Archive for the 'Assessment' Category

Research participation opportunities

Published on 13 July 2011 in Assessment, Autism, Families, News, Research and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

In an accompanying PDF I have listed studies that are currently seeking children (both female and male) with Emotional of Behavioral Disorders (especially autism spectrum disorders) as participants (some include adults, as well) that are registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The studies have diverse purposes: They may be observing different events (whether overt behavior or neurochemical activity) or they may be testing different therapies (ranging from behavioral to medical methods). Many are sponsored at least in part by the NIH, but some have funding from universities or even private industries. Because of its affiliation with NIH, ClincialTrials.gov is more likely to represent medically oriented studies and studies that use rigorous scientific methods (i.e., randomized clinical trials or RCTs), but this is not exclusively the case. Readers should examine the studies carefully.

The list is not exhaustive (I used “autism” in the search, so there are many more studies that could be located by using other terms), and I’ve provided only some of the data about each study in the table, but you can learn a fair bit about individual studies. For example, one can learn about study number NCT00198107 that is entitled “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Aripiprazole and D-Cycloserine to Treat Symptoms Associated With Autism.” It focuses on individuals with Autistic Disorders and examines an intervention (in this case, comparing drugs called Aripiprazole D-cycloserine to placebo in a randomized design with double-blind (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor) | Primary Purpose: procedures. The study began 1-Sep-05 and will end 1-Sep-11 (making it odd that it is still listed as open, no?).

To locate additional information about a particular study, copy the NCT ID number, go to ClinicalTrials.gov, and enter that number into the search box. Download the PDF here (10 pages).

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Another photo for fun

Published on 14 September 2010 in Acting in, Acting out, ADHD, Administration, Assessment, Autism, Behavior management, Bi-polar, Bullying, Conduct disorder, Delinquency, Depression, Families, Photos, Policy, Prevention, Professsional development, Research, Schizophrenia and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I was moving some materials from one office to another when I came across this photo of some friends. Believe it or not, I took this with a film camera. Yes, it is from the 1990s, even before 1997 or so, I think.

I suspect it was at one of the annual meetings in Tempe (AZ, US) of the Teacher Educators of Children with Behavior Disorders, as these are some of the usual suspects who attended those meetings. A casual search on any of these folks’ names will reveal that they are prominent contributors to the literature about improving the lives of children and youths with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, the families of those children and youths, other students who do and do not have disabilities, their teachers and administrators, and on and on. Students who studied just these people’s writing in detail would get quite a valuable education.

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What do educators need to know?

Published on 11 August 2010 in Acting in, Acting out, ADHD, Administration, Assessment, Behavior management, Conduct disorder, Policy, Professsional development, Research and Treatment. 18 Comments

I’m asking readers of EBD Blog to help me identify important research questions about interventions for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. As I noted in a parallel post on LD Blog, these need to be BIG IDEA questions. What do teachers and parents need to know about how to help students with EBD?

Examples (just for provoking discussion): Continue reading ‘What do educators need to know?’

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Bipolar or temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria?

Published on 17 May 2010 in Acting in, Acting out, Assessment, Bi-polar, News and The press. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Under the headline “Time to reexamine bipolar diagnosis in children,” Brendan Borrell reports on proposed changes in the American Psychiatric Association
s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for the identification of bipolar disorder. In addition to presenting the basic information, Mr. Borrell has alternative views by Dr. Gabrielle Carlson and Dr. David Axelson.

Psychiatrists in favor of a new label, temper dysregulation disorder, cite a spike in bipolar diagnoses. But others worry it will add uncertainty to the treatment of an already confusing condition.

I wonder which side the psychiatrists who were concerned about the change from “manic depressive” to “bipolar” are on with this newest change. Will I have to change the category label in EBD Blog?

Link to Mr. Borrell’s story. Use the short link for this entry: http://wp.me/peQI7-iw

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Virginia Campaign for Children’s Mental Health

Published on 15 December 2009 in Acting in, Acting out, Assessment, Autism, Bi-polar, Causes, Conduct disorder, Delinquency, Depression, Families, Musings, News, Policy, Prevention, Research, Schizophrenia, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Twelve key children’s services for community services boards
  1. specialized children’s emergency services;
  2. crisis stabilization;
  3. evaluations for Comprehensive Services Act services;
  4. psychiatric/medication;
  5. office-based mental health therapy;
  6. office-based substance abuse therapy;
  7. mental health case management;
  8. intellectual disabilities case management;
  9. substance abuse case management;
  10. home-based behavioral treatment and support for families;
  11. school-based day treatment; and
  12. local residential services.

Right here in my home commonwealth of Virginia last week, Mira Signe, Vicki Hardy-Murrell, John Morgan, and Margaret Nimmo Crowe explained why it is important that government and private organizations attend to and address issues in children’s mental health. By explaining that Virginia has inadequate services and that one in every five children or youths experience mental health problems at some time during their lives, they made the point that that there is a tremendous need for public focus on these issues. This was the kick-off event for the Campaign for Children’s Mental Health.

The Campaign for Children’s Mental Health is a 3-year sustained effort to make mental health services more available and accessible to Virginia children in need. It will strongly endorse Governor-elect McDonnell’s call for system improvements; urge the General Assembly and state and local government to work collaboratively with the administration to address system deficiencies; and conduct a high-profile three-year advocacy and education drive to build public and political support for improved mental health services for children.

