The Alternate Secondary Center (ASC) Program, is the latest step in a series of activities which have been taken to individualize prescriptive learning programs to meet the identified needs of alienated secondary school youngsters. As the external component to the chain of alternate secondary programs, Hartford's two ASC's focused on two…

Much of our thinking about contemporary social problems reflects tacit presuppositions regarding the operation of heredity and environment in human behavior. These beliefs have important implications for practical decisions. Advances in genetics, psychology, anthropology, and other disciplines have contributed much to a clarification of the…

A committee was formed to explore ways of helping school districts develop more effective programs for disruptive students. Committee findings revealed the need for the development of local guidelines to satisfy each school district's needs and for reliable feedback. Therefore, this report reflects efforts to sample various local approaches to the…

This paper reviews three studies which illustrate the use of two different techniques of behavior modification to control aggression in preschool children in classroom situations. The first technique demonstrated the use of "time-out" as a mild punishment procedure. The teacher changed events following aggression by briefly removing the child from…

A review of estimates of the incidence of emotional disturbance/problem behavior in school-aged children leads to the conclusion that schools should anticipate a need for alternative programming for the two-three percent of their students predicted to have recurrent or persistent problems in adjusting to school situations. (Author)

Failure- and misconduct-prone black and Hispanic high school students were given five weekly sessions of rational-emotive education. Comparisons were made with alternate treatment and on-treatment controls. The rational-emotive groups showed greatest improvement on all dependent variables over an extended period of time. (Author/MFD)

The article categorizes the information needed to develop comprehensive approaches to students with chronic disciplinary problems and discusses psychological measures that can provide the necessary information. The categories include: cognitive domain (attention; concentration; memory; and psycholinguistic, conceptual, sensory, and perceptual…

A program is described which successfully improved writing and communication skills in adolescents with learning and behavior problems. The students, inpatients at a mental health hospital, wrote "jargon journals" on topics from a student-generated list. The journals had therapeutic as well as academic benefits. (Author/JDD)

The phenomenon of behavioral problems in school confronts each personally- or professionally-involved party (teacher, pupil, researcher, or psychologist) with the need to become aware of those elements in the individual identity, the role-behavior, and the institutionally-defined practice that contribute to the emergence and perpetuation of…

Some special needs groups (for example dyslexia) have argued strongly for the need for particular specialist approaches. In contrast, many proponents of inclusion have argued that "good teaching is good teaching for all" and that all children benefit from similar approaches. Both positions fail to scrutinise this issue rigorously and…

"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" presents findings from research examining the influence of collective socialization, concentration of disadvantage, and prevalence of crime on conduct…

This issue of "Focal Point" explores some of what is known and unknown about strengthening social support. This introduction outlines some of the major concepts and themes in research on social support, and some implications of this research for interventions in children's mental health. This sets the stage for the rest of the issue, which…

This issue of "Focal Point" describes the need for, and provides examples of, new strategies for meeting the mental health needs of children and adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system. Articles in this issue discuss the particular need for correction in the way that the juvenile justice system interacts with youth who have mental…

Describing the frustration felt by early childhood educators when they encounter challenging behaviors that do not respond to their usual guidance and disciplinary measures, this guide, in English and French, is designed to give the information and skills needed to cope with children with challenging behaviors. The guide is based on the view that…

A study of the status of alternative education (AE) in Pennsylvania surveyed 220 administrators and 234 teachers and counselors in AE settings. Results indicate that discipline programming was common to most programs, probably because Pennsylvania's AE legislation specifically states that AE programs are "designed to modify disruptive…