The article describes a direct observation system designed to help teachers identify children with behavior problems. The system involves recording the frequency of four key target behaviors (noise, out-of-place, physical contact/destruction, and off task) emitted by the referred student and by a normative peer sample. (DLS)

Two studies of aggressive and unaggressive emotionally disturbed boys (total N=72) in residential treatment examined whether the more aggressive children exhibit either an attributional bias to infer hostility regardless of the nature of the social stimuli that they appraised or an actual ability to detect true instances of hostility. (Author/CL)

A psychologist describes a counseling situation in which the divorced parents of an 11-year-old, behavior problem child disagreed about his future school placement. (CL)

Argues that the concept of difficult temperament does not yet have enough empirical basis to justify its use for practical purposes. Suggests that the concept possesses enough construct validity to justify further research, particularly when temperamental differences are seen as a parent's perception rather than solely as a child's characteristic.…

The article is designed to help parents and teachers understand the causes of common behaviors of gifted children that become "problems" to adults and to suggest some effective strategies for dealing with such behaviors. (SBH)

Describes a New Jersey, principal-initiated program to change the undesirable behavior of disruptive, underachieving youngsters. Although the anticipated 80 percent success rate was not realized, results showed the positive growth recorded in most areas was impressive. (Author/LD)

The author states that the numbers of youths who previously have been served within the traditional child welfare systems, but now are refused services based upon the labels given to them, are on the rise. (Author/CL)

It is argued that a behavioral model for treatment of children with behavior problems emphasizes precise, detailed definition of problem areas, and the careful monitoring of behavior before, during and after treatment. (MS)

Discusses the process of conducting a functional assessment of a problem behavior. Reviews current research on functional assessment methods, such as direct observation and indirect assessment, and covers applications of functional assessment. Applies functional assessment to binge eating and the antecedents and consequences of binge eating…

Educators often presume that all children prenatally exposed to crack or cocaine will be out of control in classrooms and doomed to failure. This article debunks five popular myths concerning such children. Educators should forgo the notion that these children exhibit similar behaviors. They should consider the variables affecting behavior and…

This study investigated the sleep of 28 young blind and 22 sighted children (ages 4 to 36 months) whose parents completed the Sleep Habits Questionnaire. It found that the blind children had significantly more sleep problems related to bedtime and behaviors during the night than did the sighted children. (Author/DB)

This introduction to a special issue on classroom violence presents an overview of approaches to prevention of violence and disruptive behavior in the schools. These strategies range from minimally to substantially intrusive intervention strategies. The article also reviews existing knowledge about violence prevention and discusses the need for…

This study examined the effectiveness of momentary Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors DRO (mDRO) and whole interval DRO (wDRO) schedules on high rates of disruptive behavior in children. In both procedures, children earned tokens for the absence of disruptive behavior and exchanged tokens for tangible or edible reinforcers. mDRO and…

Examined the impact of family home ownership on the emotional and behavioral problems of children 4 to 16 years old. Found that home ownership was inversely associated with ratings of emotional-behavioral problems. The concentration of home ownership in neighborhoods was not associated with ratings of child behavior. (JPB)

This study examined stress-support in 42 families of 3- to 18-year-old children with Prader-Willi Syndrome. While children's age, intelligence quotient, and degree of obesity were not related to familial stress, families experienced greater stress when children showed more behavior problems overall, more externalizing and internalizing problems,…