Only about one in 20 of Virginia’s children have access to the key services listed in the accompanying box. So, four out of five children who need these services do not have access to them.

No, Virginia, this is not an acceptable way to treat our children. Let’s do better.

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Screening teens

Published on 6 August 2009 in Acting in, Assessment, Depression, Families, News, Prevention and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Writing under the headline “Pros and cons of screening teens for depression,” Brendan Borrell examined some of the issues that sometimes roar around surveying youths to identify those who are depressed or at risk for depression. Mr. Borrell’s article, which is one in a series of articles about depression appearing in the Los Angeles Times, addressed concerns such as parental reservations about testing of their children without permission, false positive identification of a high percentage of students, and the absence of adequate treatment for many who need help.

Mr. Borrell established the importance of the issue in his lead:

By the time a teenager graduates high school, about one out of nine of his or her peers has attempted suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, behind car accidents and homicide, and 10% to 12% of teens ponder suicide every day.

Continue reading ‘Screening teens’

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Familiar concerns?

Published on 29 June 2009 in Acting in, Acting out, ADHD, Assessment, Bi-polar, Conduct disorder, Delinquency, Depression, Families, Prevention, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Summer in the US finds children and youths out of school and, perhaps, less vulnerable to some of the problems that are associated with the social and academic demands that are part of schooling. As a result, perhaps fewer of the familiar problems illustrated in this poster are apparent during summer.

If summer seems like a relief from such problems, though, that could be an important indicator that those very problems need to be addressed. A few weeks away from school probably will not cure them. Those same difficulties may still be occurring, just less obviously, and they are likely to recur soon.

Individuals or the families of children who experience the kinds of problems noted in the poster should consult the resources available from the US government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. One will not find easy cures there, but by carefully perusing the resources available one can learn what signs to monitor and where to go to get help.

The image is hot. Click it to get to a good starting place.

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Healthy youth

Published on 23 June 2009 in Acting in, Acting out, ADHD, Assessment, Bi-polar, Conduct disorder, Delinquency, Depression, Families, Prevention, Research, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Even though many schools in the US have closed for the summer or are about to do so, I want to remind folks that this is not a good time to take a break from considering the mental health needs of children and youth. Although they are likely to wax and wane over time, mental health problems don’t take many vacations.

Learn more about US resources for individual children and youths who have emotional and behavioral disorders by surfing the rich resources assembled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Although some of the materials may be a tad out of date (e.g., prevalence figures have been updated for some disorders such as Autism), there are still plenty of valuable materials available from SAMHSA.

Go there! Compare what you see learn there with what’s available at other trustworthy sites. Learn what to do and from whom help is available.

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Sleep predictors of later depression

Published on 15 June 2009 in Acting in, Assessment, Causes, Depression, Families, News, Prevention, Research and The press. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Adolescents who are at risk for later episodes of major depressive disorders differ from their peers who are not at risk on multiple measures of rapid eye movement (REM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity during sleep, according to a study by Uma Rao and colleagues that appeared this fall in Neuropsychopharmacology . Early depressive episodes that occur during adolescence are strongly associated with other later problems in other areas such as interpersonal relationships, pregnancy, educational attainment, employment, and suicidal behavior; finding predictors of later problems is important for primary and secondary prevention.

Rao and colleagues compared youths at risk for major depressive disorder with peers using electroencephalographic (EEG) and HPA measures. They then followed the youths for 5 years and correlated their EEG and HPA measures with the chances of later episodes of depression. Here’s the abstract:
Continue reading ‘Sleep predictors of later depression’

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Pending workshop

Published on 7 February 2009 in Assessment, Autism, Behavior management, Causes, Families, News, Professsional development, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments

Later this month Ronald Leaf and Mitch Taubman of Autism Partnership will present a workshop in the Los Angeles area, and it is likely to be of interest and benefit to some readers of EBD Blog. The session. entitled “It Has To Be Said! ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,’” promises to discuss contemporary topics such as causes, alternative treatments, inclusion, effectiveness, and more. It’s slated for 8:30 AM -2:30 PM 26 February 2009 in Seal Beach (CA, US). Here’s a special plus: Unlike many workshops, this one will not costs $100s—It’s only $90 per person ($75 for parents)!

I wonder what they’re mad about. Could it be the lunchmeat that is served as fine food in the Autism world? I hope someone who attends will report back to me by dropping a comment.

Download an announcement (PDF) of the workshop.

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UPenn newsletter June 08

Published on 10 June 2008 in Assessment, Bi-polar, Depression, Families, News, Policy, Research, Schizophrenia, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The University of Pennsylvania Collaborative on Community Integration has published its latest newsletter. To view this newsletter in fully formated form, click here. You can also find this issue and previous ones in the newsletter archive on the UPenn Collaborative Web site.

Continue reading ‘UPenn newsletter June 08′

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Prevalence of EBD

Published on 4 May 2008 in Assessment, Musings, News, Policy, Research and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Over on Teachers At Risk (great title!), Elona Hartjes has a post about her reaction to a popular press discussion about the prevalence of mental illness among school children.

Twenty percent of kids sitting in classrooms today are mentally ill. That’s shocking. What’s even more shocking is that only 1/5 of that twenty percent are getting treatment.

I could hardly believe my ears tonight when I heard that statistic on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin. Next week, May 3 – May 10, 2008 , is Children’s Mental Health Week and I suppose that’s why the program, “Kids aren’t right” aired tonight.

Continue reading ‘Prevalence of EBD’

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