Investigates how adolescents spent their time in high school and the conditions under which they reported being engaged. Participants experienced increased engagement when the perceived challenge of the task and their own skills were high and in balance, the instruction was relevant, and the learning environment was under their control.…

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of the interspersal procedure on an elementary student who was referred to a school psychologist for high rates of off-task behavior during independent seatwork. Results showed that the procedure increased the student's on-task levels during classroom mathematics assignments.…

Examines the psychometric properties of a set of preliteracy measures modified from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) with a sample of 75 kindergarten students. The results of the analysis support the use of the DIBELS-M measures for identification of kindergarten students who are at-risk for reading failure and for…

This article presents the legal requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments regarding Individualized Education Programs (IEP), functional behavioral assessments, and behavior intervention plans for special education students with problem behavior; describes the initial policy letters and due process hearings that…

The purpose of this article is to spark discussion regarding the value and feasibility of empirically based procedures for goal setting and evaluation of educational services. Recent legal decisions and policy debates point to the need for clearer criteria in decisions regarding appropriate educational services. Possible roles for school…

Examines the effects of training preservice teachers in collaborative problem solving, specifically collaboratively developed intervention scripts. Adherence to the scripts, outcomes for target students, and acceptability of the scripts were examined. Results demonstrated relatively high levels of teacher adherence to the collaboratively developed…

Attachment theory is used as the theoretical base to understand the impact that rejection of relationship connections can have on the development of gay and lesbian adolescents. Developmental challenges for gay and lesbian youth are addressed as are the frequent failure of families and schools to provide continuity of secure caregiving to these…

Discusses training in the field of school psychology in relation to the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (sexual minority) youth. Using the NASP Principles for Professional Ethics, explains how ethical principles are used to advocate for sexual minority youth. The final section describes specific strategies that school…

School psychologists are in a key position to participate in comprehensive health care of children and adolescents. Presents a model for school psychology in which practitioners assume an active role in addressing the health and mental health needs of children and adolescents. The model is rooted in developmental- ecological theory and action…

Presents a response to "School Psychologists as Health-Care Providers in the 21st Century: Conceptual Framework, Professional Identity, and Professional Practice" (this issue). The author supports the call for school psychologists to assume leadership in facilitating the necessary coordination across systems for such a role change to…

Research in temperament attempts to explain the normal range of individual differences in adjusting to stimuli, activities, and persons in the environment. Mini-series reviews temperament constructs and relates them to development of children's interpersonal and academic difficulties. They show how understanding temperamental roots of…

This study of 174 children meeting criteria for learning disabilities revealed that the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) factors accounted for a large portion of the achievement variance during hierarchical regression analyses. Proposes that the practitioner should refrain from focusing on global scores and…

Investigates the short-term stability of the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents for 124 randomly selected children in grades kindergarten to grade 12. Significant test-retest stability coefficients were obtained and mean differences across the retest interval did not exceed .8 raw score points. Results were similar to those obtained in…

Study attempts to expand the empirical consultation research base by examining the effects of direct and indirect consultee training methods on treatment integrity and treatment outcomes. A multiple baseline design across consultation dyads was used to investigate the influence of these variables. Results suggest that direct consultee training led…

Although special services providers are trained to address a range of behavioral problems, there has been little attention paid to non-traditional training sites which can prepare special service providers for working with seriously delinquent youth. Article considers the increasingly delinquent behaviors of children and describes an internship…