Many young children demonstrate behavior that teachers find challenging. Accordingly, early childhood and elementary educators must be prepared to support children's social development and use effective practices so that children will be less likely to develop or sustain behavior problems. General education reform and legislation direct schools to…

This study reports on the longitudinal analysis of a structured after-school arts program for Canadian youth, ages 9 to 15 years, from low-income communities where the relationship of peer social support, family interactions, and psychosocial outcomes is evaluated. Multi-level growth curve analyses suggest an increase in prosocial development with…

News reports calling attention to the steady increase in the number of overweight adults have become an accepted part of our media landscape. Worse still, warnings continue that more and more young children, like the adults who care for them, are carrying too much weight. Unfortunately, this bad news about our growing obesity problem isn't just…

This article describes the Asian Indian population and how the myth of the model minority can influence students' access to support services. It is important for school counselors to understand how this minority group experience stressors related to academics, career decision making, and personal/social development. Effective interventions and…

Brendtro, Brokenleg, and Van Bockern (2002) describe the Circle of Courage model for creating environments in which all children can thrive. This approach blends youth developmental research, the wisdom of pioneer workers, and Native American philosophies of child care. This model for reclaiming youth at risk posits four elements as essential for…

Childhood is a universal aspect of the human condition. Yet the landscape of childhood is changing rapidly. On playgrounds young children carry cell phones, and in classrooms children are more sophisticated in their use of computers and digital media than the adults in their lives. Most young adolescents are prolific communicators via text and…

Anxiety is a commonly occurring psychiatric concern in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This pilot study examined the preliminary efficacy of a manual-based intervention targeting anxiety and social competence in four adolescents with high-functioning ASD. Anxiety and social functioning were assessed at baseline, midpoint,…

Refugee children are often admitted into schools having experienced traumatic events. The impact of trauma on children has been well documented and these children frequently have complex needs. The Devon Behaviour Support Team (BST) has offered Art Workshops to schools to support children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and…

Two aspects of young children's cognitive representations of peer relationships-peer affiliative motivation and feelings and beliefs about the self and peers-were assessed among a sample of 75 children (37 girls), who ranged in age from 32 to 76 months (M = 58.2 months). Measures of three aspects of discrete social cognition, encoding of social…

Background: Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and mild to borderline intellectual disability (ID) have less adaptive behaviour and more behaviour problems than children with mild to borderline ID. Social information processing appears to be an important mechanism in the explanation of the socially inadequate behaviour of children…

Children around the world are being exposed to traumatic events at a troubling rate. In large, nationally representative studies of children in the United States, researchers have reported that 71% of children have been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in the past year, and almost 70% of children have experienced multiple…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the agreement between parent and teacher perceptions of specific social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method: Informant ratings were generated concerning 45 children with ASD between the ages of 5 and 14 years who were enrolled in social skills groups at 2 Midwestern…

Tribal colleges, which are often community colleges, have been successful in helping American Indian students achieve academic success. The current study was designed to understand what happens to American Indian tribal college students when they transfer to four-year Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). The research question that guides the…

In response to requests from out-of-school time (OST) providers, the authors have created this practitioner's guidebook for integrating adolescent literacy development initiatives into a wide variety of OST programs. As readers will discover in subsequent chapters, the authors' definition of adolescent literacy development represents a…