Like China, Vietnam is a communist country with increasingly capitalist economic policies. A fundamental change occurred in these policies with the enactment of Vietnam's "doi moi" (renovation) policy in 1986 that called for a "free market with socialist orientations." However, this economic modernization has inadvertently changed the social…

This article presents summaries of three articles relevant to school crisis response: (1) "Factors Contributing to Posttraumatic Growth," summarized by Steve DeBlois; (2) "Psychological Debriefing in Cross-Cultural Contexts" (Stacey Rice); and (3) "Brain Abnormalities in PTSD" (Sunny Windingstad). The first summary reports the findings of a…

A recent movement in schools is the implementation of multitiered models of service delivery. Known as response to intervention (RTI), multitiered systems of support (MTSS), or instructional decision making (IDM), these models refer to a tiered framework of services in which research-based instruction is matched to the "data-based needs of…

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…

Offering and receiving help are fundamental to human survival. The fact that children engage in beneficial social exchanges before they can even fully appreciate them underscores the importance of cooperation and altruism for human society. Gratitude is a higher-level moral emotion that enables people to notice, understand, and capitalize on…

Researchers often point to the work of Cummins (1981), who proposed that two distinct types of language proficiency exist, basic interpersonal communications skills (BICS) and cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP). BICS includes aspects of language such as basic vocabulary and pronunciation, skills that are readily apparent during…

Historically, most educators have recognized two primary aims of school discipline: (a) managing student behavior, relying primarily on the use of teacher-centered techniques for preventing and correcting misbehavior; and (b) developing self-discipline, combining teacher-centered techniques with more student-centered techniques that focus on…

To help create a supportive learning environment for students, school psychologists must collaborate daily with parents, teachers, and other professionals. Effective communication is an indispensable tool for helping to ensure that all parties understand how they play an essential role in a student's development. The ability to communicate…

The school psychologist plays a central role in eligibility and other determinations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) not only at the school level but also, upon formal disputes, at the successive adjudicative levels of impartial hearing officers and courts. One of the sources of professional confusion that requires…

Learning how to manage emotions such as frustration and disappointment is an important task of childhood. Although it is common for very young children to have temper tantrums when they cannot get their way, these reactions tend to decrease in frequency and intensity for most children as they develop skills to help them respond in more adaptive…

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…

The notion that development influences children's responses to traumatic stress is not novel. Chronological age and maturity level interact with environmental factors to mediate responses to trauma. Clinicians and researchers have confirmed that children can experience the full range of traumatic stress reactions seen in adults, and many youth…

Students with emotion dysregulation have significant difficulty modulating emotional reactions, particularly in response to frustration or challenge. These children can present with a variety of DSM diagnoses in schools, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), major depressive disorder (MDD),…