Emerging research suggests that exposure to environmental pollutants, prenatally and in early childhood, may contribute significantly to diseases and disabilities. For example, exposures to mercury or lead early in life can impact the nervous system and brain, potentially contributing to learning, behavioral, and developmental disabilities. The…

Children exposed to psychosocial stressors often develop behavior disorders that include off-task responding in the classroom. We used errorless embedding, a rapport-based, nonpunitive intervention, to improve on-task behavior in such children. In a multiple-baseline across subjects design, we observed 5 children with severe behavioral…

Descriptive and qualitative analyses were applied to a database of 111 assessment-based studies published between 1997 and 2002 on the problem behavior of school-age individuals with disabilities, to determine how frequently key components of positive behavior support (PBS) were being used. While most of the database reported reductions in problem…

Objective: This study examines whether the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) can be used as an accurate psychiatric screening tool for children in community mental health settings. Method: Associations, logistic regression models, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were used to test the predictive relationship between the CBCL and…

Background: There are no studies that have compared outcomes for staff in different types of supported accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour. This study looked at stress, morale and intended job turnover in staff in two types of community-based residential supports: non-congregate settings where the…

This article presents a preliminary study of the impact of a technique that incorporates elements of both solution-focused brief counseling and guided imagery methodology. The solution-focused guided imagery approach is a step-by-step procedure that was tested with both practicing and preservice school counselors,who reported positive results.

Recent literature regarding functional behavior assessment (FBA) in general education environments has been critical of the paucity of research in such settings, given the complex and often time-consuming nature of FBA. Less complex team-based FBA processes have been suggested as a realistic alternative for general education environments. This…

A survey of 96 Australian primary and secondary school teachers was carried out based on a stratified random sample. The study aimed to determine Middle Years teachers' perceptions and management of disruptive classroom behaviour. Variables such as gender, teacher confidence and experience, supports, specific disruptive student behaviours, and…

Life Space Crisis Intervention converts a conflict into a meaningful learning experience for the student by discovering what drives his/her behavior and by defining clear outcome goals. Aggression Replacement Training teaches alternatives to problematic behavior. The collaborative use of ART and LSCI is an effective strategy, specifically in stage…

School practices for contacting parents should be modernized because they lack reliability and are often ineffective. A field-test was conducted with support from Motorola to assess the potential of new communication methods. One method allows teachers, using a common set of codes, to record notable student conduct onto personal digital assistants…

Adults with predominantly severe and profound mental retardation (N = 180) who lived in a developmental center were assessed with the Behavior Problems Inventory and the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II. Individuals with self-injurious, stereotyped, or aggressive/destructive behavior had generally higher psychopathology scores…

The Children Depression Inventory (CDI) is a multidimensional instrument that includes items of social withdrawal, anhedonia, asthenia, low self-esteem (internalized) and behavioral problems (externalized). Child depression has been related with low academic achievement, neurotic and introverted personality traits and social maladjustment defined…

When a student's challenging behavior can not be resolved through either traditional disciplinary approaches or schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS), what can a teacher do next? This manual has effective solutions for educators from grades K-12. Developed specifically for use with children with persistent or severe behavior problems, this…

We examined the extent to which state departments of education are including (a) goals for student social behavior in their mission statements; (b) criteria for individual student, classroom, and schoolwide behavior support in certification standards for general education teachers, special education teachers, and principals; and (c) state…

Drawing on the stress paradigm and using data from the Duke Mental Health Study, this paper investigates the links between violence by and against persons with severe mental illness and their caregivers' financial burden (e.g., number of financial contributions and perceived financial strain). In addition to violence, substance use and medication…