Stay Calm
Our previous work has developed understanding of a specific pathway to emotional outbursts, via demands on deficient cognitive skills in task switching and associated resistance to change. Much of our work on this pathway has focused on individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome, though we have also shown that it can be relevant to individuals with other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as fragile X syndrome. Understanding of this specific pathway has laid the foundation for several of our intervention development projects. In our Stay Calm project, we want to broaden our understanding of emotional outbursts in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. In this work, PhD student Justin Chung has developed a new questionnaire – the Emotional Outburst Questionnaire. Results from a large scale study with the questionnaire in the UK allowed us to identify new pathways to these emotional outbursts. We are now collaborating with Cristiane Silvestre de Paula, Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz Teixeira and Rosane Lowenthal from the Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo, Brazil on further data collected from families in Brazil – examining cultural similarities and differences. On the basis of the findings from the questionnaire research, we have also been conducting in depth interviews with the caregivers of young people who show emotional outbursts, and with young people themselves. We plan to use this information to begin to develop new ways to approach intervention.
