The final report describes the results of the first year of a 3-year project investigating the effects of using handicapped students as tutors. Detailed descriptions are provided of two main experiments in which learning disabled and intellectually handicapped students tutored students from the regular classroom in sign language and reading. Both…

Evaluated factors associated with depression and suicidal behavior in 13-year-old (n=8) psychiatric inpatients. Suicidal behavior was associated with children's tendency to perceive their families as low in control and cohesiveness and high in conflict. Suicidal children generated fewer cognitive mediational strategies for coping with stress.…

The use of life space interviews (LSI) as a crisis intervention approach was examined with 28 elementary age behavior disordered students in a residential setting over a nine-month period. LSI effectiveness was not dependent upon the child's verbal skills or maturity. Children tended to seek crisis support rather than resist it. (JW)

Six social skills curricula for elementary or secondary level behavior disordered students are described: "The ACCEPTS (A Curriculum for Children's Effective Peer and Teacher Skills) Social Skills Curriculum,""Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child,""Skillstreaming the Adolescent,""Getting Along with Others,""Social Skills Curriculum," and…

A review of the literature on classroom communication, structure, noise minimization, behavior modification, and cognitive behavior modification indicates that such techniques can help reduce non-attending, non-work-oriented behaviors of mainstreamed hyperactive adolescents. (Author/CB)

Compared self-poisoning patients with psychiatric patients and nonpatient controls on problem-solving skills and locus of control. The psychiatric and self-poisoning groups showed deficits on interpersonal problem solving compared with nonpatient controls. The self-poisoning group performed below or at the level of the psychiatric group. Locus of…

Seventeen behaviorally disordered adolescents received training in specific test-taking skills relevant to content area and teacher-made tests. The experimental subjects scored significantly and substantially higher on a posttest of test-taking skills than did untrained matched controls. Deficits on test-taking skills may contribute to observed…

Two variations of a level system as a behavior management tool for behavior-disordered and learning-disabled adolescents (N=19) in a resource setting were evaluated. Four color-coded levels were designed to decrease talkouts and out-of-seat behaviors. During system implementation, disruptive and off-task behaviors decreased, and task completion…

This study examined the effects of a classwide peer tutoring program on the academic performance of 20 mildly handicapped students enrolled in two separate sections of a secondary resource room program. Methodology and results are discussed. (Author/JL)

Research data is presented to support special education approaches to personal and social development. Seventy-eight fourth- to sixth-grade handicapped students and 82 first-grade nonhandicapped students participated in the project. Promising research results suggest many questions to be addressed in future study. (JS)

In the context of a response to other articles contained in a special issue on social interaction skills of handicapped students, trends in developing social interaction skills of behavior disordered students are discussed, including current training issues and procedures as well as suggestions for future research and program development. (JW)

Sociometric ratings assigned by and to partially mainstreamed behavior disordered and regular class elementary students were compared. Among results were that behavior disordered subjects, in comparison to matched nonhandicapped peers, assigned higher social rejection to their peers and received far less acceptance and more rejection from them.…

Results from 13 studies on tutorial programs for social acceptance and academic achievement showed significant gains when involving educable mentally retarded, learning disabled, and behaviorally disordered elementary students as tutors. The studies involved cross-age and peer tutoring roles in both resource tutoring and total class tutoring…

Dimensions characteristically descriptive of applied behavior analysis over the past 20 years are explored: applied, behavioral, analytic, conceptual, technological, effective, and capable of appropriately generalized outcomes. Effectiveness in the future must take into account cost-benefit ratios, social validity assessments, and the need for…

Adolescent risk-taking behavior needs to be understood in the context of contemporary youth culture and normal development. To facilitate passage through adolescence, parents should sustain a climate of control and commitment balanced by respect for the adolescent's increased capacity for self-regulation. (Author)