This practicum designed and implemented a program using art therapy to improve the social competency of elementary-aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional/defiant disorder. Students were in a special class for children with severe emotional disturbances. The children met once a week in art therapy sessions…

Over an 8-month period, a preschool teacher's aide designed and implemented a practicum study intended to improve the social skills of preschoolers in a private day care center. Lesson plans for teaching seven social skills through problem solving were created. Skills were related to entering and exiting activities without disrupting them;…

A practicum was conducted at a small, private elementary school to introduce strategies that would reduce kindergarten classroom disruptions and playground disturbances due to fighting, verbal confrontations, and disregard for authority and rules. A survey conducted at the school revealed that kindergarten teachers handled a daily average of 10…

This practicum was designed to improve the problem solving skills and social language skills of 19 elementary grade students with emotional disabilities through coordination of school professionals and direct instruction. Problem solving skills taught by special education teachers were reinforced during small group speech and language resource…

Many children enter school demonstrating excessive aggressive and impulsive behaviors, causing classroom disruption and interpersonal conflict. This intervention was designed to help first graders achieve social competence through conflict resolution training, problem solving, and anger management techniques to reduce aggressive and impulsive…

To increase the social skills of second graders, a 32-week peace education curriculum was taught. All 135 students were from the same ethnically diverse suburban school located in a mostly upper-middle class neighborhood. Pre-curriculum observations, interviews, and teacher questionnaires demonstrated that students did not show proper respect for…

The project attempted to improve the social problem solving skills of second to fifth grade children with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorders, and to offer support to their parents and improve parenting self-confidence. Both the parent group (N=9) and the children's group (N=5) used the Rochester Social Problem Solving Skills…

This research project implemented and evaluated a program in interpersonal skill development designed to increase the use of applied social skills at a middle school located in northeast Illinois. Evidence of inappropriate interpersonal skills was gathered by using observation checklists, teacher and student surveys, and discipline referrals.…

This practicum was designed to address the problem of middle school students reacting to and handling conflict situations with violent behavior in an urban environment. These responses affected the well-being and safety of all middle school students at the school. The major goal was for middle school students to increase their awareness of…