Fifth- and sixth-grade girls identified by their teachers as having few friends participated in group treatment sessions consisting of a praise phase, interpersonal problem solving, and an activity phase. At posttest time, the treatment group spent less time alone, more time initiating conversations, and more time interacting with others. Offers…

A study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and social attributions in 33 adolescents with Asperger syndrome. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between depressive symptoms and ability attributions for social failure. The more intelligent the individual, the less social success was attributed to chance and…

Describes a method for including picture storybooks and response journals in a structured social skills training program for special needs students to increase the effectiveness of lessons. Includes a list of social skills topics and related picture books. (JPB)

Examines the impact of teacher consultation on the effectiveness of a pre-school social skills program, called Skillstreaming, that was introduced to two Head Start teachers and their students. Confirms that social skills can be taught to pre-school children within a natural environment, but only when teacher support is provided. Includes…

Examined fourth through sixth graders' conceptions of academic and social ability. Found that conception of ability as stable to external forces heightened importance of competence, performance knowledge, challenge preference, competence perceptions, and self-enhancing attributions. Conceptions of ability as stable to internal forces were fostered…

The authors of a book on parenting maintain their book is about the state of being while raising children, which they feel is a spiritual experience. Allowing children their sovereignty; learning from pain and chaos; not projecting expectations onto children; and the importance of paying attention to the present moment, a concept borrowed from…

Ideas gleaned from the journal of a president of Moravian College (Pennsylvania) immediately after beginning the job identifies many of the tasks and challenges greeting new presidents in the early days of their tenure, focusing on establishment of productive relationships with community leaders, faculty, board members, and staff and learning…

Differences in men's and women's communication styles affect their interactions with each other. Organizations must be flexible enough to recognize situations in which traditional male values of competition may be most functional and those in which more collaborative, female strategies are more appropriate. Personnel training can help ensure that…

Describes a group program designed for high school students with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances, using Novaco's cognitive-behavioral conceptualization of anger. Multiple techniques allowed multiply handicapped students to learn the physiology, triggers, and consequences of anger as well as to develop coping strategies for…

Comparison of social initiations by 18 children with autism and 13 verbally matched children with mental retardation found autistic children's social initiations were more ritualized and the retarded children's were more playful. Autistic initiation to peers was unrelated to severity of autism, but was related to cognitive skills, whereas retarded…

This article addresses aspects of social skill instruction for students with learning disabilities, including assessing the need for instruction, the cultural context, children's and adults' opinions of the value of specific skills, social validation of skills, behavior replacement, and the developmental level of the child. (DB)

This review of the literature on the psychological adjustment of adults and children with severe learning difficulties looks at overall adjustment; interpersonal difficulties; self-concept; difficulties with self-control; and family relationships. Suggestions are offered regarding service delivery and the design of effective treatments for adult…

In this study of 256 adolescents, it was expected that the group of adolescents referred for psychiatric treatment would have a narrower friendship network than the control group and that their friendship relations would be more conflictual and less rich in terms of attachment. The hypothesis was confirmed for the older referred adolescents. (TJQ)

Suggestions are offered by fund-raising professionals on the following topics: choosing the best night for phonathons; effective teasers for envelopes; type of reply envelopes used; use of precalling postcards; letter length; return rate for mail solicitations; return rate for phonathons; and avoiding common mistakes in mail requests, phonathons,…

Suggests that teachers can share information with parents about multiple intelligences and encourage parents to provide activities to nurture their child's own intelligences. Provides teachers with instructional strategies and parents with activities related to linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,…