Educational environments that reduce the likelihood of acting out and promote positive cognitive, social, and emotional development are useful not only to behavior disordered youngsters, but to all students. Forces that facilitate and inhibit the establishment of positive classroom ecologies are outlined, and components of effective instruction…

The article describes factors relevant to the psychoeducational model of intervention with behavior disordered students, including values, biological predispositions, psychological development, and continuity of experience. The therapeutic potential of the teacher and the curriculum in helping students generate personal resources for coping is…

Two studies involving three adolescents with severe emotional disturbance/behavior disorders and learning difficulties examined effects of problem difficulty and reinforcer quality upon time allocated to two sets of arithmetic problems. Results have implications for understanding the effects of problem difficulty and reinforcer quality on behavior…

Carefully reviewed Merton's writings on anomie theory to construct a more complete and rigorous test of the theory for respondents in early, middle, and late adolescence. Concluded that misspecified models of strain theory have underestimated the predictive power of strain theory in general and of anomie theory in particular. (JBJ)

Staff of special schools are increasingly exposed to violent behavior, in the absence of policy directives from local education authorities and through ambivalent social attitudes in a society which demands that these children be contained and controlled but judges staff responses to the children by the same yardstick applied to mainstreamed…

Describes significant differences between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) III-R and the DSM-IV. Focuses on the types of mental disorders counselors frequently diagnose and treat. These include several disorders included in the children's section as well as Adjustment Disorders, Substance-Related Disorders, and…

Self-recording of success in meeting specific teacher expectancies during their school schedules by four middle school students with learning disabilities or behavioral disorders was found effective in increasing the percentage of teachers' expectancies exhibited. Maintenance was evidenced across students. Carrying schedules without self-recording…

This qualitative study used focus groups to explore student perspectives on family involvement in the transition from school to adult life. Four focus groups, including students with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and mild mental retardation, demonstrated the importance to students of family input and support.…

Discusses the relationship between lifestyle choices and low birth weights and the opportunity that pregnancy offers women for adopting more healthful lifestyle behaviors. It reviews the literature that focuses on the roles of drug use, nutrition, stress, physical activity, employment, social support, violence, and sexually transmitted diseases in…

Interviews with 29 English students with learning, emotional, or behavioral difficulties during their final school term found that students felt that they had received good advice and support for the transition to adulthood. Subsequent lack of coherence at interprofessional and interagency levels was felt to increase vulnerability of students…

Describes an effort to teach French to boys with emotional and behavioral difficulties. The teaching used was based on lexical chunks of language rather than grammatical structures in order to create motivation and maintain interest in the short time available each week. The students greeted the lessons with enthusiasm and grew in self-esteem and…

Examined the academic, psychological, and family patterns of 200 middle class dropouts and their reasons for dropping out. Proposes that school, psychological, and family factors are not separate but rather coexist and interact in the creation of this social problem. In addition, these factors interact with larger sociocommunal and sociopolitical…

Describes how one teacher handled a violent, disruptive eighth grader. Repeated conferences between the teacher and vice-principal had no results until the teacher refused to take the child back. The student was then placed more appropriately. The major lesson is the conviction that teachers cannot "fix" every child. (SM)

This study of 181 special education teachers found that job burnout levels were related to special education category, training background, and teachers' age. The typical special educator "at risk" is a younger teacher with undergraduate training who teaches in a resource room or classroom for students with behavior disorders. (Author/JDD)

Instruction types and amounts were observed for 30 educably mentally retarded, 30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disabled, and 30 nonhandicapped students in grades 2-4. The groups were compared on time allocation, grouping arrangements, student responding, qualitative nature of classroom instruction, and the home learning…