Sandtray therapy, a modality of play therapy, has been used in a variety of ways as the treatment intervention with different theoretical approaches; however, there is a very limited amount of empirical research. The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of group sandtray therapy at school with preadolescents identified with behavioral difficulties. This is a pretest-posttest control group design. Participants in the experimental group received sandtray therapy in group for ten weeks, and participants in the wait-list control group received no treatment intervention. The researcher compared two groups to examine the overall effectiveness of sandtray therapy as determined by the scores of the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form (CBC-TRF), Parent Report Form (BASC-PRF), and Self Report of Personality (BASC-SRP). Based on teachers' reports, statistically significant difference existed between the two groups in terms of preadolescents' overall behaviors, externalizing behavior problems, and internalizing behavior problems after the ten week treatment intervention. The effect sizes were medium (d= .52-.59). According to parents' reports, a statistically significant difference was found regarding preadolescents' externalizing behavior problems, and the effect size was medium (d=.63). No statistically significant differences were found regarding preadolescents' total behaviors and internalizing behavior problems based on BASC-PRF. The effect sizes arranged from medium to small (d=.55 and .35, respectively). In terms of the total behavior on BASE-SRP, no statistical significant difference was found and the effect was small (d=.18). A case example was included to illustrate the process and effect of group sandtray therapy. Based on the results of this study, it is determined that group sandtray can be an effective treatment intervention for preadolescents identified with behavioral problems. The primary contribution of this study is to present empirical support for the effectiveness of using sandtray therapy.

This research study examined how education service providers conduct functional behavioral assessments and utilize behavior intervention plans to address the social and emotional needs of students with challenging behaviors. The data are based on a 20-item survey administered to educators who identified themselves as working with students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders. The results and implications of the survey are discussed and evaluated to the review of literature conducted prior to the study. Recommendations for future research are also explored.

Approximately 20% of children experience serious mental health problems severe enough to meet diagnosis criteria, and less than one third of these children receive the services they need. Identifying effective school-based counseling interventions provides a viable and accessible solution, especially for families with financial barriers. This randomized, controlled outcome study examined the effectiveness of Adlerian play therapy (AdPT) compared to reading mentoring (RM) with 58 kindergarten through third grade students who qualified with clinical levels of disruptive behavior in the classroom. Participants were identified as 48% Latino, 33% European American, and 19% African American. Approximately four-fifths of participants were male. Children were randomly assigned to AdPT (experimental group) or RM (active control group) for 16 sessions of treatment. Children in both groups participated in twice weekly, individual, 30-minute interventions that took place in their schools. Results from a two (group) by two (repeated measures) split plot ANOVA indicated that, compared to the RM group over time, the AdPT group demonstrated statistically significant improvement on (a) disruptive behaviors in the classroom, as directly observed by objective raters and as reported by teachers, and (b) stress in the teacher-child relationship, as reported by teachers. Teachers and observers were blinded to children's treatment group assignment. AdPT demonstrated moderate to large effect sizes on all measures, indicating the practical significance of treatment. Further, 72% of children receiving AdPT improved from clinical/borderline levels of disruptive behavior problems to more normative functioning post-intervention, demonstrating the clinical significance of results. Whereas further research is warranted, results from this preliminary study are promising and support the use of AdPT in elementary schools to meet the needs of children exhibiting disruptive classroom behavior.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which insecure attachment formation and the laissez-faire of authoritarian parenting style predict violent or general delinquent behaviors in preadolescent youths. The present study analyzes archival data from the first wave of a longitudinal study on delinquent behaviors. Two hundred six male and female sixth grade students were surveyed. A correlation design was used to determine predictors of violent and general delinquent behaviors among these preadolescent youths. Regression analysis was used to determine which predictor offered the best explanation of violent and delinquent behavior. It was found that for boys and girls, insecure attachment was indeed significantly correlated with violent and general delinquent behaviors. However, parenting styles was not at all correlated with those behaviors in boys. Conversely, for girls, regression analysis indicated that the Laissez-faire parenting style was a more significant predictor of violent and general delinquent behaviors. These findings are important in that they may be used to help design programs to abate the rising tide of delinquency and violence among preadolescent youths. The results of this study indicate the need for parental involvment in such programs.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and curriculum-based small-group guidance on the behaviors of aggressive children in an elementary school as determined by (a) the reduction of aggressive behaviors, (b) the decrease in internalizing problems, and (c) the decrease in externalizing problems of aggressive children. Two types of behavioral instruments, the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-Teacher Rating Scale/Parent Rating Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist-Caregiver/Teacher Report Form, were used to provide multiple measures of the same construct in this matched pretest-posttest comparison group experimental designed study. Qualitative data was also collected. The population studied was comprised of 37 volunteer children identified as aggressive in kindergarten through fourth grade, ages 5-12, who qualified for counseling services at a Title I public elementary school in North Texas . Children who were referred by teachers and parents, and met the required criteria, were matched in pairs on grade level and randomly assigned to one of the two real-world setting interventions; play therapy treatment group (n=20), which received 12-15 individual child-centered play therapy sessions, or the curriculum-based small-group guidance group (n=17), consisting of 12-19 lessons. Major strengths of the study included utilizing students referred for counseling due to behavioral difficulties (students demonstrating at-risk and clinically significant aggressive behaviors) and servicing them at school, a real-world setting. Another strength was the use of 30-minute play therapy and guidance sessions, which conform to typical school practice. Twelve hypotheses were tested using two-factor mixed repeated measures and eta squared. The data of this study tentatively support the effectiveness of both modalities in decreasing the aggressive behaviors, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems of aggressive children. The data seems to indicate that school-based child-centered play therapy is as effective at improving the behaviors of aggressive children as a nationally recognized guidance curriculum program. Qualitative data from the parents and teachers of the children demonstrated clinical significance, suggesting that school-based child-centered play therapy is more noticeably effective in reducing the aggressive behaviors of children. A control group is needed to determine conclusive results and discern possible effects of maturation.

