This article suggests that students with emotional/behavioral disorders may use disruptive behaviors to escape and avoid teacher instructional language for which they do not have comprehension skills and thus find aversive. Teacher instructional language thus maintains aberrant behavior through a negative reinforcement paradigm. Recommendations…

Fragmented, agency-centered services contribute to poor educational and societal outcomes. The National Agenda to Improve Results for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance targets approaches that are knowledge based and have a high likelihood of improving outcomes. Explores the implications of the agenda's seven targets and the…

Six tables provide a breakdown of the answers to a survey responded to by 93 experts in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral problems in people with mental retardation. Questions address confidence in diagnosing such disorders in this population, methods of evaluation, value of various rating scales, appropriateness of medication for…

A study examined contributions of sexual abuse, physical abuse, family cohesion, and conflict in predicting psychological functioning of 131 adolescents receiving residential vocational training services. In addition to child sexual abuse and physical abuse, family conflict and cohesion predicted development of psychological distress and…

A review of articles on self-determination and self-advocacy published between 1992 and 1999 found that, with systematic instruction, students with a wide range of disabilities can acquire self-determination skills. Researchers have documented changes for students with learning disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disabilities, and…

Reports results of a four-year study involving 46 at-risk kindergartners that was designed to develop and evaluate a combined home and school intervention approach to preventing school antisocial behavior. Results indicated a measurable intervention effect for participants and persistence of gains into the primary grades. (Author/CR)

Discusses issues regarding the use of a pharmacological approach to the treatment of children with serious emotional and mental disorders that interfere with learning. Addresses the current state of psychopharmacological treatment for diagnostic entities and behavioral symptomatology. Discusses the roles of the child, family, and health and…

A comparison of levels of emotional and behavioral disturbance in 599 children and adolescents with four genetically determined causes of intellectual disability and an epidemiologically derived control group found in a 4-year follow-up study that persons with Down syndrome had significantly less behavior disturbance than controls and those with…

Twenty-four meta-analyses in mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional/behavior disorders were reviewed and analyzed across six domains of information necessary for securing face validity of published meta-analyses. Wide variations that could influence summative results were found. Additionally, temporal analysis of 44 meta-analyses…

This article describes the evolution of the Nurture Group Reintegration Readiness Scale, a scale that helps identify needs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Two case studies are provided to illustrate the kinds of progress that can be made by students with emotional and behavioral disorders using nurturing approaches. (Contains…

Peer interactions are a critical component of learning; however, students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are at particular risk of social isolation at school. As students with EBD are increasingly included in general education settings, a better understanding of what affects their interactions is needed. In this qualitative study,…

There is mounting evidence that the majority of severe and chronic problem behaviors demonstrated by school-aged children and adolescents stem from behavior patterns that are established during early childhood. Without early identification and proactive prevention/intervention among young children at risk, problem behavior is likely to continue to…

Meaningful employment can have a significant impact on the lives of young adults with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Unfortunately, too few adolescents with EBD experience successful employment outcomes upon leaving high school. In this article, the authors review components of secondary educational programming that may contribute to…

The authors investigated the impact that 5 selected risk factors have on the treatment outcome of adolescent male sex offenders. The results indicated that the greatest risk factor among sex offenders was having a mother who had a substance abuse problem. Study participants were 35 adolescent boys in a New Jersey residential facility for…

Reflections on the field of special education find a continuing gap between research and practice, especially in serving students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It urges increasing public awareness of the reality of emotional and behavioral disorders, improving special education teacher training and establishing professional…