Within the school setting, students identified as having emotion regulation impairment (ERI) are at particularly high risk for negative academic and personal outcomes. These students often need additional support with mental health. Unfortunately, there are several barriers to providing evidence-based interventions in schools, including time and…

This dissertation contains two studies that examine family therapy services within public schools related to behavioral or discipline concerns. Both studies stem from an ecological and family systems theoretical framework in examining relationships between the student, family, and school systems. The first study is a scoping review on family…

The purpose of this research was to study the perceptions of school counselors regarding the impact of the school counseling program, interventions, and other strategies to help at-risk learners persist to graduate. A qualitative research design employing an interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews…

The "American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics" (2014) purpose and intent are to ensure that the individuals that counselors are providing support to warrant the opportunity to be empowered through facilitating respect to all of the individuals that the counselors provide support through counseling sessions. The code of ethics…

This study sought to evaluate the school-based counseling services that were provided to 95 students as part of the Children First counseling program. The primary evaluation question focused on the effectiveness of the program in positively impacting traditionally underserved populations in the following domains: increasing social skills,…

The ASCA National Model charged professional school counselors with supporting the social-emotional/personal-social growth, development, and success of all students. The public school need for DAEP placement was driven by problematic behavior displayed by students, which spoke to the inadequate social-emotional/personal-social development of those…

A comparison between Child-Centered Group Play Counseling (CCGPC), a psychoeducational group and a non-therapeutic control group resulted in three of four hypotheses being supported. Participants included 79 second and third graders, with one fourth grader, from seven elementary schools. The children had behavioral and social skills difficulties…

School refusal and truancy is a community problem that affects individuals, families, and organizations while lacking a universally accepted definition. At-risk youth often exhibit academic failure, and externalized and or internalized problematic behaviors while schools lose funding and families become disconnected. The school setting allows…

Counselor Education programs are ethically obligated by accreditation standards and professional codes of ethics to identify counselors-in-training whose academic, clinical, and personal performance indicate problematic behavior that would potentially prevent them from entering the profession (McAdams, Foster, & Ward, 2007). Despite these…

This pilot study investigated the impact of group activity play therapy (GAPT) on displaced orphans aged 10 to 12 years living in a large children's village in Uganda. Teachers and housemothers identified 60 preadolescents exhibiting clinical levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The participants' ethnicity was African and…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA 2004) continues to mandate that behavior interventions and behavior supports be monitored for proper implementation, and data gathered to prove implementation fidelity and student outcomes. The current implementation of behavior support plans (BSPs) is another type of…

Treatment for adolescent problem behavior has been given extensive attention in the literature due to the serious nature of the problem and the potential risk to others and the community. As the needs of an increasingly diverse juvenile population intensify and mounting evidence suggests ethnic minority youth receive disparate treatment across…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to identify if there was a relationship between student or administrator characteristics (Independent variables) and the application of various disciplinary actions (Dependent variables). This study examined student's gender, race, grade point average, number of credits, and disciplinary…

The violence prevention group component of the Rutgers-Somerset Counseling Program, a prevention program for multi-problem youth based in a local junior high school, was established in response to appeals made by school staff for help addressing surges in school and community violence and the rising incidence of aggression among female students.…

The influx of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) into the educational arena and the services they need have generated mass controversy between various pedagogical circles. It is estimated that an astounding 10% of the entire school-age population (about four million children) have been diagnosed with this disorder. The…