Student characteristics that indicate a questionable professional fit are often more evident in the field than in the classroom, yet faculty have a responsibility to students and field supervisors to identify and address these issues earlier. This workshop will discuss a systematic approach for implementing gatekeeping across the program.

Improved adoptability is a common goal among rescue shelters. Dogs are more likely to be adopted if they are friendly, mannerly, and approachable. The possibility of improving rescue shelter dogs' behavior through an obedience program has not been examined. We developed an approachability test to determine whether dogs became more approachable during and after a standardized 12-week obedience program. We also quantified jumping behavior and pulling on the leash to measure if these problematic behaviors also improved through training. The subjects consisted of 26 dogs donated to the Triple Crown School for Professional Dog Trainers for one of the 12-week sessions. The approach test was administered six times, at two-week intervals. The tests were videotaped and jumping and pulling behaviors were quantified after testing. Scores for approachability were based on the proximity between the tester and the dog at the end of each test. For the dogs that completed all 12 weeks of the study, contingency analyses were performed for each behavioral measure. Relative to the start of the 12-week training program, the dogs became more approachable (p<0.025), jumped less (p<0.025), and pulled on the leash less (p<0.025) than when the study began. These results reinforce the importance of obedience training as a tool for increasing a rescue shelter dog's adoptability and permanence once placed in a home.

Improved adoptability is a common goal among rescue shelters. Dogs are more likely to be adopted if they are friendly, mannerly, and approachable. The possibility of improving rescue shelter dogs' behavior through an obedience program has not been examined. We developed an approachability test to determine whether dogs became more approachable during and after a standardized 12-week obedience program. We also quantified jumping behavior and pulling on the leash to measure if these problematic behaviors also improved through training. The subjects consisted of 26 dogs donated to the Triple Crown School for Professional Dog Trainers for one of the 12-week sessions. The approach test was administered six times, at two-week intervals. The tests were videotaped and jumping and pulling behaviors were quantified after testing. Scores for approachability were based on the proximity between the tester and the dog at the end of each test. For the dogs that completed all 12 weeks of the study, contingency analyses were performed for each behavioral measure. Relative to the start of the 12-week training program, the dogs became more approachable (p<0.025), jumped less (p<0.025), and pulled on the leash less (p<0.025) than when the study began. These results reinforce the importance of obedience training as a tool for increasing a rescue shelter dog's adoptability and permanence once placed in a home.

The seminal article by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1994/1982; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 197-209. Reprinted from Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 2, 3-20, 1982) is credited with sparking a resurgence of clinical and research attention to functional assessment and analysis procedures, which have now become an expected professional standard and practice in situations involving problem behaviors. TASH and JASH have played a substantial role over the years in promoting positive behavioral support approaches that include functional assessment as a critical foundational component. To provide a historical context for this special issue, this article briefly describes the prevalence of different types of functional assessment and analysis procedures reported in articles in JASH involving individuals exhibiting problem behaviors. copyright 2000 by The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps.

This study examined coaches as potential mentors who could influence adolescent problem behaviors. By using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study compared adolescents who self-reported not having any adult mentors in their life against adolescents who self-reported having a coach mentor in their life on various problem behaviors (i.e., sexual attitudes and behaviors, tobacco, marijuana, steroid, and alcohol use). This study also looked ages of adolescents to see what, if any, influences age presented. Results of this study indicated that in some areas coaches might have a positive effect, albeit slight. When age was analyzed it became apparent there were significant differences between younger and older adolescents' problem behaviors. Discussion addressed implications, theory, limitations, and directions for future research related to coaches as mentors of adolescents.

Research has demonstrated that family of origin environment impacts outcomes for individuals; however, the extent to which attitudes toward family impact outcomes is less clear. One construct stemming from family studies is related to the importance and value individuals place on their nuclear and extended families of childhood. The construct, known as familism, encompasses multiple aspects of individuals' relationships with their childhood families. It has been suggested by some that cultures that tend to be collectivistic (e.g., on-European-based cultures) tend to value family unity and loyalty relatively more than individualistic cultures (e.g., European-based cultures). The purpose of this study was to examine familism from a cross-national perspective. Specifically, Mexicans and non-Latino White Americans were compared on their levels of familism in relation to psychosocial adjustment. Broadly speaking, the goal was to determine if distinct cultural groups differ on familism, and if familism-feeling supported and a sense of solidarity with one's family-is associated with a less problematic behaviors and higher psychological adjustment. Individuals completed measures assessing familism as well as psychological adjustment and problematic behaviors (psychological well-being, empathy, and symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatization, alcohol misuse, aggressiveness, antisocial features, and history of criminal acts). Interestingly, results suggested that, in practical terms, Whites and Mexicans did not differ in their endorsement of levels of familism. For both groups, familism was correlated with psychological well-being and problem behaviors. Implications of these findings and areas for future research will be discussed.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of cohabitation on children in kindergarten and how this varies by race. Many researchers have shown that children being raised in cohabiting families do not perform as well as children being raised in married parent families (Manning and Seltzer 2009; Artis 2007; Raley et al 2005). Furthermore, demographic trends show that cohabitation among Latinos is very similar to marriage, whereas among whites they are two very different things (Choi and Seltzer 2009). My research combines these two ideas to investigate how cohabitation may affect Latino children differently than it affects white children in terms of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. I hypothesize that though whites will be negatively affected by cohabitation, Latinos will not have this negative effect. Evidence supports hypotheses and suggests that, indeed, Latino children are not as negatively affected by cohabitation as Whites.

The current dissertation consists of three interrelated studies examining the relationship between sleep functioning and adolescent adjustment. Although links between sleep patterns and internalizing problems and externalizing or problem behaviors in children and adolescents have been established in literature, several gaps remain in this research. This dissertation addressed these by: (a) testing sleep problems, quantity, and chronotype in childhood as predictors of internalizing problems in adolescence (Study 1), (b) testing sleep problems, quantity, and chronotype in childhood as predictors of problem behaviors in adolescence (Study 2), and (c) testing sleep problems and quantity as mediators of the chronotype-adjustment link (Study 3). Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) and Half-longitudinal Path Analysis were used to carry out these studies using a large sample of children part of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC). Findings from Study 1 and 2 showed that greater sleep problems in early childhood and their slower decrease during childhood predicted higher levels of internalizing problems and problem behaviors in early adolescence. Furthermore, lower sleep quantity in early childhood predicted higher internalizing problems and problem behaviors in early adolescence and a greater increase in problem behaviors in adolescence. Lastly, greater eveningness in early childhood predicted greater increases in problem behaviors during adolescence. Results of Study 3 provided evidence that evening chronotype longitudinally predicted less favorable sleep patterns, including greater sleep problems and lower sleep quantity. However, only sleep problems significantly predicted measures of adjustment, particularly internalizing problems; no effects of sleep quantity on adjustment were found.

Many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) display problem behaviors that are maintained by teacher attention. Although noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be effective in reducing attention maintained problem behavior, it can be difficult for general education teachers, who have many other students in their classrooms, to implement NCR interventions when teacher attention is the maintaining reinforcer. In this study, we evaluated the effect of an NCR intervention in which peers delivered social attention to two students with ASD in Grades 3-6 whose problem behavior was shown to be maintained by teacher attention. The results of the study demonstrated that the Peer NCR intervention resulted in a clinically significant decrease in problem behavior and that it can be effectively implemented in a general education classroom environment.