Executive functions (EF) play a crucial role in overall human functioning. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have EF deficits. The goal of this study was to examine EF and developmental domains in preschool children with ASD. The sample for this study comprised 32 children (27 boys, mean age 65.3 months, SD- 4.0 months) with ASD. The control group consisted of 32 typically developing children (16 boys, mean age 64.3 months, SD- 5.1 months). EF were assessed with Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function and developmental domains were assessed with the Developmental Assessment of Young Children. The results of this study indicated that children with ASD do not have uneven EF and developmental profiles, although the EF and developmental domains scores were more heterogeneous than in typically developing children. Children with ASD had substantially lower EF and developmental scores than typically developing children. Implications of these results are discussed.

Parental involvement (PI) in education contributes to numerous positive outcomes in children, including educational outcomes and social competence. The goal of the present study was to examine differences in PI mechanisms between parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents of typically developing (TD) children. An additional goal was to examine factors affecting PI mechanisms in education in parents of children with ASD. The sample for this study consisted of 50 parents of children with ASD and 50 parents of TD children. The results of this study indicate that parents of children with ASD had lower levels of PI mechanisms in education than parents of TD children. The strongest predictors of PI mechanisms in education in parents of children with ASD were subjective well-being and child’s emotional reactivity. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The attainment of reading and basic mathematical skills is one of the most important academic goals in early grades of elementary school. A plethora of studies has shown the importance of these skills to future academic achievements and professional career. The goal of this study was to determine the correlation of reading and mathematics in third-grade elementary school students in Canton Sarajevo. An additional goal was to determine if there are differences in the proportion of academic underachievement in relation to the student’s gender. The sample for this study consisted of 70 third-grade students (33 girls, 37 boys, mean age- 103,1 months, SD- 5,6 months) attending two elementary schools in Canton Sarajevo. Results of this study indicated that reading and mathematics share 25% of the variance in the scores. The cor[1]relation between reading and mathematics was r = 0,50, p<0,01. There were more boys in the category of academic underachievement in both, reading and mathematics. However, statistically significant differences in the distribution of students were present only for reading and not for mathematics. Identification of cognitive factors that contribute to reading attainment and mathematical skills will help teachers create better intervention programs. The article ends with some recommendations for teachers on how to improve these academic skills in their students><0,01. There were more boys in the category of academic underachievement in both, reading and mathematics. However, statistically significant differences in the distribution of students were present only for reading and not for mathematics. Identification of cognitive factors that contribute to reading attainment and mathematical skills will help teachers create better intervention programs. The article ends with some recommendations for teachers on how to improve these academic skills in their students

Introduction: Adolescence is characterised as a period of further development and maturation of higher executive functions (EF). It is well established that EF play an important role in social skills and academic competence of typically developing adolescents. Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between executive functions (EF) and academic competency and social skills in adolescents with a mild intellectual disability. In particular, we were interested to examine which EF have the greatest impact on social skills and academic competency. Methods: EF were measured with the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF), and social and academic competences were measured with the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). The sample for this study consisted of 44 adolescents with mild intellectual disability aged 15-18 years old (mean age 16.7 years, SD1.4). Results: The results of this study clearly pointed to the strong relationship between these constructs. Of all EF, planning had the strongest impact on academic success, and monitoring had the strongest impact on social skills. Conclusion: EF are susceptible to training effects, we thus propose early interventions in these domains in order to increase the social and academic competence of persons with an intellectual disability.

ABSTRACT Introduction The goal of this study was to examine socialization in adults with intellectual disability in relation to gender, level of intellectual disability, mental illness, and setting type. Methods The sample consisted of 120 participants (60 males and 60 females), aged between 20 and 56 years, divided into two groups: 1. participants with intellectual disability without the diagnosis of mental illness (ID only) and 2. participants with dual diagnosis (intellectual disability and mental illness). Socialization subscale from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale was used for the assessment of socialization. Results Level of intellectual disability and mental illness had significant effects on socialization scores. In addition to this, interaction effect of gender and level of intellectual disability had a significant effect on socialization. Setting type did not have a significant effect on socialization. Conclusion These results can be very useful in identifying participants with intellectual disability who might need additional individualized support programs in the area of socialization.

