Relational aggression (RA) involves either indirect, verbal, or covert acts with the intent to humiliate, exclude peers from groups, and/or damage a peer's reputation and social status. RA is believed to be particularly devastating psychologically for adolescent girls, as they tend to form smaller and more intimate social groups. Unfortunately, RA…

What does the research say about effective transition systems between the middle grades and high school? The most successful schools see the transition between the middle grades and high school as a process, not an event. These schools involve teachers, students and families in continuous planning to support students' academic and social success…

The purpose of this synthesis is to present summary information on family-centered practices, and on interventions aimed at promoting positive parenting practices, teaching parenting skills, and influencing parent child interactions that have demonstrated associations with positive social emotional development for children aged 0-3 years. The…

The present observational study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) programme on behavioural change from aggression to pro-social behaviours by using the DECB rating scale. Non-participant observation method was used to collect data in pretest-training-posttest design. It was hypothesised that the ICPS…

In a bilingual context, the mother tongue plays a key role in a child's social and personal development, in education and in second-language learning. There is a complex relationship between these three areas. Support for children receiving education through a second language is often in the form of additional learning opportunities in the second…

We piloted a 2-week "Autism-1-2-3" early intervention for children with autism and their parents immediately after diagnosis that targeted at (1) eye contact, (2) gesture and (3) vocalization/words. Seventeen children were randomized into the Intervention (n = 9) and Control (n = 8) groups. Outcome measures included the Autism Diagnostic…

Gender differences in student achievement have been widely studied. Considering the long-term effects of externalising behaviour problems on children's later academic performance, it can be conjectured that gender disparities in student achievement may be rooted in developmental characteristics in early childhood. As an effort towards contributing…

This article presents findings from a national survey of 149 practicing school counselors who are members of the American School Counselor Association. The survey gathered information on school counselors' perceptions of and experiences with acceleration as a program option for gifted students. Results indicate that, although school counselors'…

Many adults are exposed to maltreatment during their childhood. As a result, they may experience long-term negative outcomes in a range of developmental areas. The purpose of this article was to examine the social, physical, and mental health consequences of child abuse in adulthood. Implications for counseling practice are provided.

This RCT examined the efficacy of a manualized social intervention for children with HFASDs. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment or wait-list conditions. Treatment included instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social skills, face-emotion recognition, interest expansion, and interpretation of non-literal language. A…

Background/Context: There is much current interest in the impact of early childhood education programs on preschoolers and, in particular, on the magnitude of cognitive and affective gains. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Because this new segment of public education requires significant funding, accurate descriptions are…

The spirituality and religiosity of Indonesian Muslim adolescents were examined longitudinally as were the relations of spirituality and religiosity with (mal)adjustment. At Time 1 (T1), 959 seventh-grade Muslim adolescents were screened for selection of a sample; at Time 2 (T2), 183 eighth-grade adolescents participated; and at Time 3 (T3), 300…

This study investigated the concurrent and longitudinal relations among children's peer victimization, empathy, and emotional symptoms. The sample consisted of 175 children (85 girls, mean age = 6.1 years) recruited from kindergartens in Switzerland and followed for 1 year (Time 2). Parents and teachers reported on the children's emotional…

In relating parent-child conversation to children's social cognitive development, we examined how mother-child dyads talked about the psychological world. Seventy mothers and their 3- to 5-year-old children made up a story about a series of pictures depicting a sequence of events involving a false belief. Mother-child talk was coded for the use of…

Educators--and parents and politicians and others--say children are their future. They say that they want students to think critically, that they want them to be problem-solvers, to ask questions, to challenge educators to make the world a better place. And yet, the author sees educators set aside these high aspirations and silenced by the fear of…