014
While the use of computer-based communication, video recordings, and other "electronic" records i... more While the use of computer-based communication, video recordings, and other "electronic" records is commonplace in clinical service settings and research, management of digital records can become a great burden from both practical and regulatory perspectives. Three types of challenges commonly present themselves: regulatory requirements; storage, transmission, and access; and analysis for clinical and research decision-making. Unfortunately, few practitioners and organizations are well enough informed to set necessary policies and procedures in an effective, comprehensive manner. The three challenges are addressed using a demonstrative example of policies and procedural guidelines from an applied perspective, maintaining the unique emphasis behavior analysts place upon quantitative analysis. Specifically, we provide a brief review of federal requirements relevant to the use of video and electronic records in the USA; non-jargon pragmatic solutions to managing and storing video and electronic records; and last, specific methodologies to facilitate extraction of quantitative information in a cost-effective manner.
Self-injurious Behavior, 1992
It is only in recent years that self-injurious behavior has been viewed as a complex behavior pat... more It is only in recent years that self-injurious behavior has been viewed as a complex behavior pattern that under certain circumstances may have specific functional value. Because the behavior pattern appears so paradoxical and contrary to very basic characteristics of the behavior of organisms (i.e., that they tend to avoid painful stimuli), we must examine very carefully the controlling variables for self-injurious behavior as well as the many subtypes of self-injurious behavior. However there is also a danger in oversimplifying the understanding of self-injurious behavior. To label it as functional and purposeful provides a perspective superior to viewing it simply as a psychotic behavior but also lends itself to a simplistic and naive understanding as well. That is, self-injurious behavior represents a classification of behavior, and therefore, one cannot assume that the causal and maintaining factors are (1) similar across individuals, (2) consistent for the same individual at different points in time, and (3) similar for different topographies of self-injurious behavior both within and across individuals.
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Papers by Raymond Romanczyk