This article addresses the need for communities to develop integrated service systems for troubled children and youth. The varieties of educational services presently offered are reviewed and found to be inadequate. An integrated service system is proposed, comprised of personal services, services for caregivers and families, educational and…

Teachers working with disturbed children must reframe their concept of the classroom to include affirmation and validation of the children's real-life experiences. Since wounded students who externalize their pain often project it onto those closest to them, teachers should be prepared to engage rather than withdraw. (JPS)

"School phobia" has generally referred to children and adolescents avoidant of school due to overwhelming fearfulness. This paper outlines the historical development of school phobia, including its transition from syndrome to symptom. Given the questionable validity of the construct, recommendations are made regarding future classification,…

Suicide is analyzed as a motivation to escape from adversive self-awareness. The causal chain is traced from initial failures that are attributed internally because of a cognitively deconstructed state. (SLD)

Homework problems of 82 secondary school students with behavior disorders and 114 students without disabilities were compared, using teacher and parent ratings on the Homework Problem Checklist. Students with behavior disorders were perceived as having more homework problems on all checklist items. Implications for research and practice are…

Even exemplary special-education programs suffer from bored teachers and students and from over-reliance on traditional teaching and behavior-control methods. Mental health services could be better used to observe children, support and help teachers to develop more effective teaching strategies, help manage crises that arise, and link parents and…

Educators can take several practical steps to increase the success of inclusion for troubled students and their classmates and teachers. The five basic needs of problem students are discussed, along with strategies for meeting their basic needs and dealing with disruptive classroom behavior. (CC)

In one experiment and two case studies, peer tutors were used in a program with disabled students exhibiting aberrant behaviors in the classroom. Peer tutors received training on how to provide appropriate commands and specific praise statements, as well as to decrease negative statements. Results indicated that trained peer tutors were able to…

This study of 103 students with behavioral disorders found that a much higher proportion of students had dropped out of school than had been graduated. Those who had dropped out of school were found to have experienced significantly more changes in educational service placements, school transfers, and previous releases than had their graduated…

Recovery from any addiction requires a lifestyle change. Leisure counseling can help recovering persons substitute rewarding leisure activities for addictive behaviors. (SK)

A discriminant analysis of characteristics of students with behavioral disorders in three progressively more intensive placements indicated that age at time of diagnosis was the strongest discriminating variable contributing to placement outcomes. Younger, brighter students tended to be mainstreamed, and older students with more externalizing…

Independent descriptive (correlational) and functional (experimental) analyses, conducted with six subjects with profound mental retardation exhibiting self-injurious behavior (SIB), found that the descriptive analysis was useful in identifying the extent to which SIB was related to social versus nonsocial contingencies but was limited in its…

This editorial introduces the papers in this special issue and contends that aggressive, violent student behavior is not the responsibility of schools alone but of the community. It argues that a strong proactive response to aggressive behavior's origins in childhood and effective interventions in schools will have substantial impact on violent…

This article examines the origins of aggression and identifies the link between aggression and conduct disorders in children. The existence of two subcategories of conduct disorders is noted--undersocialized and socialized. The role of the family, peer group, and school is explored. (JDD)

This article discusses strategies for preventing aggression and violence in children and youth, including understanding and applying appropriate interventions for escalating levels of aggression and violence, classroom preventative and planning measures, and systemwide policies and procedures. A student crisis plan sheet is provided as a tool for…