Background: The role of foster carer is a complex and emotionally demanding one. This is particularly true in the presence of difficult behaviour which can, at times, leave the foster carer feeling overwhelmed and increases the risk of placement breaking down. It is therefore important to find ways to support foster carers. The present study sought to explore the lived experience of foster carers caring for children who presented with difficult to manage behaviour, with consideration given to their attachment characteristics. Aim: The primary aim of this study was to generate a grounded theory of foster carers’ experience of caring for a child who presents with difficult to manage behaviour, in order to inform supports. Method: The study adopted a qualitatively driven mixed methods design (QUAL+quan). Grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used as the primary component. Eight female foster carers, with either past or present experience of caring for a child who they felt presented them with difficult to manage behaviour, were interviewed. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Adult attachment data was gathered to elaborate and enhance the interpretation of the foster carers’ narratives. Foster carer’s attachment characteristics were measured using The Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ: Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994), and the presence of behavioural difficulties were confirmed using the Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC: Tarren-Sweeney, 2007). Results: A core category emerged from the grounded theory analysis (‘Making Sense’) in addition to five main categories (‘Personal Impact’, ‘What Helps’, ‘What Makes it Difficult’, ‘Responding’ and ‘The Relationship’). The overarching theme to emerge from the research was the influence foster carer’s level of reflection and understanding of the behaviour (their mentalizing capacity) had on their experience of the child’s difficult behaviour, which appeared to relate to their attachment characteristics in addition to a number of internal and external factors. Consideration is given to the psychological process that emerged from the categories generated from the foster carers’ narratives, and the consequent proposed ground theory. Conclusions: The findings confirm the complexity of the foster caring role, and suggest the positive impact foster carer’s reflective stance can have on their experience of difficult behaviour in the child they care for. Research strengths and limitations are discussed, in addition to clinical practice and research implications.

Behavioural difficulty is probably the least understood area of special education as it is very problematic to identify a specific cause. Behavioural difficulties are those behaviours that students sometimes exhibit that are inappropriate and unacceptable in the classrooms or schools, as they disrupt the smooth process of teaching and learning. This study investigated primary school teachers' perspectives of the causal factors of students' behavioural problems and what can be done to minimise this problem. The study was carried out in the Madang Province involving two primary schools. From the two schools, twelve teachers (six from each school) participated in the study. The same participants were involved in both the questionnaire and the semi structured interview. The data gathered for the questionnaire and interview were analysed and transcribed respectively. The findings discovered that the family and school factors contributed substantially towards students' inappropriate behaviours. Family factors include parental problems, abuse in the families, and the constant struggle to provide the basic necessities due to the high living cost. School factors, on the other hand, include negative teacher attitudes, teacher lack of knowledge and skills to adapt the curriculum to include social skills, lack of teacher support and encouragement, and peer influences. The findings also discovered that teachers were more bothered about externalising behaviours such as disruption and aggression than internalising behavioural problems like withdrawal and depression displayed by students. Further, teachers' limited pre-service and in-service training and lack of experience in teaching students with behavioural problems contributed significantly for teachers not attending to students who behave inappropriately. Based on the findings identified in the study, several recommendations were made on how to intervene to alleviate this problem. Of particular importance is teacher training at both the pre-service and in-service level. Also government support is needed in terms of funding for training, involving specialists and other resources to respond to student behavioural problems effectively and efficiently. The findings may have particular relevance to future studies in this area and provide teachers with effective and workable intervention strategies for students' behavioural problems in the classrooms.

Background: Behaviour difficulties are one of the commonest problems for which parents seek professional advice. Behaviour difficulties in early childhood are associated with poorer educational and social outcomes in later life (Loeber & Dishion, 1983). The importance of early intervention and preventative work to support behaviour difficulties has been stressed in the literature and is a priority in the government’s strategy for promoting positive outcomes for children. It is now generally accepted that parenting programmes (PPs) are an effective mechanism for supporting children with behaviour difficulties. A review of the literature suggests that while there are numerous evaluations of PPs there is limited evidence of PPs that are successful outside of a clinic setting and even less evidence on particular aspects of PPs and how parents view them. Aims: The main aim of this research was to explore a community based PP (the Holding Hands Group Programme (HHGP)) in terms of both its outcomes and the perceptions of the parents involved. The aim of paper one was to investigate whether families who undergo the HHGP, notice any improvement in child behaviour, parental stress and parental confidence. A second aim was to compare the HHGP to the previously evaluated Holding Hands Individual Programme (HHIP). The aim of paper two was to examine the process elements of the Holding Hands Group Programme (HHGP), seeking new insights and a detailed descriptive portrayal of how parents experience the HHGP. Methods: The study utilised a pragmatic approach to evaluation, with mixed methods and differing methodologies. Paper 1 involved a fixed quasi-experimental design using a pre-test, post-test single group evaluation. Outcome data was gathered from 34 parental responses to a range of psychometric measures completed on each of three occasions. Paper 2 involved semi-structured interviews being carried out with 15 parents prior to, and on completion of, the HHGP. The interviews focused on parent’s experiences of the programme and what they liked/disliked. Results: Paper 1: At the start of the HHGP parents typically reported high levels of intensity of behaviour, behaviour that was a problem and stress levels. They also reported low levels of parental confidence. By the end of the HHGP parents reported significantly increased confidence and significantly reduced stress, intensity of behaviour and behaviour that was problem. These positive results were maintained beyond the end of the programme as indicated at follow-up meetings. The findings indicate that the HHGP was effective for all identified subgroups of the sample. These findings broadly mirror the findings of the evaluation of the HHIP, although results do show some significant differences between the HHIP and the HHGP. Paper 2: The interviews conducted with fifteen parents were analysed using a rigorous approach to thematic analysis to identify emerging themes. Six themes were identified from parental accounts: support, new knowledge, reconstructing, awareness, changes and interactions. Alongside these themes was a practical element about ‘what worked’. Prior to the HHGP parents gave detailed descriptions about the difficulties that they were experiencing with their child, were able to identify what they wanted to achieve through the group and seemed able to predict what might be useful to them. After the sessions parents discussed what they had gained from taking part and were able to give suggestions for what had caused any changes. Extensions and Implications: On methodological grounds it would be desirable to undertake further work with either a control group, or baseline wait list. A further extension would be to use a longer follow up period or to contact the current participants to see how this cohort is coping when they start school. This study relied on self report data, therefore future work could consider the use of videoing interactions. It would also be useful to extend the interview process to include the follow up period. The results of this study imply that PPs can be delivered effectively to groups in non-clinic settings, and this suggests a route to more cost-effective delivery of PPs. However, as the results indicate that the HHGP was not successful for all, it reminds us that practitioners need to be vigilant in attempting to identify those families that are not helped and flexible in trying to assist them in other ways - perhaps via booster sessions or through the use of self-guided written materials.

