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The aim of this study is to explore strengths assessments and the participation of parents in assessment of strengths and functioning of their children challenged by serious emotional disorders. The children in this study have a high level of exposure to mental illness, domestic violence and substance abuse in their biological families. These children are living with family members or foster families in the community, with the majority at continuing risk of placement outside of their homes and communities due to serious emotional and behavioral problems. The research questions investigated are the concordance of families and professionals in assessment of strengths, differences in assessment of strengths, problems in specific domains of functioning, and relationships of characteristics of the child with recognition of strengths by the parent and professional. This study uses data collected from families of children with serious emotional disorders receiving services through community-based wraparound services supported by the mental health services program for children #5 HSS SM52297 funded by the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. The dissertation research presents a secondary analysis of a portion of the evaluation data collected for that demonstration. Eighty-five children were assessed by the parent and professional using the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS), the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Child and Adolescent Functioning Scale (CAFAS). It was found that families provided significant and unique information regarding their children. A repeated measures analysis of the strengths scores revealed significant differences in the assessment of strengths by the parent and professional raters in domains of intrapersonal strengths, affective strengths and family involvement. The findings support the use of the strengths measure by multiple informants to provide unique information regarding the child’s strengths and functioning.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of teaching children appropriate social skill behavior. The present study investigated a coaching procedure to teach emotionally disturbed children appropriate social skills within the context: of fourteen arts and crafts sessions. Using a multiple baseline across groups design, two groups of four children received training. As a result of training, cooperation behavior showed a moderate change, while eye contact increased substantially for both groups. The behaviors of on task and communication changed only slightly. In addition, these changes generalized to different settings and were· maintained over time. However, praising, receiving praise, as well as inappropriate physical and verbal behavior, showed no significant changes. Suggestions for revising the coaching procedure to produce more significant behavioral changes are discussed.

Background Despite enormous advances in therapy, phenylketonuria (PKU) remains an incurable, inherited metabolic disease requiring life-long treatment with potential to negatively impact quality of life and psychological well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study was to screen early diagnosed and continuously treated children with PKU on psychological strengths and behavioral difficulties. Methods Evaluation of psychological strengths and behavioral difficulties in 49 patients with PKU (23f, 2-17 years) by Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; self-report 11-17 years and parent-report 2-17 years). Comparison to age, sex and BMI-matched healthy controls (n = 98; 46f). Results In patients with PKU and healthy controls median SDQ Total Difficulties Score and median scores of subscales were within the normal range in parent- and self-report, irrespective of sex and age group (children 2-10 years, adolescents 11-17 years). No influence of long-term metabolic control in PKU on SDQ could be revealed. The 2- to 10-year-old boys with PKU showed significantly higher scores in Prosocial Behavior compared to their healthy peers (P = .032). Likewise, adolescent boys with PKU showed fewer Conduct Problems (parent-report, P = .006). Adolescent girls with PKU rated themselves more often as abnormal in the subscale Emotional Problems compared to their healthy peers (P = .041). This subscale was also responsible for a significantly different Total SDQ Difficulties Score between patients and their parents' report (P = .008). Discussion SDQ represents a suitable instrument within the care for patients with PKU. Specific aspects, however, require separate consideration and evaluation with respect to this chronic disease. Special attention should be paid on adolescent PKU girls who seem to be at risk to develop emotional problem.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to provide a ready reference that may be the basis for helping teachers develop a detailed program to meet some common social and emotional difficulties of six-year-old children. An analysis of the findings and opinions of clinical psychology and educational authorities pertinent to this problem should yield conclusions and recommendations which may be objective enough to lead to a better understanding of the six-year-old child.

Education in Saudi Arabia, including the education of children with special needs, is developing rapidly. However, children with emotional and behavioral disorders are neither consistently identified nor adequately served in Saudi Arabia although they are recognized as a distinct category of children who require special education services. The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders among children in Saudi Arabia to assess the need for intervention services to help those children reach their potential. The current research identified the types of behaviors that are most evident in the study sample. Also, the relationship between demographics and emotional and behavioral disorders is studied to identify possible predictors of disruptive forms of behavior. Parents of children aged 4-17 years in Saudi Arabia were surveyed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that children with emotional and behavioral disorders in Saudi Arabia may account for 20% of the population of children between the ages of 4 and 17. The findings also revealed that over 20% of children in Saudi Arabia have difficulties in peer relationship and lack the necessary prosocial behaviors. The parent reporting, child gender, child education type, the geographical region, the father's education level, and the family's socioeconomic status were found to be statistically significant predictors of children's difficulties. However, these predictors were only able to explain a small portion of the difficulty scores.

