Describes a low-cost, short-term, day treatment program for emotionally disturbed children, aimed at successfully returning participants to public school classes. The program services 21 children, aged 8-12, in a highly structured therapeutic environment, with individual and group psychotherapy and parent involvement in treatment. (BF)

Control interactions between 87 well and affectively ill mothers and their young children were studied. Well mothers achieved compromise with their children, particularly daughters, more often than did affectively ill mothers. Affectively ill mothers, more often than well mothers, avoided confrontation with their children. (Author/JW)

A parent-centered model for treating emotionally disturbed children is discussed, including limitations of child-centered approaches, the model's assumptions, the steps involved in teaching parents how to understand their child's misbehavior and positively participate in their child's therapy, and the use of play therapy when necessary. (JDD)

Investigated stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) intelligence quotient scores of 32 exceptional students over six-year interval. Used 20 learning disabled and 12 mentally disabled students aged 6 to 16. Test-retest findings indicated median reliability value of .74. Discusses implications for clinicians and…

Public Law 94-142 denies socially maladjusted students services for the seriously emotionally impaired unless determined these students are seriously emotionally disturbed; thus practitioners must be able to reliably distinguish between these two conditions. Developed a set of items to differentiate between these two groups. Eleven items met the…

A case study of a mainstreamed neurologically-impaired, emotionally-disordered, and hyperactive 12-year-old illustrates the efficacy of a student self-evaluation program (featuring token economy procedures) in decreasing out-of-seat behavior and inappropriate verbal behavior and increasing task completion. (CB)

Twenty-six suicide attempters (ages 9-18) were compared with 725 nonattempters on measures of school achievement, educational goals, socioeconomic status (SES) and depression. Among reported results were significantly lower school achievement by suicide attempters, attributed to the effects of depression. Lower-SES youth were more likely to…

The school survival skills of 36 learning disabled (LD) high school students were compared with those of nonhandicapped and emotionally disturbed students. Although LD students tended to be ill prepared, inattentive, and not to volunteer comments or questions, their performance was not significantly different from that of the normal control group.…

Free speech of subjects with somatization and paranoia was analyzed to identify and compare self-concept dimensions reflected in their lexical choices. The somatization disorder group conveyed a sense of negativism, distress, and preoccupation with an uncertain self-identity. The paranoid patients portrayed an artificially positive, grandiose…

A learning-disabled adolescent male who exhibited inappropriate behavior, poor academic work, and inadequate social skills is described. His teacher devised a disruptive behaviors checklist, conducted a reliability check, and decided on a motivational intervention whereby the subject's behavior determined consequences for the entire class. The…

Staff development instruction provided for teachers (N=33) and aides (N=12) with emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disordered students improved classroom performance of those participants who had adequate administrative support. Prior educational preparation and entry-level performance were also related to outcome, but teaching experience and…

Reviews Scottish national system of residential schools for maladjusted children. Describes history and organization of List D schools for delinquents and List G schools for emotionally/behaviorally disturbed children. Discusses differences between schools and lack of school effectiveness measures. Forecasts typical future residential schools and…

Discusses the development and preliminary evaluation of an experimental statewide system of services in North Carolina for seriously behaviorally/emotionally disturbed adolescents. The program successfully provides these youngsters with appropriate treatment, education, training, and care suited to their individual needs, including community-based…

A study examined competencies for teaching seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) adolescents by soliciting expert judgments on the importance of 55 competencies. Analyses showed significant agreement among directors of residential treatment centers (N=36), university teacher education directors (N=33), and local special education administrators…

Examines a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed female adolescents (N=12) by comparing changes in personality as measured by objective tests and by a questionnaire sent to former residents after release. Responses indicated that the girls were doing well and showed significant personality improvement. (JAC)