Being a female and having a disability has been referred to as 'double jeopardy' (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 2001). However research in the area of disabilities has either focused on the specific disability as a whole (i.e. research on learning disabilities or behavior disorders) or on mostly males (i.e. interventions in a classroom made up predominantly of boys). Researchers have pointed out that the school experiences for typical males and females are different as is the development of the two genders (Proctor & Choi, 1994). However in disability studies, the gender issue is seldom addressed (Deschler, 2005; Oswald, Best, Coutinho & Nagle, 2003; Vardill & Calvert, 2000; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 2001). Post school outcomes for females with disabilities are poor (Rousso & Wehmeyer, 2001). Compared to boys with disabilities, girls with disabilities earn lower wages, have a lower likelihood of employment as well as work fewer hours a week with less job stability (Doren & Benz, 1998, 2001). Rates of depression and other mental health disorders are higher (Maag & Reid, 2005). The paucity of research in these areas calls for a need of more research in the specific area of females and disabilities. The issue of gender inequity in education, specifically special education is one that needs closer examination and understanding. Phenomenological method was utilized to explore the school experiences of females labeled EBD. A combination of life-history interviewing and focused in-depth interviewing, to elicit the perceptions and attributions of six girls as they describe their school experience was employed. The Listening Guide approach was applied for analysis in this study (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg & Bertsch, 2004). The themes that emerged were school disengagement, mother-daughter relationships, stigma, hope and resiliency and the concept of dueling narratives. A discussion of how each theme emerged through the analysis process is provided. These themes are compared with the literature on the identification of students with disability, issues in gender, teacher behaviors, along with a critique of the method. Limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.

