This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project carried out in a UK Pupil Referral Unit during the 2000/01 academic year. It describes and analyses the strategies adopted by a small group of Behaviour Support Service teachers in order to achieve their everyday occupational goals. It is argued that despite their commitment to the…

Early detection of developmental and behavioral/mental health problems is greatly facilitated when quality instruments are deployed. This article describes how to identify accurate measures and presents standards for screening tests. Included is a table delineating accurate tools for primary care: typically those relying on information from…

The types of non-maternal child care received by more than 1000 U.S. children were examined from birth to 54 months and related to family selection factors and to child outcomes. Individual children tended to experience a variety of different types of care and not to fit into clear patterns of either stable care types or progressive patterns of…

Objective: To estimate the genetic and environmental contributions to oppositional defiant behavior (ODB) from mother, father, and teacher report using the Conners Revised Short Forms in a large twin sample. Method: ODB data were collected from 1,595 mothers, 1,114 fathers, and 793 teachers of 7-year-old twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin…

This study investigates whether depressive tendencies or anger/hostility is associated with an increased propensity for a mother to target a particular child in the family as the "problem child." The 180 participants were drawn from a larger cohort of urban, low-income mothers and young children. Maternal data were gathered from measures of…

Although a number of reviews of gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency exist, this paper fills a gap in reviewing neighborhood influences on gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency. These influences are known to be important for boys in childhood and adolescence, but cannot be assumed to be influential in the same…

This article investigates the role of interpersonal relationships in shaping sex differences in the manifestation, etiology, and developmental course of conduct problems and their treatment needs. The review examines whether: (1) Girls' conduct problems are more likely than boys' to manifest as a function of disrupted relationships with caretakers…

Research has shown that self-evaluation can have positive effects on children's behavior and academic performance. Components of self-evaluation that have not been fully examined include the accuracy and sensitivity of students' ratings before and after training, as well as the effects of accuracy training on performance. Four students exhibiting…

This article draws upon a recent evaluation study of developments in behaviour/discipline systems in an inner-city secondary school over a period of 5 years (including a 3 year "action research" cycle). The methodology involved the collection and analysis of data from a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches with…

This study examined the effectiveness of the First Step to Success (FSS) early intervention program with four Native-American students, their teachers, and their parents on (a) targeted students' problem behaviors, (b) class-wide student behaviors, and (c) teacher behaviors. Participant teachers and parents were also interviewed to gather their…

In an effort to understand the reasons that young children might be referred for psychological services, ratings provided by mothers who had contacted a psychology clinic were compared to those provided by mothers who were college students. Results of this study suggested that children who were referred for psychological services were rated as…

Recent advances concerning emerging/beginning reading skills, positive behavioral support (PBS), and three-tiered schoolwide prevention models combined with federal mandates (i.e., IDEA and No Child Left Behind) have stimulated interest in providing early and intensive instructional intervention services to children at risk for reading and…

Objectives: To examine the relationship between sexual abuse and academic achievement in an adolescent inpatient psychiatric population. Individual factors expected to influence this relationship were measured to explore the way they each interacted with sexual abuse and its relationship to academic achievement. Method: Eighty-one adolescent…

Problem behavior can interfere with learning, the development of appropriate skills, and socialization in persons with developmental disabilities. In severe cases, problem behavior could result in life-threatening injury. For one 21-month-old participant diagnosed with autism engaging in severe problem behavior for whom reinforcement-based…

Educators often exclude socially maladjusted children (SMA) from a proper education due to serious disruptive behavior. Never the less, these children are entitled to services under section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While SMA children are indeed difficult to educate, review of the associated literature suggests that methods to…