Schools remain one of the safest environments for children. However, in far too many schools, a lack of respect for the authority of teachers and other school employees, as well as for the rights of other students, is undermining the ability of schools to provide students with a quality education. Even in the best schools, employees often…

Some research suggests a rise in challenging behaviors among children in early care and education. Among the findings are a high rate of removal from preschool classrooms for behavior problems, a possible link between early non-maternal care and aggressive behaviors in preschool, and concerns from teachers that too many children arrive at school…

The current study describes the assessment and treatment of the problem behavior of 3 individuals with autism for whom initial functional analysis results were inconclusive. Subsequent analyses revealed that the interruption of free-operant behavior using "do" requests (Study 1) as well as "do" and "don't" requests (Study 2) occasioned problem…

American social and educational interventions are often designed for children and youth who have risk factors or destructive behaviors. Effective strategies can be designed to assist youth to grow up to be happy, healthy, productive adults before they show negative characteristics. Restorative Practices, an emerging interdisciplinary field, offers…

This dissertation reviewed experimental studies centering on the Lovaas Method (LovM), reviewed experimental studies centering on Verbal Behavior Approach (VBA) and/or studies that focused on the primary verbal operants, and compared the effects of LovM and VBA on the development of tact repertoires of three 11 to 12-year-old students with…

This paper reports a school-based study of peer perceptions of a range of behaviours associated with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. A Year 7 (aged 11-12) cohort of pupils were administered a pre-questionnaire in their first term. During the second term the cohorts were split into two; one group received a normally taught unit…

This article reports on mother-child conflict as an outcome and moderator of Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), a preventive intervention for depression. Forty-one adolescents (average age = 13.37, SD = 1.19) with elevated depression symptoms were randomized to receive IPT-AST or school counseling (SC). Adolescents…

This study compared the effectiveness of a culturally modified version of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), called Guiando a Ninos Activos (GANA), to the effectiveness of standard PCIT and Treatment as Usual (TAU) for young Mexican American children with behavior problems. Fifty-eight Mexican American families whose 3- to 7-year-old child…

The impact of the economic crisis in America is having significant consequences across all environments. Children in Alabama are being hit particularly hard, with budget constraints leading to greatly reduced services for marginalized children and families in rural and urban areas. According to the United States Census Bureau, 16.6% of the…

The author discusses the adherence of culturally sensitive treatment (CST) to evidence-based practice. CST is distinguished from empirically supported treatment. Therapists are advancing CST by designing and evaluating interventions and evolving their understanding of what makes CST work. (Contains 2 tables.)

Care managers, including nurses and social workers, often lack information that would help them more effectively target services to caregivers' needs. Useful information includes the type of services that will be most helpful for caregivers and the best time to start using these services. Generally, caregivers are simply told what services they…

The evidence-base of psychosocial treatment outcome studies for depressed youth conducted since 1998 is examined. All studies for depressed children meet Nathan and Gorman's (2002) criteria for Type 2 studies whereas the adolescent protocols meet criteria for both Type 1 and Type 2 studies. Based on the Task Force on the Promotion and…

Child and adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating condition associated with a wide range of impairments. This article briefly discusses the phenomenology of OCD, the theory underlying current treatment approaches, and the extant psychosocial treatment literature for child and adolescent OCD relative to the…

This review synthesized findings from 17 studies since 1998 regarding evaluation of outpatient treatments for adolescent substance abuse. These studies represented systematic design advances in adolescent clinical trial science. The research examined 46 different intervention conditions with a total sample of 2,307 adolescents. The sample included…

Background: The EarlyBird program is a psycho-educational early intervention program for parents of children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). It aims to provide parents with skills to increase their child's communication and manage challenging behaviour using behavioural techniques. Method: Two interlinked studies examined access to the…