Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) are characterized by academic deficits and classroom behavioral problems. The relationship between problem behavior and academic difficulties is complex, and some researchers have hypothesized that the classroom behavior problems of students with E/BD are responses to aversive stimuli, namely…

Adolescents with conduct disorder frequently engage in aggressive and disruptive behaviors. Often these behaviors are controlled or managed through behavioral or other psychosocial interventions. However, such interventions do not always ensure lasting changes in an adolescent's response repertoire so that he or she does not engage in aggression…

Parent-child transactions provide an important social context for the development of adaptive and problem behaviors in young children with autism. Teaching parents to develop alternative transactional pathways often leads to positive behavioral patterns in their children. We taught three parents the philosophy and practice of mindfulness in a…

This article describes two studies that evaluated training intended to improve the family friendliness of five components of the admission treatment team process at an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric hospital. While role-play training did not improve family friendliness, mindfulness training enhanced the family friendliness of all five…

The Family Assessment Planning Team Observation Form was used to assess the family friendliness of the admissions treatment team process at an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric hospital. The overall rating across 35 case presentations was moderately family friendly and showed marginally higher family friendliness than comparable services…

One hundred and eighty-five adolescent inpatients with emotional and behavioral disorders completed two self-report measures for depression and a structured diagnostic interview of depression. A cluster analysis found the following depression subgroups: nondepressed, endogenous depression, depressed mood with subclinical features, depression with…

A 42-item structured observation instrument was devised to rate the family friendliness of the Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) meetings in Virginia for children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Seventy-nine case presentations at 31 FAPT meetings were observed and overall rating of family friendliness was good (63%). (Author/CR)

The Family Empowerment Scale was completed by 161 families of children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) or SED along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Results indicated that membership in a parent support group was a strong predictor of family empowerment, particularly of the systems advocacy and knowledge dimensions of…

This paper defines concepts of diversity, culture, cultural competence, and cultural sensitivity as part of a discussion of the third strategic target of the National Agenda for Achieving Better Results for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance. Outlines a holistic model of multicultural education, including applications, best…

This study investigated the psychometric characteristics of the Family Empowerment Scale (FES) with 228 families having children with severe emotional disturbance or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Factor analyses provided a four-factor solution (systems advocacy, knowledge, competence, and self-efficacy) and supported the use of the…

Records of 250 children and adolescents admitted to a psychiatric hospital were grouped according to their educational status prior to admission as follows: nondisabled students (46%), students with serious emotional disturbance (36%), and students with other disabilities (18%). Differences among the three groups were found on gender, psychiatric…