This paper is concerned with the rise of 'the boot camp' as a means of addressing "the problem of troubled youth" in contemporary industrialised nations such as Australia and the UK. Drawing on a corpus of publicly available material including press releases and policy documents, media reports, and programme websites, the paper explores…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often struggle to be effective writers. Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is one approach to writing instruction that has demonstrated success for students with EBD. However, there is little research exploring its utility to teach writing to students with EBD in social studies. The…

The present study addresses critical gaps in the literature by examining residential transitions among 303 adults with intellectual disability (ID) over 10 years (Part 1) and 75 adults with Down syndrome over 20 years (Part 2). All adults lived at home at the start of the study, but many moved to a variety of settings. Several characteristics of…

Studies examining staff attitudes toward people with intellectual disability have traditionally used pre-determined categories and models or been open to researcher bias. The use of methods derived from personal construct psychology permits an objective investigation of staff views and attitudes without such limitations. Fourteen staff from an…

Adopted children are disproportionately represented in residential treatment programs in the United States. Adopted children in the United States constitute only 2% to 3% of the U.S population. Nevertheless, they comprise approximately 16.5% of the population in residential care. This descriptive study evaluated a sample of 473 psychological…

Students in alternative, residential, and correctional settings present challenges in the classroom and facility due to the complexity and intensity of their behaviors. In addition, the factors typically associated with these settings including crowding, inconsistency, and conflicting staff perspectives on education and discipline present…

This study evaluated the effects of a Tier II positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) intervention, Check-in/Check-out (CICO), on the off-task behavior of 4 students with behavioral challenges and special needs in a residential facility. In addition, the study examined the effects of additional mentor contact (i.e., mid-day check-up;…

The texts of referrals written by workers in residential services for people with learning difficulties constitute sites where contemporary discourses of intellectual disabilities are being constructed. This paper uses Critical Discourse Analysis to examine referrals made to a Community Learning Disability Team (CLDT). The study finds referral…

Background: Quality assessment of children's functioning is critical for both research and service delivery. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief, publicly-available instrument that provides such assessment. Although the SDQ has strong psychometric properties, less is known about its responsiveness or sensitivity to…

This research examined deviant talk during summer residential treatment using peer nominations and extensive field observations. Participants were 239 youth (M age = 12.62, SD = 2.60; 67% male), nested in 26 treatment groups. Deviant talk was present in this setting, showed individual differences, and increased over time, especially for younger…

This story gives a brief overview of the possibilities and opportunities of the Symptom Estrangement Reclaiming Intervention. It is the history of a three-year effort with a child caught in this self-defeating pattern of behaviour.

This study explores front-line staff knowledge and perceptions of how people with intellectual disability residing in residential services are supported to communicate effectively. Participants ("n" = 138) completed a self-report questionnaire adapted from an instrument developed by DeSimone & Cascella (2005) "Journal of…

Background: There is little evidence to guide the commissioning of residential provision for adults with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in the UK. We aim to explore the degree and impact of diagnostic congregation among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and ASD living in staffed housing. Methods: One hundred and fifty-seven adults with…

Background: The Taiwanese government launched a new programme in November 2004 to support adults with intellectual disabilities living in smaller facilities. This paper aims to evaluate the service outcomes of this new residential scheme over 2 years including those residents who moved from an institution and those who moved from their family.…

On October 1, 2003, the author embarked upon the most important quest of his entire life as he joined the ranks of the many Starr Commonwealth students. Montcalm School at Starr Commonwealth was just what he needed after the extreme emotional rollercoaster that haunted him for most of his life. In this article, the author maps his road to…