This article presents a structured blueprint for school psychologists to assess and intervene in cases of automatically maintained self-injurious behavior (SIB) while adhering to the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) mandate. We outline a six-step process for conducting Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) of automatically maintained SIB,…

Psychometrically sound measures of family therapy competencies are necessary to assess the effectiveness of training on student performance. This article critiques the self-report and observer rating measures developed to date to assess the clinical skills of trainees in the individual and in the family therapy fields. Suggestions are made to…

This paper describes an action research project evaluating an elementary school counseling program in a large suburban Georgia city. Using staff surveys (which include homeroom teachers as well as support teachers and paraprofessionals), interviews, and researcher observations the program was evaluated to determine strengths and weaknesses. The…

School counselors in their first year of practice within the profession or within a new school district can experience challenges in assuming the professional responsibilities associated with their role. Mentoring programs are one form of professional assistance that has been recommended in the literature for new educators, including school…

Both researchers and practitioners need to know more about how laboratory treatment protocols translate to real-world practice settings and how clinical innovations can be systematically tested and communicated to a skeptical scientific community. The single-case time-series study is well suited to opening a productive discourse between practice…

The Practical Skills Model of Multicultural Engagement represents an attempt to create a means for moving beyond the development of knowledge and awareness into the development of skills that will assist practitioners to practice in a culturally competent manner. The model builds on basic counseling skills, combining them with specific approaches…

The authors used a single-case design to examine the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) and person-centered teacher consultation (PCTC) for four elementary students identified with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Two students participated in CCPT and their teachers participated in PCTC. Two students…

The need for a discussion of school counselor preparation and supervision is supported by the guidelines established by both the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), 2009 and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), 2005. The significance of this article is to provide a reflective…

This study was designed to assess the (score) construct-related validity of an instrument called the School-Wide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC). The instrument was developed to use as a tool in conducting culture audits as a means of assessing school-wide cultural competence, or how well a school's programs, policies, and…

Assessing a student for emotional disturbance is a serious and complex task given the stigma of the label and the ambiguities of the federal definition. One way that school psychologists can be more confident in their assessment results is to cross validate data from different sources using the RIOT approach (Review, Interview, Observe, Test).…

This article examines recent literature related to the diagnosis of Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in childhood. First, the article discusses diagnostic criteria presented in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Next, it explores the diagnostic procedures for AD/HD…

A pair of 9-year-old boys with socioemotional and interpersonal difficulties was observed unobtrusively in 35 weekly hour-long therapy sessions over the course of 2 school years. A transcript/narrative analysis technique was used to identify all interpersonal negotiation strategies each child used within each session. Strategies were classified…

There is relatively little information on the treatment effectiveness of child behavior-management programs with Spanish-speaking populations. Though there are several empirically supported treatments available in English, research on the applicability of these programs in Spanish is virtually nonexistent. This single-case study discusses the…

The seven studies reported in this paper represent successive attempts to explain the inability of observers to differentiate "good" counseling from "bad" counseling. Essentially, the researchers found that subjects, both undergraduate education majors and graduate counseling students, did not rate a videotaped counselor's performance as more…

Outlines a method of direct supervision which has been applied to group employment counseling. Focuses on a means of supervisory observation. Suggests emphasizing the development of a positive context, minimizing the intrusiveness of the observation, and formulating the debriefing using a strength challenge format to effectively utilize this…