Recent literature suggests that not only does Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD) persist into adulthood, but it can also be accompanied by personality characteristics which cause emotional difficulties. In fact, adults diagnosed with ADHD can present with a profusion of difficulties. Several constructs appear to accumulate dynamically throughout development to place the adult with ADHD at risk for multiple emotional problems. These interwoven influences include familial characteristics, childhood emotional and academic difficulties, and inadequate coping skills to respond to adulthood pressures. This document, first, describes a developmental model for conceptualizing negative trajectories leading to nonadaptive coping and psychopathology and identifies personality factors of adults diagnosed with ADHD. This model provides clinicians and researchers with a better understanding of the complexity and challenges of adulthood ADHD in order to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The purpose of this study is to examine personality factors common to adults diagnosed with ADHD and compares these characteristics with a group of adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder. Adults responding to a community advertisement who provided documentation of the diagnosis of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder were administered the MMPI-2. This ADHD group was compared with MMPI-2 profiles of a group of adults diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder. A cluster analysis procedure was performed and results are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the associations and differences regarding behaviour- and emotional problems and physical activity (PA) in early school-age children born preterm in comparison to children born full term. The sample consisted of 131 children at age 6-9 (mean age 7.8, including 54 % girls). The participants were divided into four groups depending on weeks of gestational age (GA): extremely preterm (EPT; 22-27 weeks), very preterm (VPT; 28-33 weeks), moderate preterm (MPT; 34-37 weeks) and the control group born at full term (FT; 38-42 weeks). The data were received from parent’s ratings on the questionnaire Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). The result showed that children born EPT were rated as having significantly more symptoms of depression, ADHD and conduct disorders, compared to the children born VPT, MPT and FT. The children born EPT also participated more in individual sports rather than team sports and in particular for those children with high ratings on ADHD Scale and Oppositional Defiant Scale. In conclusion, children born EPT seem to have more symptoms on behavioural and emotional problems and therefore more attention is needed to define appropriate interventions for this group to prevent and treat these problems. Even though PA didn’t manifestly decrease with lower GA in this sample it’s likely that bigger differences will show when the children grow older and more investigations are needed to examine the impact of PA among children born PT. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka relationer mellan beteende och emotionella problem samt fysisk aktivitet i tidig skolålder hos prematura barn i jämförelse med fullgångna barn. Urvalet bestod av 131 barn i åldern 6–9 (medelvärde 7.8, inklusive 54 % flickor). Deltagarna blev indelade i fyra grupper beroende på gestationsålder: extremt prematura (22–27 veckor), mycket prematura (28–33 veckor), måttligt prematura (34–37 veckor) och kontrollgruppen som bestod av fullgångna barn (38–42 veckor). Datamaterialet inhämtades från föräldrarnas skattningar på enkäten Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Resultaten visade att barn som fötts extremt prematurt skattades ha signifikant mer symtom av depression, ADHD och uppförandestörning jämfört med mycket och måttligt prematura samt fullgångna barn. Barnen som fötts extremt prematurt utövade även mer individuella idrotter och mindre lagidrotter, vilket var speciellt tydligt för barn med höga skattningar på skalorna ADHD och trotssyndrom. Sammanfattningsvis har barn födda extremt prematurt mer emotionella och beteendemässiga problem jämfört barn med längre gestationsålder, och utifrån det behövs mer fokus på att utforma lämpliga interventioner för att förebygga och behandla dessa problem. Även om fysisk aktivitet inte visade sig minska med lägre gestationsålder i vårt urval är det troligt att större skillnader kommer visa sig när barnen blir äldre och vidare undersökningar krävs för att avgöra hur fysisk aktivitet kan tänkas påverka utfallen för prematura barn.

Research has shown that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically have poor life outcomes. Students with EBD who are placed in an alternative education setting are likely to continue a path toward failure without carefully designed effective services. Existing studies have independently examined resilience in children and youth and alternative education settings. However, there is a gap in research examining resilience in students who have graduated from alternative education settings. Using semi-structured interviews, the present interpretive and descriptive qualitative study sought to explore factors of resilience in individuals who graduated from alternative education settings. The study sought to identify elements, specific to alternative education settings, that have contributed to resilience in young adulthood and to further our understanding of how alternative education placements have contributed to the participants’ current life status. Findings revealed three themes specific to alternative education settings that contributed to participants’ resilience: teachers who show that they care about their students, a positive learning environment, and a small student-teacher ratio where participants were able to get more one-on-one instruction. Additionally, two other themes arose from the data: having a supportive family and an innate sense of self.