Abstract
Background: This study explores how metacognitive beliefs about worry (Wells, 2005) and perceived parenting (e.g., psychological control, emotional availability and autonomy-granting) contribute to adolescents’ anxiety. Method: A sample of 191 community adolescents completed self-report questionnaires on anxiety levels (RCMAS), metacognitive beliefs about worry (MCQ-C) and maternal and paternal perceived parenting. The same procedure was replicated with a group (n = 14) of anxiety-referred adolescents. Results: Metacognitive beliefs were associated with adolescent’s reported anxiety, with girls reporting less positive beliefs and higher anxiety than boys. Anxiety-referred adolescents reported higher negative meta-worry (responsibility and harmful) and cognitive monitoring beliefs than non-clinical control. Correlations between anxiety and parenting change according to parents’ and adolescents’ gender. In regression analysis, negative meta-worry resulted the most robust predictor of anxiety, followed by low paternal emotional availability and high control for boys, and by low autonomy-granting and monitoring meta-beliefs for girls. Conclusions: Findings partially support the extension of adults’ metacognitive model of worry to adolescents. The stronger support comes from the role of negative beliefs in predicting anxiety levels. Further research with a larger clinical sample is needed for deepening how adolescent’s gender and perceived parenting interact with specific meta-beliefs increasing the risk of anxiety disorders.

Abstract
Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of a technology-aided program providing sequence/space cues and contingent stimulation on object assembling and mobility for eight participants with multiple disabilities. Method: The technology-aided program was introduced according to a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. Pipe components were distributed over different desks. The program served to (a) guide the participants to collect and assemble those components in the right sequence via verbal or light cues automatically emitted by electronic boxes, and (b) deliver preferred stimulation as the participants put away a completed pipe. Results: The participants increased the mean frequencies of pipes assembled and put away accurately and independently from (virtually) zero during the baseline to between about 6 and 14 per 15-min session during the technology-aided program. This performance was maintained at a follow-up check. Twenty-four staff members surveyed about the program provided favorable ratings of it. Conclusions: These data indicate that the program may be an effective tool for supporting people like the participants of this study.

Abstract
The aim of the study was to compare the cognitive performances of adults with intellectual disability in two tests different in purposes, format, length, and ease of use: WAIS-IV battery for measuring full and factorial IQs, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) used for the evaluation of cognitive deterioration. The two tests were administered to a sample composed of 40 adults, 27 males and 13 females, diagnosed with Mild or Moderate Intellectual Disability (age range 16-64 years, mean age 35.70). No gender differences were detected. Results show that both the total IQ and the WAIS-IV factors are significantly correlated with MoCA score, except the Processing Speed. Verbal Comprehension is the best predictor of the impairment measured by MoCA. This result is confirmed by Multidimensional Scaling. Among the single WAIS-IV subscores only Puzzle and Cancellation show small correlations with MoCA score. The memory functions assessed by MoCA result different from those of WAIS Working memory, factor more close to the MoCA visuo-spatial subdomain. Some implications for the assessment of the cognitive impairment in adults with Intellectual disability are underlined.

Abstract
Parents of children with Developmental Disabilities (DD) face particular challenges interacting with their children and have been shown to have higher levels of stress than parents of children without disabilities. A number of studies have attempted to understand the emotional climate in the homes of children with DD by examining parental Expressed Emotion (EE), or parental attitudes about the child and their relationship. However, many of these studies have been small in sample size and have only worked with one subset of the DD population. This meta-analysis examined the proportion of parents of children with DD exhibiting High EE through a statistical aggregation of effect sizes across seven studies including 600 participants. The fixed effects size proportion was .39 (SE = .02; p < .0001), indicating approximately 40% of the parents in the combined samples exhibited High EE. Results support efforts to address the needs of the whole family for children with DD in order to ensure a safe and supportive emotional climate in the home.

Abstract
Executive functions (EFs) allow to planning and voluntarily and autonomously produce targeted behaviors, in unusual or complex conditions in which the automated response schemes are not appropriate or sufficient to achieve behavior goal. The aim of this study was to evaluate EFs in preschool children presenting with Global Developmental Delay (GDD). Fifty-two preschool children participated in this study: 20 GDD children and 32 typical developing children (TDC) as control group, enrolled in the schools of Campania and Sicily Regions. All subjects underwent evaluation of the executive functioning through the administration of the Battery for the Assessment of Preschool Executive Functions (BAFE) and the Behavior Rating of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). The two groups were comparable for age and gender. GDD children showed significantly lower scores in all BAFE subscales and significantly higher in all BRIEF-P subscales compared to TDC controls. EFs are integrated with each other and as many functions are the essential basis for the other basic skills as well as basis for more complex cognitive skills. During childhood, EFs’ difficulties tend to influence not just a single area/expertise but have a global impact that extends to management, development, planning and daily living.