Abstract The goal of the present study was to examine the predictors of reading speed and reading comprehension in third-grade students from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). The sample consisted of 168 third-grade students (86 boys, 82 girls) attending regular schools in Canton Sarajevo, BIH. We examined the effects of phonological awareness (phoneme deletion and rhyming), rapid automatized naming (RAN) of letters and objects, semantic fluency, working memory, and processing speed, on three reading speed tasks and a reading comprehension task. For the reading speed tasks, total amount of explained variance was 33% for reading a text passage, 40% for word reading and 36% for pseudoword reading. The most important predictors of reading speed tasks were phoneme deletion task and RAN: Letters. On the other hand, the model explaining reading comprehension was much less predictive and explained about 11% of variance. Significant predictors of reading comprehension were working memory and processing speed. The results of this study are very informative in creating better models of reading. This in turn will help create better reading intervention programs and potentially reduce the number of children with reading disabilities.

The goal of the present study was to assess the family quality of life (FQOL) in families with children with developmental disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We examined the FQOL in relation to parents’ demographic variables (gender, age, employment status), children’s gender and age, type of children’s disability (mild and moderate intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder) and parent’s depression, anxiety, and stress levels. The sample consisted of 270 parents of children with disabilities; 90 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder, 90 parents of children with mild intellectual disability, and 90 parents of children with moderate intellectual disability. We also included a control group of 90 parents of typically developing children. The results of this study showed that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and parents of children with moderate intellectual disability had statistically significantly lower FQOL than parents of children with mild intellectual disability and parents of typically developing children. Child’s gender had a significant effect on FQOL. Also, depression, anxiety and stress levels significantly affected FQOL, while the parents’ gender, age, and employment status did not have a significant effect. Implications of these findings are discussed and some measures on supporting parents are proposed.

Background: Evaluating academic production and researchers’ impact has become a common practice in many areas of academic life. Researchers are being evaluated for many purposes such as getting employment, promotion, tenure and winning grants. Achieving full objectivity of the evaluation is a rather difficult, if not the impossible task. The goal of the present paper was to evaluate research performance of scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH and to propose a single number that captures several scientometric indices. Methods: We took data from 303 scholars from 4 public universities in BiH on their number of citations and h-indexes derived from four databases/services: Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and Research Gate. In addition to this, we performed a Principal Component Analysis of number of citations and h-indexes from these indices to come up with a single number that best captures the scientific impact of the researchers. Results: The results of this study indicate a strong relationship between all indices of scholarly achievement as measured through citations and h-indexes. Principal component analysis has shown that it is possible to obtain a single number that captures researchers’ scientific impact. Conclusion: Many metrics can be useful in evaluating researchers’ scientific impact. As the researchers in BiH have a low scientific production, universities in BiH need to adapt a strategy to stimulate the increase in their scientific productivity.

Transition period from preschool years to school years is a time of rapid changes in children’s development. Children with intellectual disability lag behind their peers without disabilities in their school readiness skills, especially in math skills. Thus, there is a great importance of school preparation programs for children with intellectual disability in improving their math abilities. The aim of the present research was to compare the effectiveness of two preschool programs in improving math abilities of children prior to their enrollment in elementary schools. The sample for this research comprised 90 children aged 60-72 months. Of those, there were 60 children with intellectual disability and 30 typically developing children. Math abilities were assessed with a subscale from Peabody Individual Achievement Test. The results of this research indicated that children with intellectual disability attending special education preschool program achieved significantly better math results than children with intellectual disability attending inclusive preschool program. Some suggestions to preschool teachers on how to improve the effectiveness of their work with children with intellectual disability were given. Keywords: children with intellectual disability, inclusive education preschool programs, math abilities, quasi-experimental design, school readiness, special education preschool programs.

Learning to read is one of the most important academic accomplishments in the early grades of elementary school. Knowing what factors contribute to reading ability would improve instructional practices. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of semantic fluency, phonological fluency, rapid naming, inhibitory control, selective attention, and visual motor integration on reading fluency in 140 second and third grade students. The results of this study indicated that significant predictors of reading fluency were: selective attention, semantic fluency, inhibitory control, and rapid naming. However, the association between predictor variables and reading fluency was moderated by the students’ grade. The article concludes with some suggestions on how to improve reading fluency in elementary school children, given that all predictors are susceptible to instruction.