Evaluated alternative treatments for children (N=112) referred for severe antisocial behavior. Assigned children to one of three treatments: (1) problem-solving skills training (PSST); (2) PSST with in vivo practice (PSST-P); or (3) client-centered relationship therapy (RT). Found increases in prosocial behavior in PSST and PSST-P children while…

Three functional assessment methods were compared with four adults with severe/profound mental retardation and stereotypic behavior patterns. The results of the antecedents, behavior, and consequences observation and the Motivation Assessment Scale indicated a sensory function of the stereotypic behavior for all subjects, whereas functional…

The EQUIP Program teaches antisocial youth to think and behave more pro-socially and addresses motivating youth to use these tools. The Equipped for Life game is a motivational tool, which provides students with opportunities for social learning. Topics revolve around community reintegration and can be easily adapted to any cognitive behavioral…

Positive Behavior Facilitation (PBF) is a comprehensive approach to understanding and intervening in the behavior of youth. Research clearly indicates that the behavior of children is best understood and ultimately managed by comprehensive strategies and techniques that consider not only what a child is doing but also why a child is demonstrating…

Few children can control adult emotions more effectively than passive-aggressive youngsters. Their passive lack of compliance can incite even trained professionals to employ ineffective punitive responses. These responses confirm for the child the unreasonable and hurtful nature of adults. In this Life Space Crisis Intervention, the child makes a…

Analogue functional analysis methodology was used to assess potential maintaining contingencies of episodic self-injurious behavior (SIB) of a 4-year-old child diagnosed with autism. Analogue conditions were presented within a multielement design when the child did, and did not exhibit signs of a possible sinus infection, and when the participant,…

School discipline is a growing concern in the United States. Educators frequently are faced with discipline problems ranging from infrequent but extreme problems (e.g., shootings) to less severe problems that occur at high frequency (e.g., bullying, insubordination, tardiness, and fighting). Unfortunately, teachers report feeling ill prepared to…

A four-phase investigation was completed to analyze the utility of forced-choice preference assessments when response effort and reinforcer delays are altered within a subsequent reinforcer assessment. The results indicated that access to highly preferred stimuli continued to serve as a reinforcer when increased response effort was required. When…

We conducted a brief (8 days) functional analysis to identify sources of control over persistent saliva-play displayed by a 6-year old child with autism in a school setting. The functional analysis suggested that saliva-play was maintained by automatic reinforcement, leading to an intervention evaluation (3 days) that compared two methods of…

Wilderness Therapy Programs have recently become a formal alternative treatment for adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (Hinkle, 1999; Russell & Hendee, 1999; Russell, Hendee, & Phillips-Miller, 2000; Russell, 2003a, 2003b). Adolescent populations are unique in that traditional forms of psychotherapy, including "talk-therapies,"…

The article reviews the current status (1993-2007) of psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents who have been exposed to traumatic events. Twenty-one treatment studies are evaluated using criteria from Nathan and Gorman (2002) along a continuum of methodological rigor ranging from Type 1 to Type 6. All studies were, at a minimum, robust…

Research on the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and in particular, exposure with response prevention for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), has only been systematically evaluated in children and adolescents ages 7-17. These treatments do not address the unique characteristics of young children with OCD. This paper discusses…

Self-regulatory limitations are typical of young children, whose impulsiveness, distractibility, and emotional outbursts can amuse and frustrate parents and practitioners. During the last 30 years, however, research into the development of self-regulation has revealed that early childhood is a very early stage in the maturation of brain regions…

Negative cognitive structure (particularly for interpersonal content) has been shown in some research to persist past a current episode of depression and potentially to be a stable marker of vulnerability for depression (D. J. A. Dozois, 2007; D. J. A. Dozois & K. S. Dobson, 2001a). Given that cognitive therapy (CT) is highly effective for…

Low self-esteem is a common, disabling, and distressing problem that has been shown to be involved in the etiology and maintenance of a range of Axis I disorders. Hence, it is a priority to develop effective treatments for low self-esteem. A cognitive-behavioral conceptualization of low self-esteem has been proposed and a cognitive-behavioral…