In many middle schools, poor student lunchtime behaviour is an ongoing problem. Such behaviour can have a detrimental effect on a school's climate and culture, which can in turn degrade the quality of learning that occurs in the classroom. As a result, improving students' lunchtime behaviour should be a priority for staff. One solution is to make…

Many people believe in the value of outdoor experiential education opportunities such as organized camps for youth, but few instruments have been developed to measure the central youth development outcomes of camp. The purpose of this paper is to present the psychometric properties including the internal consistency and validity of scales designed…

This article discusses the effect that recent policy and legislation has had on services for children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN), particularly "Looked After Children." The article highlights the Government's overarching plan to promote social inclusion and effective multi-agency collaboration and discusses…

Assisting children with delays and disabilities to develop skills that will maximise their chances of success in regular education classrooms has become important with the trend to inclusion. This study examined (1) the essential skills for successful integration nominated by teachers, (2) the relationships between teacher perception and child…

Ten elementary school students in need of a positive self-image and/or a sense of appropriate social conduct took part in a monthly intergenerational visiting program at an assisted living facility. In comparison to systematic observations obtained in their classrooms, the children were observed to be significantly less anxious, more interested,…

In a short-term longitudinal study of 432 first-grade children, we examined whether gender interacted with contextual differences (school-level poverty) and individual differences at school entry (behavioral problems, emotional problems, and social competence) to predict changes in peer physical and relational victimization and receipt of…

This article provides an overview of the integrated play groups (IPGs) model designed to support children with autism in play with typical children. A pilot investigation involving 2 Taiwanese children (ages 6-7) found each child made notable gains in reciprocal social interactions and symbolic/pretend play with participating in IPGs. (Contains…

Recent research using theory-of-mind tasks has rekindled interest in the possibility that social interaction makes a significant contribution to cognitive development. It is proposed here that this contribution may be most pronounced with phenomena that, like belief or affective states, are internal and abstract. A more modest contribution is…

This article explores an important purpose that some scholars in professional programs of study are utilizing service-learning to pursue: educating the civic professional by integrating education for work and citizenship. While such a purpose holds promise, an examination of a case study from the field of landscape architecture illustrates the…

Asperger's Disorder (AD) is a pervasive developmental disorder affecting social functioning and behavioral interest and activities. The purpose of this article is to inform school counselors of the characteristic features of AD, common interventions being implemented, and the techniques associated with the practice of psychodrama that appear to…

Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD) often display one or more of the following characteristics: (1) an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (2) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers or teachers; (3) inappropriate types of behavior or…

The development of pragmatic and sociolinguistic rules of language use is important for language learners. It is necessary to understand and create language that is appropriate to the situations in which one is functioning, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated or to have their messages…

The professional literature provides ample evidence that individuals with autism exhibit a myriad of unusual social, communication, and behavioral patterns of interactions that present challenges to their families and service providers. However, there is a dearth of quality works on multicultural issues regarding autistic spectrum disorders. In…

High-profile cases have made the public aware of the horrific consequences of bullying and school violence and have left educators wondering whether schools are safe places for students and staff alike. According to an Angus Reid poll conducted by telephone in March-April, 1999, among a representative cross-section of 894 Canadian teens between 12…

The communication of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a qualitative impairment in verbal and non-verbal communication. In past decades a growing body of descriptive studies has appeared on language and communication problems in ASD. Reviews suggest that the development of formal and semantic aspects is relatively…