M.Ed. / This study was undertaken out of concern for the many youths in the community of Lotus Gardens who were involved in deviant and delinquent behaviour in and out of school. The findings of the essay describe possible factors that placed these youth at risk of dropping out of school and impacts on their social and emotional development. Their views regarding out-of-school programmes were investigated, as well as the different types of community programmes that could be introduced for the remediation and support of at risk youth. The research was carried out with seven at risk youth from the Lotus Gardens Secondary School who also resided in Lotus Gardens. The seven participants were interviewed in a focus group as well as individually. The data collected was analysed through open coding. The analysis brought to the fore numerous insights. The first was, that various factors combined to place youth at risk of dropping out of school. These could be broadly related to the family, the school, the environment, and the influence of peers. The second important insight, was that the entire school system needed to change to effectively address the complex problems faced by at risk youth. This included a change in the attitude of teachers and an amendment to the curriculum. The school itself, in future, needs to become more community orientated and function as a community facility to eliminate some root causes which place youth at risk. Thirdly, the inquiry showed that there was overwhelming support for the idea of community education programmes, not only to support at risk youth, but to assist youth in general, and parents and the community as a whole. The study revealed that through these programmes, stronger family ties would develop, thereby laying the foundation for a sense of community. This would address some of the factors that place youth at risk and may even eliminate others. In the light of the above analysis it is recommended that, from a community education perspective, the concept of a core-plus school, be given serious consideration. If considered, it could guide the community in addressing some of the social problems faced by the community, which would encompass the problem of at risk youth. Furthermore, in the long term, it would empower the community to address other social problems they might face in today's decadent world.

The topic of alternative schools is widely available in the literature; however, once a student has been labeled a "troublemaker" and has been placed in a District Alternative Education Program (DAEP), a Type II setting, there is limited information about the overall success of students upon their return to the mainstream. This study compared the success of students formerly placed in a modified disciplinary Type II setting, once they have returned to the mainstream, with their success prior to disciplinary placement. The purpose of the study was to examine if disciplinary measures that remove students from the mainstream environment negatively impact the variables that measure school success, despite legislative mandates such as No Child Left Behind, which advocates success for every student. The population for this study was 86 7th- through 11th-grade students assigned to a DAEP in Texas during the spring of 2003. A comparison of pre- and post-placement dependent variables measuring school success-attendance, passing core courses, behavioral achievement, standardized test score achievement, recidivism, and dropout rates-comprised this study. The independent variables-gender, ethnicity, grade level, socioeconomic status, and disciplinary offense-were used to compare and analyze each dependent variable. The dependent variables of attendance, passing core courses, and behavior demonstrated a decline in the measurement of school success across time. The only dependent variable that demonstrated improvement between the pre- and post-placement periods was achievement on standardized test scores. From the number of students who withdrew from the mainstream during the post-placement semesters, large recidivism and dropout rates were determined, which reflected the large percentage of students who were not successful in the district's mainstream. The comparisons of dependent variables by independent variables resulted in significance only in the analyses of attendance by grade level. This interaction was determined to be significant since p < .05. During both post-placement semesters, 11th-grade attendance increased by 20.2 points. Students in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades maintained a slight increase in attendance between the pre-placement and first post-placement semester yet experienced an attendance decline in the second post-placement semester. This decline was seen in all three grade levels between the pre-placement and the second post-placement semesters. Attendance among tenth graders declined throughout all semesters of the study. The comparison of attendance by disciplinary offense resulted in a large effect size (eta2). The eta2 reported within 29.8% accuracy in variability when attendance was compared by disciplinary offense. Students placed for assault demonstrated a 27.7 point increase in attendance by the second post-placement semester. Despite the comparison of attendance by the grade level of students being the only significant result, and the comparison of attendance by disciplinary offense resulting in a large effect size, several specific conclusions were drawn from the analyses of the pre- and post-placement data measuring school success. All dependent variable measurements, with the exception of standardized test score achievement, resulted in an overall reduction of mean scores across time. This decline indicates that students do demonstrate a decline in school success following a removal from a mainstream setting.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated that each child who qualifies for special education must have an individualized education program (IEP). Disciplinary issues and procedures under IDEA have been a source of concern among parents, schools, and advocates from disability groups. At issue are fundamental concerns about the protection of rights for students with disabilities, which must be balanced with the ability of school personnel to maintain safe school environments that benefits all students. This research examined the four survey questions related to discipline from a state-wide survey conducted by Education Service Center (ESC) Region 9 through a comparison of selected disability categories as they compare to the responses received from parents of students with the disability category of emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD). In addition, the research examined the open-ended questions from surveys to determine the types of concerns reported by parents. Data accrued from a focus group of parents receiving special education services are also reported. Parents of students identified as having an E/BD rated their understanding of the school's discipline policy lower than parents of students from other eligibility categories. Almost 67% of parents of students identified as having E/BD stated that they knew that their child might be eligible for alternative discipline procedures. Parents of students identified as E/BD reported at a much higher percentage that they were aware that services must be continued if the child was removed from the instructional setting for discipline problems. In a focus group discussion, a majority of the parent's (67%) responded that they felt like they understood the school's discipline policies. When given a chance to respond through an open-ended questionnaire, parents addressed a variety of problems, such as children being continually suspended for behaviors related to their disability or the behavior intervention plan not being implemented.

