Check-in/Check-out (CICO) behavioral support has been implemented in Finnish School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) schools to cater to students who require personalized behavior support beyond the universal level. Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CICO as a behavioral support method. However,…

Teachers feel inadequate to face pupils' behavioural problems in schools, yet teachers are expected to play significant roles in providing and supporting pupils' appropriate social behaviour. Unfortunately, teacher education in Finland and globally seems to offer little content for behavioural support, and in-service training sessions are filling…

To better understand the role of neuroendocrinological regulation in adolescent mental health, stress reactivity needs to be analyzed through both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Accordingly, this study examined how adolescents' internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms are…

This study examined longitudinal associations between parental psychological distress (stress and depression) when the child was 2 to 4 years and a child's emotional and behavioural problems at ages 3 to 4, and social functioning (loneliness and social competence) at age 11 in very preterm born children. The participants were Finnish families of…

Disturbing, problematic, or challenging student behaviour is said to be among the greatest challenges facing today's school life. However, despite the apparent commonsensical nature of the issue, there is no commonly agreed upon definition for such events, and there is often very thin analysis of what actually becomes disturbed, challenged, or…

The early prediction of math difficulties (MD) is important as it facilitates timely support. MD are multifaceted, and several factors are involved in their manifestation. This makes the accurate early prediction of MD particularly challenging. In the present study, we aim to predict MD in Grade 6 with kindergarten-age (age 6) measures by applying…

Poor reading has been linked to negative outcomes on a wide range of emotional-behavioural dimensions in children. However, little is known about the time course of these associations. In this study we analyse data from a sample of Finnish children (N = 199; 106 boys) which included measures of reading fluency in grade 1 (age 7 or 8), and…

The present study investigated bidirectional associations between teachers' sense of inadequacy and self-efficacy and factors related to them across one academic year. Teachers (N = 52) rated their sense of inadequacy and self-efficacy in fall and spring, and reported the number of students in need of support in spring. The results of cross-lagged…

Bad student behaviour is argued to be one of the major challenges for schools today. In response to the challenge, there is a strong body of literature aiming at fixing student behaviour. In this paper, we look into professional knowledge discourses regarding 'bad student behaviour,' focusing on one national context, Finland, to explore how…

Emotion dysregulation is a common social functioning deficit in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Little is known about how teachers rate irritability in school-aged children with ADHD. We examined irritability and disruptive behaviour in clinic-referred school-aged children (n = 145) with ADHD. Children in this…

One objective in Finnish basic education is for pupils with disabilities or behavioral problems to be able to participate in mainstream education and ordinary classrooms. Positive behavior support (PBS) is an approach that offers multi-tiered behavior support for pupils. In addition to providing support at a universal level, educators need to have…

This study examined trust in educational partnership in the context of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland, from the viewpoint of parents of a child with challenging behaviour. Typically, such children have difficulties in regulating their behaviour and emotions. Semi-structured interviews with 23 parents were content-analysed in…

The present study aimed to investigate the associations between teachers' observed emotional support and social competence among Finnish pre-schoolers (6-year-olds). The quality of emotional support was observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K in 47 preschool classrooms twice across the preschool year. Teachers rated children's…

Our purpose was to study the frequency of behavioral-emotional problems among children identified with a learning disability (LD). The data were obtained for 579 Finnish children (8-15 years) with reading disability (RD-only), math disability (MD-only), or both (RDMD) assessed at a specialized clinic between 1985 and 2017. We analyzed percentages…

Check in-check out (CICO) is a widely used and studied behavioural intervention. Although CICO is an effective way to support pupils' behaviour in a school context, not all pupils benefit from basic CICO. A single-case experimental study was designed to evaluate the effects of CICO Plus support (CICO Plus) for participants whose behaviour was…