Due to the relatively late age of clinical diagnosis of autism, the early brain pathology of children with autism has remained largely unstudied. The increased use of retrospective measures such as head circumference, along with a surge of MRI studies of toddlers with autism, have opened a whole new area of research and discovery. Recent studies…

Major physical illnesses usually have an impact on the psychological well-being of any individual. An illness of early onset, with necessity of frequent diagnostic and therapeutic interventions can adversely affect the emotional balance and behavioural adaptation of children and adolescents. This is applicable for congenital heart disease,…

Sure Start is a Government project that aims to prevent social exclusion by targeting children between 0 and 4 years of age living in areas of social and economic deprivation. This study examined whether a Tier 2 Behaviour Support Service within a local Sure Start project was able to bring about improvements in children's behaviour and the levels…

Teacher warmth and support, say University of Virginia researchers Bridget Hamre and Robert Pianta, have unparalleled power to help children adjust and achieve. Their 2005 study of 910 first-grade students included 5- and 6-year-olds whose mothers had low-level education and children identified with "significant behavior, social, and/or…

The purpose of this article is to summarize information presented in the prior articles into practical strategies physical educators can use when teaching children with autism. The authors divided the article into three areas: (1) structuring the environment; (2) accommodating communication challenges; and (3) preventing challenging behaviors.…

When interventions with youth are not successful, it is easy to point fingers of blame. Professionals may see parents as uninvolved while parents feel unsupported. Such polarization leads to adversarial relationships that undermine parenting, education, and treatment. This article considers common defensive reactions of parents and professionals…

The Academy For Learning (AFL) serves urban students with emotional and behavioral problems. Through a Personal and Social Responsibility program, students develop skills for personal growth and service learning. Many alternative programs for troubled students offer little more than a curriculum for containment and control. In contrast, students…

This report describes the second module of an early intervention program for at-risk kindergartners who show the early signs of antisocial behavior patterns. The second module of the "First Steps" program describes a school intervention involving the target child, peers, and teachers that teaches an adaptive, prosocial pattern of school…

In 1991 and 1992, two workshops for community college practitioners in Canada were conducted on the subject of disruptive classroom behavior. The participants began the workshops by generating individual lists of what they found to be irritating student behaviors. They then formed groups and generated lists which, in turn, were compiled into a…

This manual presents six papers on the design of community-based employment programs for students with severe disabilities. The first paper is "Community-Based Vocational Preparation for Students with Severe Disabilities: Designing the Process" by Katherine J. Inge et al. This paper details a five-step process for designing such a…

Suitable for those contemplating a program alternative to school suspension, this student handbook describes a special class for middle school students who have been removed from their regular classes because of serious behavior problems. Separate sections describe the nature of the class, reasons for the students' placement in the class, the…

This pamphlet, produced by the Suicide and Crisis Center (SCC) of Dallas, Texas, presents information about suicide and describes several SCC programs in six brief sections. The extent of the suicide problem is discussed, and indicators of suicidal intent are described; factors affecting suicidal people, such as emotional turmoil, constricted…

The proceedings of a July 1989 conference of directors of research grants and research-based contracts funded by the Division of Innovation and Development of the Office of Special Education Programs are presented. The meeting featured a combination of general sessions, small-group discussions on research issues and content areas, and a panel…

This paper describes Peer Culture Development, Inc., a private, non-profit agency which provides a school-based delinquency prevention program to public schools. The basic components of the program are described along with the selection and role of student leaders in the program. The dynamics of the group meetings are discussed and seven…

The Pine County (Minnesota) Special Education System has adapted a database for use in decision making regarding programs for learning disabled and behavior problem students. The system is used for decisions in seven areas: identification, initial assessment, eligibility determination, individualized education program (IEP) selection, IEP…