EBD Blog

The US Congress is considering legislation to prevent abusive restraint and seclusion of students in schools. This is a welcome consequence of the highly visible reports about terrible abuses of students’ right to be free from harm. However, as much as I support this initiative, it is important to make clear that the laws (and regulations resulting from them) must be crafted carefully.

Here’s some text from the press efforts by the US House of Representatives about this important legislation. I follow it with a cautious support of the law.
Continue reading ‘US legislators consider law for preventing abusive restraint and seclusion’

Michael Aman and co-authors (and there are at least 25 of them) reported that a combination of medication and parent training in behavior management was more effective than medication alone in reducing behavior problems. They assigned families randomly assigned to receive either risperidone as well as parent management training or risperidone alone. After 24 weeks, they assessed the children’s behavior with parent-report measures. The parents who learned to use behavior management strategies reported lower levels of non-compliant behavior and irritability.
Continue reading ‘Meds plus behavior management for Autism’

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, maintains a Web site where users can search for and learn more about methods for preventing or treating some Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. It’s called the “National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices” (NREPP) and, for those who are concerned about employing or recommending evidence-based practices, it’s worth reviewing.

The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a searchable online registry of mental health and substance abuse interventions that have been reviewed and rated by independent reviewers.

The purpose of this registry is to assist the public in identifying approaches to preventing and treating mental and/or substance use disorders that have been scientifically tested and that can be readily disseminated to the field. NREPP is one way that SAMHSA is working to improve access to information on tested interventions and thereby reduce the lag time between the creation of scientific knowledge and its practical application in the field.

NREPP is a voluntary, self-nominating system in which intervention developers elect to participate. There will always be some interventions that are not submitted to NREPP, and not all that are submitted are reviewed. In addition, new intervention summaries are continually being added. The registry is expected to grow to a large number of interventions over the coming months and years. Please check back regularly to access the latest updates.

Although NREPP originally focused on substance abuse, its coverage is broader now. Look for resources about, for examples, Across Ages; Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders: Thinking and Acting To Prevent Violence; Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices; All Stars; Caring School Community; CASASTART; Children’s Summer Treatment Program (STP); Coping Cat; Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC)/Creating Lasting Connections (CLC); Early Risers “Skills for Success”; Families and Schools Together (FAST); Guiding Good Choices; Incredible Years; Keep A Clear Mind (KACM); Keepin’ it REAL; Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence; Multisystemic Therapy (MST) for Juvenile Offenders; Multisystemic Therapy With Psychiatric Supports (MST-Psychiatric); Positive Action; Primary Project; Project Northland; Project Towards No Tobacco Use; Project Venture; Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS), PATHS Preschool; Protecting You/Protecting Me; Right Decisions, Right Now: Be Tobacco Free; SAFEChildren; Second Step; SMARTteam; Storytelling for Empowerment; Strengthening Families Program; Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14; Success in Stages: Build Respect, Stop Bullying; Too Good for Drugs; and Too Good for Violence;

On behalf of the families of two children with Autism, a consumer advocacy groups claims that regulators in California (US) are allowing insurers to deny access to needed therapy. Consumer Watchdog seeks to require the Department of Managed Health Care to mandate that insurers pay for treatment based on applied behavior analysis for children with Autism.

KABC LA coverage

On the heels of the recent agreement in Michigan (US), I have to wonder whether advocates for children with Autism are seeing the beginning of a wave of changes in insurance support for early and intensive behavioral treatment of Autism.

Consumer Watchdog, which was previously known as “Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights,” has a pretty broad agenda. In addition to insurance issues, it addresses patients’ rights, political corruption, corporate excesses, and other topics. Consumer Watchdog’s site has links to multiple items regarding Autism.

Also see coverage by Lisa Girion of the Los Angeles Times: “Autism patients’ treatment is denied illegally, group says“; Ms. Girion covered this topic previously (see 10 Mar 2009). For other earlier posts on EBD Blog about insurance coverage for children with Autism, see 25 Jun 2009 and 20 Sep 2008.

The Council for Children with Behavior Disorders (CCBD), an international group concerned about children and youths with EBD, published statements about the use of seclusion and restraint with students. Although the documents appear to be in preliminary form, they began circulating on the Internet today, so I’m posting copies of the PDFs here. Watch for an update of them.

• CCBD’s Position Summary on Physical Restraint & Seclusion Procedures in School Settings
• CCBD’S Position Summary on the Use of Physical Restraint Procedures in School Settings
• CCBD’S Position Summary on the The Use of Seclusion in School Settings

Link to the CCBD Web site.

Over on Behavior Mod Info readers can find several entries about the hearings regarding US schools’ use of seclusion and restraint. The hearings were conducted by the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor.

(Apologies for the cross-posting to those who read Teach Effectively.)

Over on Behavior Mod Info, I’ve dropped a post about blogs from which one can learn about applications of behavior analysis to autism. Some of the readers of EBD Blog may find this of interest. Here’s the link.

In a systematic review of the research about parent training, Jennifer Wyatt Kaminski and colleagues of the US Centers for Disease Control identified factors that contribute to the effectiveness of programs that help parents manage the problematic behavior of their children. Of the 18 factors that they examined, only five proved to be important. Parent training programs that taught parents to respond consistently to problems, practice positive interactions, use time out, and required them to practice these skills with their own children led to greater effects on children’s externalizing behavior, but those that emphasized promoting children’s social skills had smaller effects on externalizing behavior.
Continue reading ‘Effective child management for parents’