School maladjustment incidence studies estimate that thirty percent of American school children experience school adaptation problems and that about ten percent need immediate clinical attention. (Glidewell, 1969) Various labels, including school maladjustment, school maladaptation, school dysfunction, soclo-emotional disorders and emotional disturbance have been used more or less interchangeably in current research to refer to this thirty percent of the school population. A leading researcher in the field, Emory L. Cowen, considers children to be "maladapted when they are unable, because of prior history and personal qualities or skill deficiencies, to cope with the educational or behavioral demands that the school environment places on them." (Cowen, 1971a) The development of accurate and economical procedures for the early identification of school maladaptation has become the goal of many mental health specialists and educators. Most often emphasis is placed on the need to make more efficient use of the limited mental health facilities available to the school systems. But in addition to case finding and treatment, Initial prevention of school maladaptatlon has been proposed as a long range goal for educational systems. As Cowen points out, the mental health approach requires that we move away from "near exclusive emphasis on repairing rooted dysfunction in favor of exploring programs designed to prevent disorder." (Cowen, 1973).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-2662 |
| Date | 01 January 1973 |
| Creators | Holmes, Julie D., Bartlett, Janice L. |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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