Problems experienced by youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) exact enormous toll on themselves, families and communities. Authors discuss three mental health initiatives for EBD youth, consisting of school-based practices, individualized care, stakeholder collaboration, intensive service coordination, and family-centered services.…

Study provides a description of the kinds of situations school psychology practitioners find ethically challenging. Frequencies of various kinds of dilemmas are reported along with illustrative incidents. Most incidents described by respondents concerned difficult situations rather than violations of professional codes of ethics. Implications for…

Describes how three interrelated systems of psychology contributed to the development and maintenance of racist practices within psychology and how such practices defined a need for the subsequent emergence of multicultural counseling. Discusses the development of competence in multicultural attitudes, beliefs, and skills, examining the current…

Although anxiety disorders represent the primary reason children and adolescents are referred for mental health services, children showing symptoms of these disorders are not easily recognized. School-based practitioners are in a unique position to help minimize the risk and prevent the development of anxiety disorders. This article examines the…

Current prereferral intervention team (PIT) regulations, prevalence, membership, goals, and intervention information from two national telephone surveys are reported. Survey 1 obtained information about state PIT regulations and recommendations from employees of the 51 state education departments (50 states and Washington, DC). Survey 2 obtained…

Public policy can be a powerful tool for children and their families. Accordingly, this article addresses how psychologists and other child-oriented researchers can leverage this tool to ensure that child and family issues, specifically issues related to child abuse and neglect, receive adequate attention. We encourage a bidirectional relationship…

Military-style residential treatment for adolescents with academic and conduct problems is an increasingly popular alternative to traditional school-based services. However, dropout from "boot camp" programs is a primary reason for their high cost. Social-emotional functioning before referral may differentiate adolescents who…

Bullying has been described as one of the most common and potentially serious forms of school violence. It is a pervasive problem affecting many students with serious adverse consequences for some. Given the prevalence of and consequences associated with bullying, we investigated the concept of bullying as applied to school settings. In this…

Quietly, at least beyond the awareness of many psychologists, a relatively new technology based on school-wide behavior management strategies has emerged in special education to answer the call to build healthy communities. The success of these strategies in changing the practices of school systems and creating positive school climates may offer…

The renewal, modification, and ratification of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA; 2004) produced a number of changes in legislation, particularly in the identification for children with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). In particular, the requirement that a child must evidence a severe discrepancy…

Culturally competent schools are successful in both meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities associated with multiculturalism and diversity. This article explores collaboration between school counselors and school psychologists for promoting such schools. The complementary nature of the roles of these professionals emerging from…

Psychologists within a positive psychology framework have proposed the existence of a set of psychological strengths that buffer against the development of psychopathology. To date, most research efforts in positive psychology have focused on adults. This longitudinal study tested the prediction that adolescents' judgments of life satisfaction…

In an effort to promote the social and cognitive competence of youth, school psychologists must be prepared to address a multitude of contextual factors and life events that impact children's performance and adjustment in school and subsequent developmental trajectories. The domain of crisis preparedness and intervention has received increased…

More than 30 years ago, Vontress (1971) advocated for counselor training programs to address the role of race in the counseling process and the ways in which racial factors impede the development of counselor-client rapport. He posited that the anxiety experienced by White clinicians in cross-racial counseling dyads is manifest in reactions of…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the relation between curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and specific reading skills changes as a function of grade. In addition, this study sought to identify cutscores that correspond with benchmark performance on a variety of reading subskills at Grades 1 through 4. Participants were…