The outcomes of a randomized clinical trial of a new behavioral family intervention, Stepping Stones Triple P, for preschoolers with developmental and behavior problems are presented. Forty-eight children with developmental disabilities participated, 27 randomly allocated to an intervention group and 20 to a wait-list control group. Parents…

Aggression is stable as early as 2 years of age and predicts many negative adult outcomes. Although longitudinal predictors of child aggression have been identified, information is lacking regarding the proximal precursors of toddlers' aggression. During a 30-min interaction, 54 mother-toddler dyads were observed. Toddlers were categorized as…

The authors used meta-analytical techniques to estimate the magnitude of gender differences in mean level and variability of 35 dimensions and 3 factors of temperament in children ages 3 months to 13 years. Effortful control showed a large difference favoring girls and the dimensions within that factor (e.g., inhibitory control: d = -0.41,…

The purpose of this study was to determine if specific classroom antecedents were associated with motor and vocal tics in two males diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome. A functional assessment consisting of teacher and student interviews, direct observations, brief functional analysis, and confirmatory naturalistic observations indicated that…

Since the re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 functional assessment has become popular in designing interventions for people with challenging behaviour. The purpose of this study was to assess the applications of functional and structural analysis in the assessment of problem behaviour. The study analysed…

In recent years, several papers have considered phenomena putatively relevant to rule-governed behavior (RGB). The author has condensed a few of his concerns about the practice of drawing casual connections between noncompliance, failure to complete assigned tasks, etc., and basic research on RGB. Some of the most important papers involving…

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate a methodology for analyzing the interactive effects of two different antecedent variables on child noncompliance in an outpatient clinic. Phase 1 of this study consisted of antecedent manipulations to identify situations that occasioned problematic behaviors (i.e., presence or absence of the…

Utilizing a clinical sample, this study examined relations between adolescents' subjective distress over their emotional/behavioral problems, their perceptions of parental distress over these problems, and parents' reports of their own distress over their adolescents' behaviors. Additionally, adolescents' perceived control over these behaviors was…

Contemporary roles of school psychology include the provision of ongoing support for teachers to prevent and remediate problematic behaviors within the instructional setting. Early research on the use of automated feedback devices to influence classroom behavior yielded promising results. The present study examined the effect of an interdependent…

Research is a "core activity" of "central importance in improving mental health and social care" (NIME, CAMHS National Conference, 2005). This paper examines the philosophical issues confronted when considering psychoanalytic clinical research. It is argued that a well-suited partnership can be formed between psychoanalytic clinical research and…

Increasing attention is being given to the fact that positive behavior support (PBS) not only affects individual quality of life but branches out to affect family quality of life as well. This article provides a brief overview of family quality of life, citing specific information from the "Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale". An analysis…

Despite increased professional attention to the role of culture in school environments, implications of the construct for student behavior remain underexamined. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, I examine factors that contribute to the overrepresentation of black male students in school exclusion rates from a cultural perspective.…

Direct methods of functional assessment--through which information is gathered by observing environment--behavior relations--vary with the degree to which environmental events are manipulated. Unstructured (ABC) assessments involve observing the occurrence of problem behavior without altering environmental events in any way. At the other extreme,…

Background: Hastings, R. P. ["American Journal on Mental Retardation" (2002) Vol. 107, pp. 455-467] hypothesized that staff negative emotional reactions to challenging behaviour might accumulate over time to affect staff well-being. Only one previous study (Mitchell, G.& Hastings, R. P. ["American Journal on Mental…

This study examined whether experienced and novice school psychology consultants differed in identification of consultee resistance, attribution of sources of resistance, and quantity and variety of strategies to handle resistance. The participants were characterized as novice consultants (N = 33) if they had completed fewer than 20 cases or as…