A child and adolescent psychiatrist describes the dyadic nature of family conflict and provides practical strategies for preventing and managing interpersonal aggression. When parents ignore basic needs such as sleep, hunger, hydration, safety, and security, their children are likely to display qualities like hyperactivity, hypervigilance. and…

Trauma can turn anyone inside out. But when an entire community experiences the same trauma in a matter of minutes, it shatters the rhythm of everyday life and forces a redefinition of "normal." In this article, a school counselor in Newtown who experienced the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School shares her perspectives on the…

Bullying often persists in spite of formal programs targeting this problem. Supportive school and classroom communities enlist brave peers in consoling, encouraging, and befriending victims, which removes the status that fuels bullies. For the past 18 years, this author has worked in multiple children's agencies and schools, studying bullying…

In this article, the author recalls her face-to-face meeting with a prison inmate. Paul Jensen is currently serving a life sentence without parole in South Dakota for a crime committed at age 14. In January 1996, Paul was involved in a robbery that went tragically wrong and resulted in the shooting death of taxi cab driver Michael Hare. Three…

The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Chil­dren's (TLC) 24-year history of working with children and families has provided the experience necessary to make recommendations about how to best respond and intervene with survivors of violent as well as non-violent incidents. Professionals working with youth must appreciate that there is…

Understanding the Passive Aggressive Conflict Cycle (PACC) helps observers to be able to look beyond behavior and better understand what is occurring beneath the surface. This article presents a real-life example of a seemingly minor conflict between a teacher and child that elicited an apparent major overreaction by the adult. Also provided is a…

For over 30 years, Ken Ponds has served as Chaplain to thousands of children of color at Starr Commonwealth. This school was founded in 1913 by Floyd Starr with the legendary motto "There is no such thing as a bad boy." Starr Commmonwealth sees their mission as "discovering greatness" in every young person. In this interview…

Learning to recognize and express emotions appropriately is a skill of mastery in human development, and an essential component of living the good life. Because this developmental and social skill is one of the core deficits for people along the autism spectrum, anyone who works with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) should provide them…

Three years before his Nobel Prize, Dr. King shared his vision of non violence in a televised interview published in this article for the first time in print. King and his father both began their lives given the name "Michael" King. During a 1934 trip to Nazi Germany to attned the Baptist World Alliance Conference, the elder R. King…

Olivia Lima writes in this article that because she is not trained as a therapist or counselor, but rather as a researcher in cognitive development, she cannot speak to the clinical role of empathy. However she does consider empathy central to her work teaching Child Psychology. Keeping that in mind, she begins her first class by telling the…

Christopher Peterson received the Circle of Courage Award and made the following address in a symposium on "The Strength-Based Revolution" at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (Peterson & Brendtro, 2008). Dr. Peterson shared personal reflections on the strengths movement, which is transforming youth development. His presentation shows…

Positive Peer Culture (PPC) is a strength-oriented approach developed by Vorrath and Brendtro (1985) to prevent or reverse negative peer influence by building a climate of peer concern and respect. PPC operates in a range of settings including residential treatment, alternative schools, juvenile justice, and youth leadership groups. It is an…

Punishment is a procedure in which responses are followed by either the removal of positive reinforcement or the presentation of an aversive stimulus (Skinner, 1953) that results in a decrease in the frequency and/or intensity of the response (Azrin & Holtz, 1966). By definition, punishment seeks to stop unacceptable, unwanted, and bothersome…

Traditional teaching methods often fail to engage male students in learning. The purpose of this research was to increase student engagement in the story writing process and increase self-confidence in boys at risk. A qualitative approach included student surveys as well as teacher journaling and portfolios (including e-portfolios). The student…

Several excellent frameworks exist that define components of positive youth development and demonstrate an inverse relationship with adolescent risks (Ginsburg, 2007). The authors have found that many of their colleagues have been drawn to the Circle of Courage for its clarity and spirit (Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern, 2002). This model is…