Critically examines discrepancies between parents' and children's views of the family, which have been thought to indicate failure, dysfunction, or negative aspects of family relations. Questions what level and types of disagreements should be tolerated, or even celebrated, in families. (ET)

A functional analysis of breath-holding episodes in a 7-year-old girl with severe mental retardation and Cornelia-de-Lange syndrome indicated that breath holding served an operant function, primarily to gain access to attention. Use of extinction, scheduled attention, and a picture card communication system decreased breath holding. (Author/SW)

Three elementary students with behavior and learning problems and pre-first grade reading skills listened to an audiotape of unknown words while reading them aloud. Both slow-taped and fast-taped words resulted in greater accuracy in reading than occurred in the assessment-only control conditions. (SW)

Fifty children and adolescents with affective disorders and mental retardation admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit were compared with 50 inpatients without depression. Behavioral symptoms occurred significantly more often in the affective group than in the comparison group. The behavioral presentation of affective symptoms in children and…

Two assessments of 26 Spanish-speaking, low-income, Latina mothers and their 26 toddlers, conducted 3 months apart, examined toddlers' behavioral difficulties, mothers' depression, mothers' self-efficacy (as parent), and mothers' social support. Mother's perceived social support at first assessment was predictive of depression level at second…

This paper explains the interdisciplinary team concept blended with the family-centered approach in a psychiatric setting and applies the approach in a case study of a family with a child diagnosed with mental retardation, autism, and severe behavior problems. Practical suggestions for implementing such a family-centered/interdisciplinary team…

Discusses the problem of school safety and classroom disruption resulting from a few students' acts and threats of violence, and offers advice on how to deal with it. The article reviews how these disruptions harm other students' education and addresses administrative roadblocks and legal problems in curbing student violence and bad behavior. (GR)

Describes two ways in which substance abuse is related to violence: trade in drugs and being under the influence of drugs. The paper argues that reducing the demand for drugs by eliminating the market for them will bring about a reciprocal reduction in substance abuse-related violence. (GR)

This paper points out contradictions in a British government report titled "Discipline in Schools" (the Elton Report), and highlights undesirable consequences of recent legal and administrative changes in education. The paper argues that the needs of pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties would be better met using school-based…

This study, with four preschool children who displayed difficulty maintaining independent on-task behavior, found they were able to learn a self-monitoring strategy (comprising self-talk, self-appraisal, and self-recording) and to maintain the targeted behavior improvements upon removal of the prompts. (DB)

Examined the effects of change in parental work status on 883 early adolescents' school adjustment. Based on parental work status, families were characterized as deprived, declining, recovery, and stable. Teacher reports indicated that adolescents in deprived and declining families were less competent than adolescents in recovery and stable…

Characteristics of children (n=296) referred to a psychiatric outpatient facility for evaluation of behavioral and school-learning problems were compared to classroom placement recommendations made by a school interdisciplinary team. Results indicate general trends in the relationship between placement options and the incidence and severity of…

This study found that 74 high school students with learning disabilities were more likely than 85 nondisabled students to expect that a teenager trying to convince a peer to engage in misconduct would use simple, direct requests and were less likely to expect requests that minimized the possibility of getting caught. (JDD)

This review identifies effects of systematic abuse of adolescents (physical, sexual, or psychological); the relationship of maltreatment to classroom behavior problems; intervention; and classroom management issues (e.g., negative consequences, sexuality, dependency behaviors). Educators are encouraged to provide an integrative rehabilitative…

This commentary on a paper (EC 603 646) describing a natural reinforcement project of Communidad Los Horcones (Mexico) notes that the original paper lacks auxiliary procedures for students whose behaviors are not controlled by described procedures, offers no guidance on curriculum structure, and fails to recognize potential opposition to such…