This book was written for teachers, directors, and aides who have questions about the problems of working in the day care field. Part 1 of the book, "Hard Times with Directors," contains the sections: (1) "The Bad Things about Good Directors"; (2) "The Good Things about Bad Directors"; (3) "Staff Meeting…

Compared activity and behaviors of 36- to 82-month-olds adopted from Romanian orphanages and with varying lengths of institutionalization (more than 6 months or less than 2 months) with those of age- and gender-matched American-born control groups. Found that each Romanian group exhibited more problems in activity level, organization, and…

Outlines the basic principles of attachment theory and its implications for young children's social and emotional development. Applies attachment theory to children whose behaviors are especially challenging, using examples from a primary classroom in an urban setting. Asserts that sensitive teachers can build collaborative relationships. (SD)

Elaborates the concept of "keystone target variable selection" for school psychological practice. "Keystone variables" refers to relatively narrow targets for change having the most widespread benefits to clients. The hypothesized benefits of selecting keystone targets for change include more effective and efficient interventions. (KW)

Describes incidents of school violence in the Northwest, the young killers' personalities, characteristics of extremely aggressive children, and factors that reduce such children's potential for violence. Highlights from "Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools" (August 1998) list early warning signs, what schools can do, and what…

Examined the relationship between aspects of the parenting environment and children's conduct problems and anxious symptoms among socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and European American mothers and their kindergarten children. Although many relationships were similar across ethnic groups, there were ethnic differences in the…

Some children with autism and learning disabilities also have aberrant behaviours that are difficult to regulate and stressful for both the child and family members. This case study concerns experiences of 10 parents from five families before and 2 years after entrusting their 10- to 11-year-old child with autism to a group home. Hermeneutic…

Background: Cumulative risk research has established the deleterious effects of co-occurring risk factors on child behavior outcomes. However, extant literature has not addressed potential differential effects of cumulative risk at different points in development and has left open questions about whether a threshold model or a linear risk model…

Background: Parent-child mutuality is comprised of emotional reciprocity, co-responsiveness, and cooperation, which together represent aspects of co-regulation of emotion and behavior that may be important in the etiology of children's behavior problems. Furthermore, individual differences in children's mutuality and behavior problems involve…

Background: This investigation aimed at examining, through an epidemiological study, the social demographic, family and individual determinants of behaviour problems in preschool children. Method: Six hundred and thirty-four children, age four years, and their mothers, belonging to a cohort of 5,304 children being followed from birth, took part in…

This study examined differences in two residential care giving models (houseparent vs. child care worker) in providing continuity of care for youth in residential placement, and the effect that a care giving model had on selected program outcomes. Data for this research were collected in a residential facility that used both models. Youth with…

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a "single session" group, early intervention, multidisciplinary, education programme (entitled the "Fun not Fuss with Food" group programme) designed to improve children's problem eating and mealtime behaviours. Design: A quasi-experimental time-series design incorporating data…

One aspect of family-centered positive behavior support (PBS) that has not received great attention to date involves the indirect benefits on the lives of family members who have children with challenging behavior. For instance, reductions in a child's problem behaviors could enhance the lifestyle status of parents and other family members.…

This study investigated the relationship between the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 (CBCL/4-18) and two modified measures of social desirability, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale with a sample of 65 parents of normal children from grades K-7. Results from correlational and multiple regression…

"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" presents findings from research examining the influence of collective socialization, concentration of disadvantage, and prevalence of crime on conduct…