Discusses one teacher's experiences with Kimmie, a Chinese-American first grader with violent tendencies, and how this young girl changed and became manageable, largely through writing and storytelling. Argues that writing may be a means of expression essential to troubled children like Kimmie. (HB)

Supplies information necessary to facilitate an educators' workshop on promoting self respect in children and youth who exhibit challenging behaviors. Claims that service learning, the integration of community service with academic skills, and structural-reflection activities help students develop self-respect. (MKA)

Behaviors that constitute violence include threatening behavior, verbal or written threats, harassment, verbal abuse, vandalism, theft, arguments, and physical attacks. Describes 14 policy actions that camp management can take to prevent violence, 20 warning signs of violence, how violence impacts camps, and 5 tips for creating a safe camp. (TD)

A middle-school teacher turned principal believes that classroom discipline problems stem from problems teachers are having with instruction. This article explains how to devise focusing activities, organize faculty study groups and turn discipline referrals into mini-writing workshops. Helping teachers is better than blaming them. (MLH)

Presents preliminary results of portfolio use as the focal point of strengths-based interventions designed to increase students' chances of re-entry into mainstream education. Describes use of the portfolio to support a multisystemic intervention program for chronically disruptive students, to foster recognition of student strengths, and to…

This article describes a conflict resolution and peer mediation program implemented in three middle schools. The program used a school-wide conflict resolution curriculum and enlisted a core group of trained peer mediators in each school. A resolution acceptable to disputing parties was reached more than 95 percent of the time. (Contains 11…

Discusses how a "disruptive" kindergarten student in a summer school program blossomed in a different classroom environment where there was an atmosphere of love and trust. Notes that the student was an active learner, and his new classroom environment encouraged that type of learning. (RS)

An alternative public school in Atlanta (Georgia) for expelled, violent, and adjudicated youth from grades 4-12 is described. Challenge courses and adventure initiatives are used to develop self-awareness, trust, empathy, communication, character, problem solving, conflict resolution, and leadership skills that translate into improved academic…

Peter B. Dews played a significant role in shaping the distinctive characteristics and defining the underlying principles of the discipline of behavioral pharmacology. His early and sophisticated use of schedules of reinforcement in the 1950s, incorporated from research in the experimental analysis of behavior and integrated into the discipline of…

Chance UK is a unique charity in the UK that specialises in mentoring programmes for primary schoolchildren with behavioural problems. It was founded in 1995 by a policeman, Chief Superintendent Paul Mathias, who believed that by stepping in early, young children with behavioural difficulties could be given the chance to develop the necessary…

Difficulty managing behavior in the classroom is frequently cited as a source of frustration for teachers and a common reason why new teachers leave the profession (Ingersoll 2001, 2003). Concerted attention to issues of classroom management is important to the health of education; attention to these issues at the middle and secondary education…

A 9-year-old clinic-referred boy, his mother, and his teacher were observed in 38 home and 38 school sessions on the same days. Categories of the boy's oppositional behavior and the inappropriate social attention of his mother and teacher were graphed to visually inspect changes during baseline, a parent-training phase, a follow-up phase, and a…

The link between learning problems and social-emotional difficulties is well documented and both are associated with temperamental risk factors. Whereas temperament refers to individual differences in biologically based dispositions for responding to and engaging with one's surroundings, developmental outcomes are the products of experiences as…

Social skill deficits have become a defining characteristic of students with specific learning disability (SLD). Attempts have been made to enhance social functioning through structured training approaches. The effectiveness of these efforts was evaluated in a quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis), which revealed a "small" effect with…

The inclusion of Asperger's disorder (AD) in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) has, as one could predict, led to a great increase in its diagnosis and interest in those so diagnosed. It is my impression, and that of others (Filipek et al., 1999), that, similar to autistic disorder, it has shared the same fate as being…