Internalizing behaviors are directed inward toward the child and are frequently overlooked in classrooms compared with externalizing behaviors. When internalizing behaviors are identified, cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBIs) are typically the intervention of choice; however, CBIs are time-consuming and require considerable skill and…

Professionals working with children who have severe emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) need to understand the risk and protective factors (RPFs) that are correlated with the development of these behavior patterns, for at least 3 reasons. First, significant numbers of students experience negative outcomes or fail to achieve positive outcomes.…

Social skills training has been recommended as an intervention for students having difficulty establishing meaningful social relationships with peers and teachers in school settings. Several meta-analyses of the relevant literature have shown weak to moderate effects, whereas other syntheses have shown somewhat larger effects. The meta-analyses…

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is based on the notion that thoughts, emotions, and actions are reciprocally linked and that changes in one of these necessarily will produce changes in the others. In CBT, thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and information processing styles all play a key role in the development and remediation of behavior and…

This article provides an analysis of the current knowledge base of social skills training (SST) with students with, or at risk for, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). This knowledge base is evaluated with respect to issues regarding construct, internal, external, and social validity of the SST literature. Research syntheses investigating…

This article discusses evidence for functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures in terms of the meaning and interpretation of different forms of reliability and validity in FBA. It concludes that additional research needs to be conducted with various target behaviors across different settings to support the continued use of FBA. (Contains…

Secondary students with or at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) can be characterized as having severe deficits in social competence. Moreover, as students transition into the secondary grades, social competence takes on increased complexity and importance. Social skills training (SST) represents a class of interventions…

In response to Forness and Kavale's (2001) argument that the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) should adopt a "new" medical model, this commentary argues that the benefit of psychiatric diagnoses and pharmacologic treatments have not been established. It advocates a resistance-to-intervention approach to E/BD eligibility…

Results of a study indicate that of 37 students who met the criteria for hyperactivity-impulsivity-inattention and conduct problems in third grade, 13 continued to meet the criteria in fifth grade. Students who remained stable, who improved, or who became worse differed significantly on key risk and protective variables. (Contains references.)…

Three groups of third-grade students classified as either Externals (n=30), Internalizers (n=55), or Controls (n=96) were contrasted on 19 measures in social and academic domains. Results indicate large differences between externalizing and internalizing groups compared with controls; however, both externalizing and internalizing groups had…

Discusses the need for professionals in the field of behavioral disorders to take a leadership role in addressing larger issues and problems of great concern to our society, including ensuring school safety, identifying children vulnerable to gang membership, dropout prevention, and youth violence. (CR)

Reviews past and present conceptualizations and summarized narrative and meta-analytic reviews of social skills training (SST) outcome studies. Overall, modest effect sizes are reported in the meta-analytic literature, suggesting that SST is a relatively weak intervention strategy. Recommendations for rebuilding SST are provided. (Author/CR)

This study examined the effectiveness of a phonological awareness reading intervention with seven first-graders at risk for conduct and attention problems. Findings support the efficacy of the program but suggest the intervention may not have been of sufficient intensity and duration to produce lasting changes and produce beginning reading skill…

Critiques research findings on the effectiveness of the Early Intervention Project (EIP) for children with autism. The review finds sufficient threats to the experimental validity of the EIP to prevent unqualified endorsement of it as a validated treatment for children with autism. The review found in particular there were threats to external…

Responds to "The UCLA Young Autism Project: A Reply to Gresham and MacMillan" (Smith and Lovaas), which criticized a review questioning the effectiveness of an intervention for children with autism. The Smith and Lovass article is described as defensive, factually inaccurate, and as not adequately addressing the question of external validity.…