This article describes an Escambia County, Florida, program that serves male, middle school, juvenile delinquents or adjudicated youth with disabilities. It describes the program's development, components, successes, and failures. It notes program eligibility, intake and orientation processes, social skills intervention, academic program, and the…

Debates the question of suicide as a defensible choice, particularly for the terminally ill, examining the relevance of such issues as the mortality, rationality, and dynamics of the suicidal act, and the legitimacy of physician-assisted suicide. Contrasting perspectives are articulated by two prominent suicidologists as a spur to the reader's…

Article discusses how theory plays an essential role in the development and evaluation of interventions for children's psychosocial problems; and applies principles of developmental psychopathology to the treatment of dysfunction in children. It delineates the benefits of incorporating theoretical and empirical findings from developmental…

The last in seven sets of guidelines based on the consensus of experts in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral problems in mental retardation (MR) focuses on medication dosing. The guidelines cover classes of medication, specific medications, usual starting daily dose, and usual daily dose range. (DB)

Interviews with 33 high school students with behavioral disorders identified factors affecting high school completion. Students' responses to each of five questions are categorized. Results suggest changes related to teachers, curriculum, and administration that might help more youth with behavior disorders to complete high school. (Contains…

In response to Forness and Kavale (2001), this article suggests that the new medical model they propose for intervention with children who have emotional or behavioral disorders does not go far enough and that a comprehensive treatment model should incorporate other evidence-based approaches to intervention. (Contains 7 references.) (DB)

In response to Forness and Kavale's (2001) argument that the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) should adopt a "new" medical model, this commentary argues that the benefit of psychiatric diagnoses and pharmacologic treatments have not been established. It advocates a resistance-to-intervention approach to E/BD eligibility…

The dynamics of self-injurious behaviors were examined in 8 adults with mental retardation. Analysis of trajectories of the arm movements and impact forces of head blows found a high degree of cycle-to-cycle consistency in the qualitative dynamics of limb motions, indicating the motions are often stereotyped in nature. (Contains references.) (CR)

Examines the decisionmaking of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. These youths' socially dysfunctional boundaries and thwarted border crossings are revealed semiotically. (Author/VWL)

This article reviews basic literature on behavioral pharmacology and integrates these findings with existing applied research regarding psychotropic medication. Suggestions are provided for improving research practices, increasing the diversity of people in decision-making regarding medication use, and developing consumer-friendly strategies for…

This article considers the impact of mentors on young professionals and on students with behavior disorders. Four key mentoring points are emphasized: model what you expect, respect the complex lives of your students and families, provide abundant learning opportunities for your students, and work collaboratively with others. (CR)

This article discusses the process of assessing social skills with students who have emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It describes a three-stage problem-solving model of problem identification, problem analysis, and treatment evaluation. Specific social skills assessment strategies are described and linked to a classification system of…

Currently there are no available sleep disorder measures for individuals with severe and profound intellectual disability. We, therefore, attempted to establish the external validity of the "Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II" (DASH-II) sleep subscale by comparing daily observational sleep data with the responses of…

Students with externalizing disorders make up from three to five percent of the population in public school classrooms and are some of the most difficult students to manage in an educational setting. Behavioral excesses and deficits exhibited by these students are a major factor in poor retention rates for new teachers while the students…

Out-of-home treatment for youth with conduct problems is increasing rapidly in this country. Most programs for these youth deliver treatment in a group format and commonly employ some version of a token economy. Despite widespread evidence of effectiveness, a substantial minority of treated youth fail to respond. Participants for this study were 3…