Investigated relation of maternal depression to perceptions of disorders in children and quality of communication in mother-child interaction task as function of maternal depression and perceptions of child. Maternal depression interacted with children's actual behaviors to predict mothers' perceptions. Depressed mothers who perceived…

This article introduces three papers on life space interviewing, by reviewing the history of the method as originated in Fritz Redl's "When We Deal with Children" (1966). The fundamentals of the technique's therapeutic applications for children with behavioral disorders, initial reactions to the technique, and ongoing debate are…

The Oak Park and River Forest High School (Oak Park, Illinois) Behavior Disordered Program Continuum has attempted mainstreaming of behavior-disordered students in a systematic, gradual manner. This paper describes the program, defines the role of support personnel and the unique role of the mainstream facilitator, and presents mainstreaming…

The paper describes the sexual perpetration behavior of 13 female children (ages 4 to 13). Among findings were that 100 percent of the child perpetrators had been previously sexually abused; that the mean age of first known perpetration was 6 years, 9 months; and the average age of victims was 4 years, 4 months. (DB)

A total of 1,446 elementary school children were screened with the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) procedure. Results indicated that the SSBD could accurately and efficiently identify children in need of special services, and was viewed as cost efficient because it could proactively screen all students in an acceptable amount of…

Persons who have suffered traumatic injury to the brain may subsequently display aggressive behavior. Three main syndromes of aggression following traumatic brain injury are described: (1) episodic dyscontrol; (2) frontal lobe disinhibition; and (3) exacerbation of premorbid antisociality. The neuropsychological substrates of these syndromes are…

Four models of suicide prevention are presented and critiqued: the public health model, the operational model, the antecedent conditions model, and the injury control model. Essential ingredients for implementing effective preventive interventions are presented, as well as examples of practical preventive interventions. (JPS)

Parents (n=58) rated the acceptability of behavioral treatments recommended to them for their children's behavior problems and completed an attribution measure. Results indicated that a significant, negative correlation exists between physical attribution ratings and acceptability ratings of behavioral treatments, with the magnitude of the…

Many agencies provide parent training to groups for whom spanking as a response to timeout escape is not an option. An alternative was developed, the "two-chair hold" technique, which showed some success in decreasing timeout escape and improving overall behavior. Discusses clinical issues regarding use of this technique. (LKS)

This article first reviews concerns over the use of psychotropic medication and the use of diagnostic criteria with persons with developmental disabilities and notes the variety of potential diagnoses that may underlie a behavior disorder. A model to guide clinical decision making is developed that stresses the importance of reliable differential…

The relationship between Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) scores and major depression, conduct disorder, and anxiety disorders was studied for 107 psychiatric inpatients aged 12 to 18 years. Findings support total CDI score, rather than factor scores, as the most practical measure for classifying participants as depressed or not. (SLD)

The language skills of 27 learning-disabled (LD), 27 behaviorally disordered (BD), and 26 normal achieving (NA) 6- to 9-year-old inner city children were compared. Although significant differences were found between the NA group and both special education groups, no significant differences were found between the LD and BD groups. (Author/DB)

Discusses solvent abuse, or the inhalation of chemically intoxicating vapors from consumer products that are otherwise safe when used as intended. Presents a list of products typically abused by children, the statistics which indicate that this problem is on the rise, and the physical warning signs that parents and teachers should not overlook.…

This article describes the use of structured interviews to obtain information on which to base hypotheses about the functions of students' behavior disorders and the effectiveness of alternative interventions to teach new behavior. Phases and purposes of the structured interview are illustrated with several examples. (DB)

A survey of 71 adolescents with behavioral/emotional disorders found significant differences between this group of adolescents and their nondisabled peers in the frequency of suicide ideation and suicide attempts but not in rationales. Similar differences were found between males and females in each group. (Author/JDD)