Behaviour difficulties displayed in childhood and adolescence have pervasive and long term effects into adulthood and across various domains of functioning (Healey, et al. 2004, Woodward, et al. 2002). The numbers of children who suffer with them remain worryingly high (Green et al. 2005). Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are considered particularly at risk of displaying behaviour difficulties; however, despite representing around one fifth of the school population (DfE 2011), little research to date has explicitly investigated these problems in this population. The present study therefore aimed to investigate risk, promotive and protective factors for behaviour difficulties in children with SEND across multiple ecological levels. Data were collected through a concurrent research project evaluating Achievement for All (Humphrey et al. 2011). The sample comprised children identified with SEND in years 1, 5, 7 and 10, from ten local authorities deemed representative of England. A final sample consisted of 2660 primary pupils nested in 248 primary schools and 1628 secondary pupils nested within 57 secondary schools. Predictor variables were measured at the individual and school levels at baseline, along with a teacher reported measure of behaviour difficulties which was assessed again eighteen months later. Analyses were carried out using multi-level modelling revealing that primary schools accounted for 15% and secondary schools 13% of the total variance in behaviour difficulties, with the remainder being at the individual level. Significant risk factors for these problems across both school types were: being male; eligibility for FSM; and being a bully. Risk factors specific to primary schools included being autumn born, being older in the school, having poor positive relationships, and attending schools with lower levels of academic achievement. Risk factors specific to secondary schools included being younger in the school, having poor attendance, having poor academic achievement, being a bystander to bullying and attending a larger school. Results showed evidence for a cumulative risk effect that increasing numbers of contextual risk factors, regardless of their exact nature, resulted in heightened behaviour difficulties. This relationship was non-linear with increasing risk factors in an individual’s background having a disproportional and detrimental increase in behaviour difficulties displayed. The specific type of risk was however, more important than number of risk factors present in an individual’s background in accounting for behaviour difficulties displayed. Finally, results revealed significant protective factors at the school level; specifically attending primary schools with high academic achievement and with more children on the SEND register at school action can protect against the display of behaviour difficulties when these children are at risk in terms of having poor positive relationships. Attending urban secondary schools can also protect against the display of behaviour difficulties, when these children are at risk in terms of having poor academic achievement. The implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.

The point of this text is to refer to the child with specific learning and behaviour difficulties as a unique personality and as a human beings with its own value. Childrens' self-concept is formed in a family background, at school and by a person of the same age. Childrens' self-concept is mainly endangered at schools, however the school has got a lot of opportunities to prevent that danger of self-concept reducing, to form and to develop it. The theoretical part is concentrated on forming self-concept in a view of child's psychical development and of childrens' specific learning and behaviour difficulties, it is pointed to forming self-concept at school background and in some situation which can endanger childrens' self-concept. We have also outlined a few possibilities how to prevent the threated self-concept, how to form and develop it. In the empiric part we studied whether the self-concept of children with specific learning and behaviour difficulties differs from self-concept of the children who haven't got these difficulties. For that purpose we used a standard questionnaire.

The thesis deals with the topic of diagnostics in children with behavioral problems and disorders. In the theoretical part the author describes commonly used terminology and the width of issues related to caring for these children. The Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Program is described and built on later in the practical section where the author introduces her own new method called "Children Together". The practical part of the thesis deals with action research aiming at improving author's practice in the field of special education and at evaluating the potential of the new method. The analysis of audio recordings from lessons and semi-structured interviews and two other supplementary research methods were utilized throughout the research. The outcomes of the research allow for a conclusion that the method "Children Together" can provide us with a volume of valuable assessment data on younger elementary-school-aged children. Towards the end of the thesis the author also identifies features of the method most valued by selected professionals, the ways how the method has been improved during the research and how it could be improved further on. The final product of the research is a method that is useful in special education practice, under certain conditions. The potential of the method has...