Recent statistics estimate that there are 783,000 children living in foster care in the United States. This vulnerable population is at risk for academic failure as well as internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Compared to their peers, foster youth face significant educational difficulties, including lower levels of academic…

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. This is a great time to highlight the importance of mental wellness and school-based mental health services to children's positive learning and development. There is heightened urgency to the imperative to advance school-based mental health and school psychologists' expertise as essential to the…

Students with severe and low-incidence disabilities comprise a heterogeneous population that often presents a challenge to the professionals charged with evaluating their skills and abilities. This is especially true in conducting a valid assessment of the cognitive ability of these children. Often, school psychologists are limited to the use of…

The assessment of cognitive ability in students with the most severe disabilities presents a challenge to the clinicians who are charged with this task. This article is the second of a two-part series that summarizes what is currently known about effective assessment of the cognitive ability of students with significant impairments in order to…

Psychotropic medications are increasingly used to treat children and adolescents with mental health conditions. Between the years 1994 and 2001, there was a 191.7% increase in number of office visits resulting in a psychotropic medication prescription among children and adolescents. Many drugs are prescribed to children "off-label", whereby they…

The science behind the mechanisms and mediators that lead to successful goal accomplishment has been a focus of research since the 1970s. When an individual desires to make a change or accomplish an outcome, research shows that he or she will be more successful if he or she attends to a number of variables that are key in goal setting.…

Childhood-onset schizophrenia is an exceedingly rare mental illness whose complex, multifaceted behavioral presentation can disrupt child development and raise diagnostic and treatment difficulties for attending clinicians. The disorder, affecting one in 30,000 children, shares the same diagnostic criteria and symptoms as its adult counterpart,…

This column features summaries of five research articles relevant to school crisis response. The first, "High School Teachers' Experiences With Suicidal Students," summarized by Robyn Bratica, offers the results of a study examining high school teachers' experiences with suicidal students and suggests that contact with suicidal students is very…

The estimated prevalence of one or more mental health disorders among children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 is 21% (Satcher, 2001). Similarly, research by Greenberg et al., (2003) estimated that 20% of school-age youth experience mental health problems during the course of any school year. Despite these high prevalence rates, the…

Today's military families are a diverse, resilient group of brave Americans, and the country owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude. To date, over 2 million service members have been deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism, many for multiple tours. For the first time in the country's history, there are more military dependents…

Refugee and immigrant children constitute one of the fastest growing groups in the United States, with numbers increasing to an estimated 9 million children by the end of 2010. The Upper Darby School District, located in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, has witnessed the rapid growth of a diverse immigrant and refugee population during the…

This article begins with a 12-year-old girl's story that serves as an example of how "caring coaches" in the schools contribute greatly in helping schools become hopeful places for children. Helping students become more hopeful is rewarding for the students, teachers, school psychologists, counselors, parents, and other caring adults. Twenty years…

Students with head injuries may not be as "low incidence" as previously believed. Recent efforts from the American Academy of Pediatrics (2010), the National Football League, and other agencies are attempting to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among students. Along with awareness, there has been an increased publicity effort via…

This paper presents summaries of four articles relevant to school crisis response. The first article, "Peritraumatic Dissociation Predicts Posttraumatic Stress in Youth Following Accidents" summarized by Jim Matthews, suggests that peritraumatic dissociation is a powerful predictor of PTSD symptoms among youth who have been in a car accident. The…

Researchers have linked self-efficacy to a wide array of outcomes including psychological adjustment, resilience, physical health, achievement, and self-regulation, among others. In this article, the author describes self-efficacy and the factors that contribute to it, highlights the positive outcomes that self-efficacy leads to, and provides…