An accumulating evidence-base indicates that internalizing mental health disorders in adulthood are causally associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and type-2 diabetes (T2DM). It is plausible, however, that the relationship between mental and cardiometabolic ill-health becomes established long before adulthood, and that externalizing problems (the other central domain of common psychopathology) are also involved. These questions, as well as questions on the mechanisms that underlie the relationships, have been insufficiently investigated. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to expand current knowledge on how common mental health problems increase cardiometabolic risk over the life course. First, the prospective association between childhood internalizing (emotional problems) and externalizing problems (hyperactivity and conduct problems) with CVD and T2DM risk in adolescence was assessed in data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, N=7,730). Results showed that hyperactivity problems were associated with insulin resistance (high HOMA-IR); that hyperactivity and conduct problems were each associated with high triglyceride levels; and that emotional problems were inversely associated with high triglyceride levels. These results suggest that childhood externalizing problems are an early life risk factor for CVD and T2DM and that childhood internalizing problems are not a risk factor or, that risk in these children does not become apparent until after adolescence. Second, the mechanisms underlying the prospective association of childhood hyperactivity and conduct problems with high levels of triglycerides in adolescence were investigated using causal mediation methods. Results showed that despite being associated with hyperactivity and with conduct problems, body mass index and lifestyle health behaviors including sleep, diet, physical activity, alcohol, and smoking, together these variables, as measured, mediated only 19.6 % and 19.3% of the associations of hyperactivity and conduct problems with triglycerides, respectively. These results would suggest that mechanisms other than body adiposity and unhealthy behaviors are also involved and that those mechanisms have a larger role in mediating these relationships. Alternatively, It is possible that the observed small role of health behaviors is due to error in measurement and therefore improving measurements for health behaviors should be a central focus of future work. Third and last, a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between childhood externalizing problems with CVD and T2DM risk was conducted. Studies were graded for propensity to bias. Evidence was summarized and assessed for consistency. Results strongly supported positive associations of externalizing problems with insulin resistance, T2DM, and with increased blood lipids among children and adolescents. Evidence suggested that associations are at least partly independent of body adiposity. Evidence provided mix support for the associations with T2DM and blood lipids in adults and with other outcomes in children or adults. Studies in children tended to be cross-sectional and to use valid and reliable assessment methods, whereas studies of adults tended to be prospective and to rely on less-valid, less reliable assessment methods. These results warrant more research, specifically prospective studies that track children into young adulthood, that employ well-validated measures of externalizing behaviors, that rely on repeated assessments of T2DM and CVD risk throughout follow-up, and that investigate mechanisms other than body adiposity and health behaviors. Overall, this dissertation has found that childhood externalizing problems are prospectively associated with elevated CVD and T2DM risk, specifically with elevated risk of increased levels of blood lipids and insulin resistance. Unlike studies in adults, this dissertation does not support a role of internalizing problems as risk factors. Among children with externalizing problems, risk becomes evident before adolescence and appears to be largely driven by pathways independent of unhealthy behaviors and body adiposity. Implications of this research’s findings for health practice were proposed. This dissertation identified several gaps and methodological shortcoming in the extant literature. Recommendations were made for future research, including fundamental next questions to investigate, and study designs and methodologies that are best suited to tackle those questions.

People use language to communicate their needs and intentions, to express emotions, and to form relationships. It seems likely that a disruption in children's language development would have a negative impact on their social development. There is extensive research that shows that school age children with delayed language are "at risk" for increased maladaptive behaviors (Cantwell and Baker, 1977). Whether this is also true for children in the earliest stages of language development is not yet known. The questions this study sought to answer were: 1) Is there a significant difference in the severity and frequency of maladaptive behaviors seen in language delayed children, children who were "late talkers," or children with normal language? and 2) Is there a significant difference among the three subject groups in terms of which behaviors parents are the most concerned about·?

Collectively known as Behavioral Skills Training (BST), instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback procedures are often used in parent training programs. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline, single-subject component analysis of BST procedures was conducted with 12 parents of children aged 2-4 years in their homes. Written instructions, video modeling, and rehearsal-feedback training conditions were counterbalanced and randomly assigned to each parent. The frequency and quality of parent praise were measured during structured free-play and cleanup observations. BST 6 procedures produced comparable results in praise frequency and quality. For all parents, the cleanup scenario was associated with higher praise frequency than the play scenario. Common trends observed in the data and limitations of the study are discussed, along with directions for future component analysis research on BST procedures.

No description available.