This study evaluates archival data from a home intervention with an at-risk preschool child and her family. The intervention model studied was created by the Developmental Research Lab at Texas Christian University. Data was collected prior to and during the first 4 weeks of intervention to assess change in parent-child interaction, behavior and neurochemical profile. Measures used include coding of videotape recordings of the intervention, neurotransmitter levels taken via subject urine samples, Child Behavior Checklist, Parent Stress Index, and ACTeRS Parent Form. Results suggest positive change in parent-child interaction, behavior and neurochemical profile. However, consistent growth was not observed in several neurochemical results. Future studies should assess the entirety of the home intervention model and with a larger sample size.

No description available.

No description available.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of the use of parents as therapeutic agents. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to determine the effect of filial therapy on parental acceptance, self-esteem, parent-child relationship, and family environment. A second was to analyze the results and make recommendations concerning the effectiveness of filial therapy as a treatment modality for parents and their children. The experimental design of the study was a nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, control group design.The sample (N=47) consisted of the experimental group (parents N=15, children N=9) who received filial therapy and the control group (parents N=12, children N=ll) who did not. The treatment included ten, two hour weekly parent training sessions. During these sessions the parents were taught the principles of client-centered play therapy and were instructed to conduct weekly one-half hour play sessions at home with their own children. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' feeling of unconditional love for their children and 2) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' perception of expressed conflict in their family. In addition to the statistically significant results, there were some important trends which were mentioned as directional conclusions. These qualitative judgments include: 1) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' acceptance of their children, especially parents' feelings of unconditional love; 2) Filial therapy may be a somewhat effective treatment for increasing self-esteem, yet more effective in increasing parents' self-esteem than children's self-esteem; 3) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing the closeness of the parent-child relationship without altering the authority hierarchy; 4) Filial therapy may influence the family environment, especially in the areas of expressiveness, conflict, independence, intellectual-cultural orientation, and control; and 5) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' understanding of the meaning of their childrens' play.

This thesis resulted from an examination conducted on the living conditions of Port Arthur, Texas elementary school student who resided in Port Acres.

This study had a two-fold purpose. The first purpose was to compare the rankings of a set of knowledge/skills statements as reported by teachers of students with emotional behavioral disorders and teachers in juvenile correctional special education settings. A survey instrument designed to measure the importance, proficiency, and frequency of use of clusters of knowledge/skills statements was administered to 123 teachers in juvenile correctional special education settings in state institutions. Mann Whitney U analyses were calculated to compare the mean rankings of the two groups of teachers. The findings indicated that teachers in juvenile correctional special education settings and teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders were very similar as to which knowledge/skills clusters were important to their job performance, which clusters they were most proficient at using, and which clusters they utilized most frequently. The second purpose was to compare the teachers in juvenile correctional special education settings and to determine whether their mean rankings of the knowledge/skills clusters varied when analyzed by differing categories of age, type of certification held, years of teaching experience, and level of the teachers' education. Analysis of variance revealed no significant difference in the mean rankings in any of the comparison groups. Therefore teacher age, level of education, type of certification held, or years of teaching experience yielded no significant differences on the mean rankings of the knowledge/skills clusters.

The present study utilized multiple-baseline and multi-probe across participants designs to measure both fidelity and efficacy of caregivers as primary interventionists when using trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) procedures. Participants included any caregiver of a child with a medical or educational diagnosis of autism and challenging behavior. Caregiver fidelity of implementation of TBFA procedures was measured across three phases: baseline, training, and independent implementation or generalization. Within the implementation phase, caregivers independently conducted TBFAs on their respective children within the home setting. Fidelity, efficacy, and social validity across each participant were measured. Each caregiver was able to reach fidelity during the training phase, and three out of five caregivers were able to identify a clear behavior function for their child's behavior within the implementation phase of the study. Social validity was evaluated. Results indicate that caregivers may be able to supplement traditional interventionists during the TBFA process. Implications for future practice are reviewed.