The present study investigated the relationship between indicators on the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test and acting-out behavior shown by 58 male and 40 female adolescents in a behaviorally oriented, alternative educational program, Acting-out behavior was measured by assessing the number of timeouts students received during their first 25 days in the program. Two Bender composite indexes were calculated--l0 emotional indicators recommended by Koppitz and 12 indicators believed related to acting-out behavior or control problems. Results found that the index of Bender acting-out indicators correlated with number of timeouts. The Koppitz index did not correlate with timeouts, suggesting lack of internal consistency. Five individual indicators correlated with number of timeouts.

The purpose of this study is to examine how pedagogues work with children that express acting out behavior in pre-school. The research questions are: How do the interviewed pedagogues define children that express extroverted behavior in preschool, and what is the reason for the behavior? How do the pedagogues work to ease daily activities for these children in preschool? Which methods do the pedagogues use to approach these children in the optimal manner in different situations? This study is based on four qualitative interviews with preschool teachers, after-school teachers and nurses from two different preschools. The results of this study are analyzed through the sociocultural theories of Vygotskij and subsequent terms, but also with regards to other articles and scientific literature of interest. The results of this study indicate that the reason for acting out behavior can be due to environmental flaws, or factors within a child. In their work the pedagogues practice different methods. To e.g. calm the child, one may listen to or confirm the child’s emotions, and in conflict situations it is important that the pedagogue remains calm, to reduce the risk of emotional contagion. It was also evident that a well-structured day with distinct routines, in combination with a physical environment at the preschool that is tailored to the child’s own preconditions, better prepares the child for future activities. This study indicates that pedagogues enable common games and activities, to make it possible for children with acting out behavior to train their social competencies with other children. This is achieved with the aid of a present pedagogue that guides the child stepwise so that the child understands and predicts the consequences of the actions, but also understands the limits of behavior.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judy Hughey / Assessment of parenting stress and child acting-out behavior was measured via pretest and posttest over the length of a seven-session parenting program, the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent program (BLLP). All participants (n=86) were randomly placed in either a seven-session BLLP program group (n=56) or placed on a waitlist (n=30) and offered the BLLP program following the completion of the posttest. The BLLP program is a widely used parenting program with limited data available as to the effectiveness of the program. The data that are available utilizes the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent Before and After Questionnaire. A measurement tool designed specifically to measure the BLLP program. This study utilized two measurement tools widely used to evaluate parenting programs, the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form (PSI/SF) and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), in hopes of providing data that can be compared to other parenting programs. Levels of parenting stress were measured with a widely used index, the PSI/SF. The PSI/SF provides a Total Stress (TS) score and scores from three scales measuring different aspects of parenting stress: Parental Distress (PD), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (P-CDI), and Difficult Child (DC). Child acting-out behavior was measured with the ECBI. The ECBI measures disruptive child behavior using two scales: Intensity scale and a Problem scale. The intensity scale provides information regarding the frequency of certain acting-out behaviors, and the problem scale provides information as to whether or not parents view that particular behavior as problematic. All participants were parents or caregivers of elementary school students from a large suburban school district near Kansas City, Missouri. The group was homogenous in nature and had higher income and education levels than the average for the district and state, making it difficult to generalize finding from the study. Due to time and space limitations and attrition, the sample size of the study was small (n=86), which likely contributed to the outcome of the study. The six hypotheses were not supported in this study. Though a decrease in parenting stress occurred for both treatment group and control group participants, there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups on any of the PSI/SF scales. Child acting-out behavior also decreased for both the treatment group and the control group; however, there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Further study on the effectiveness of the BLLP program is recommended.

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between 15 emotional indicators on the Bender-Gestalt Test and acting-out behavior in young children. The subjects were 93 children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years. Each was administered the Bender. A measure of each subject's overt acting-out behavior was then obtained by having teachers rate each student on a Behavioral Rating Scale. Subjects' records were then divided into groups on the basis of both sex and age. Results indicated that neither the total number of Bender indicators nor any of the individual Bender indicators were significantly correlated with total scores on the rating scale. Use of the Bender as a projective device to measure acting-out behavior was seriously questioned.

Den föreliggande undersökningen har gjorts i syfte att undersöka förskollärares förhållningssätt och erfarenheter av arbete med metoden lågaffektivt bemötande gentemot barn med utagerande beteenden i förskolan. Med ett vidare syfte att undersöka vilka strategier och metoder förskollärare använder för att förebygga utagerande beteenden. Undersökningen har med stöd av beteendeteori tillämpats för att få en förståelse för vikten av förstärkning bland annat positiv förstärkning i barnets ageranden. Individperspektivet har även tillämpats för att skapa en förståelse för vikten av att se individen i en hel barngrupp och därmed ge ett individanpassat stöd för barnets utveckling. Ett utagerande beteende kan uppstå när barnet inte har verktyg till att reglera sina känslor. Förskollärare behöver vara lyhörda för att identifiera barnets behov. Undersökningen grundar sig på en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta förskollärare på fem olika förskolor i två län. Det insamlade materialet har analyserats där teman och underteman synliggjorts.   Resultatet i undersökningen visar att förskollärare anser att lågaffektivt bemötande är ett förhållningssätt som används till vardags och inte en metod som används i vissa situationer. Lågaffektivt bemötande är ett förhållningssätt som innebär att lugnt bekräfta och bemöta barns känslor, för att hjälpa barnet att få förståelsen för varför känslorna uppkommit. Vidare visar resultatet strategier och metoder som förskollärarna använder för att ge barnet en överblick över sin vardag i förskolan. Exempelvis genom bildstöd, tecken som stöd och böcker. Bildstöd används bland annat för att ge stöttning, förstärkning och tydlighet i förståelsen för vad som ska hända och vad som förväntas av dem. Miljön är en viktig faktor i barnens vardag, den behöver vara strukturerad för att ge barnen möjligheten till en avvägd dag.