Bullying can start in a child's early school years, and this paper initially explains the distinct profile of behaviour and abilities of young children with Asperger Syndrome and why they can be more vulnerable than their peers to being the target of bullying. The paper subsequently describes a range of strategies designed to reduce the frequency…

A study compared the effectiveness of a 1-day parent workshop to improve parental self-efficacy in the management of problem behaviors associated with Asperger syndrome and six individual sessions. Parents in both intervention groups reported fewer problem behaviors compared to controls. Mothers reported a significantly greater increase in…

The Waste Wise Schools Program was established by EcoRecycle Victoria to implement waste and litter education in Victorian schools. It is now operating in over 900 schools in Victoria and 300 schools in other Australian states / territories. This paper provides detailed case studies of two active schools in the Waste Wise Schools Program and…

This project aims to conduct a medium-term follow-up to assess the efficacy of a preventive cognitive behavioural intervention delivered via the Internet to individuals at risk of developing anxiety disorders. Previous work on immediate outcome indicated that the program was effective in reducing depression and anxiety-related cognitions.…

A previous case-series evaluation of a six-session guided self-help (GSH) approach with 15 people with bulimia nervosa (BN) showed significant reductions across all measures, including binge eating, self-induced vomiting, weight concern, shape concern and dietary restraint. However, the reduction of binge eating and self-induced vomiting was…

A 135-item survey was administered to 279 students enrolled in tertiary distance education programs in Queensland, Australia. The study was intended to identify (1) factors that are highly predictive of positive and independent learning growth and (2) strategies that students and educators can adopt to help students achieve a high level of…

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a "single session" group, early intervention, multidisciplinary, education programme (entitled the "Fun not Fuss with Food" group programme) designed to improve children's problem eating and mealtime behaviours. Design: A quasi-experimental time-series design incorporating data…

Self-esteem has been defined as the "totality of the individual's thoughts and feelings having reference to himself as an object." Self-concept has been defined as the descriptive and evaluative beliefs that a person holds about multidimensional characteristics of the self. As children progress through primary school, general…

This article reports on the findings of an action research enquiry examining the efficacy of group therapy as a means of facilitating cognitive-behavioural instruction for students who exhibit disruptive behaviours. A curriculum comprising the key tenets of cognitive-behaviour modification was developed and taught over a 9-week period to a group…

Children who are deficient in social skills or who have developed inappropriate communication skills may be at risk in school and disruptive to family dynamics. To prevent crises developing in adolescence, the Stop-Think-Do social skills program, first developed in Australia, provides a method of reinforcing cooperative behavior and…

In this paper, the author argues for a more humanistic approach to children and young people who face difficulties in their personal and social lives. Increasingly, young people in the developed world who are troubled or troublesome in school or in their neighbourhoods are categorised and labelled in terms of psychiatric disorder. The number of…

The theme for this issue of "Every Child" is "Social and Emotional Development." Contents include an editorial by Alison Elliott, "Building a Quality Early Childhood Sector," a guest statement by Louise Tarrant, National Secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), titled "Taking Big Steps…

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of an instructional adaptation (reduction of task duration) on off-task behavior in a general education classroom. The intervention was chosen following a functional behavioral assessment, which suggested that much of the off-task behavior was escape-maintained, and a curriculum-based assessment,…

The dissociative reactions in acute stress disorder purportedly impede encoding and organization of traumatic memories and consequently impair the individual's ability to retrieve trauma-related details. A qualitative examination was conducted on trauma narratives of individuals with acute stress disorder (N = 15) prior to cognitive behavior…

This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series focuses on attention difficulties in young children and is directed to parents, child caregivers, and others interested in the care and education of young children. The booklet describes behaviors and characteristics common in children with attention difficulties,…