The article describes a university-based program in which volunteers were paired one-on-one with developmentally disabled children and engaged in weekly outings. Procedures for recruiting, screening, training, and supervising volunteers are briefly described, and program evaluation data are presented. (Author/DB)

Little attention has been given to the needs of international and American social work students who are preparing for direct practice outside of the United States. A preliminary model of cross-cultural social work practice is described as the basis for a course in direct social work practice in international settings. (Author/MLW)

Initially funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission, North Georgia Community Action's School Outreach Program identifies young children at risk of school failure. Outreach workers make home visits to help parents overcome problems affecting participation in their children's education. In the program's second year, 11% of program children…

Examined effects of participation in school-based helper program on adolescents' self-image, attitudes, and behaviors. Seventh-grade students (n=171) were divided into 2 groups, 1 required to engage in volunteer helping activities. Gender-specific results showed that boys in helper program showed positive changes in self-esteem relative to other…

Studies the "urban unhelpfulness" effect in England and the Sudan and the validity of cultural and dispositional explanations that have been put forward to explain it. Responses from 270 participants show the urban unhelpfulness effect to be quite equivalent in both countries. Additionally, the dispositional explanation was not supported…

As children with disabilities participate more fully in community education and recreation programs, educators face special challenges in helping families deal with the special needs of disabled children. Support for parents who have a child with a disability must be based on the parents' perceived needs. (MDM)

Compared at-risk and high-ability ethnic minority freshmen groups to determine differences in their receptiveness to campus support services in four areas: academic assistance, personal counseling, social enrichment, and career counseling. Results revealed that students receptive to career counseling achieved higher grade point average than their…

Researchers surveyed 213 caregivers to test the influence of personality traits on negative outcomes of caregiving. High scores on a measure of neuroticism indicated increased levels of burden and health complaints both at initial and follow-up assessments. Personality traits and other variables remained consistent over time for caregivers…

Examines the Teacher Assistance Team (TAT) approach in providing all students with individualized, supportive instructional alternatives in the classroom. Explains how the TAT is a cost- and time-effective approach for providing teacher support in handling "slow learners" and letting teachers have ownership and responsibility in dealing with…

Reviews research on children's and adolescents' knowledge, feelings, and fears about nuclear war. Offers suggestions for teachers who wish to address children's and adolescents' concerns about nuclear war. (Author/BB)

A study of 539 foster parents found that some of the factors influencing their satisfaction were feeling competent to handle placed children, wanting to take in children who needed loving parents, no regret about investment in foster children, foster mother's age, and agency social worker providing information and showing approval. (Author/CR)

Examined Chinese sixth-graders' sociability and prosocial orientation and adjustment at age 12 and 2 years later. Found that: (1) prosocial orientation predicted social and school adjustment and externalizing problems; (2) sociability uniquely predicted internalizing problems and emotional adjustment; and (3) prosocial orientation and sociability…

In recent years, there has been much research on bullying in the United Kingdom. In 1990, the author, a school counselor and teacher, organized an antibullying workshop at a large secondary school. Since then, the school has been developing a schoolwide antibullying policy comprising various strategies, including an antibullying contract and a…

Explored the process of resolving an in-session impasse between a parent and an adolescent in family therapy. Focusing on altering the content and affective tone of a discussion, the "shift intervention" was used to direct a family's conversation away from trying to solve behavior management problems and toward a discussion of…

A therapeutic relationship was established with a resistant child whose experiential background, together with the ongoing uncertainty of her life situation, created interpersonal issues that threatened the continuance of counseling. The case-study focuses on the aims of counseling and how these were handled within the oscillating relationship…