Tag Archive for 'behavior problems'

Webinar on FBA and positive behavior support plans

Published on 13 October 2011 in Acting out, Administration, Behavior management, News, Professsional development, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


Tim Lewis

If you and your colleagues need to obtain a good foundation on the use of functional behavioral assessment and positive behavior support plans, there is an opportunity coming to satisfy that need.Tim Lewis will present another Webinar under the auspices of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and this one is entitled “Designing Individual Student Positive Behavior Support Plans Through Functional Behavioral Assessment.” It is scheduled for Tuesday 25 October 2011 from 4:00 to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time, US).

Professor Lewis is among the leaders in the area of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders and positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS). He co-edits the journal Behavioral Disorders and co-directs major projects on PBIS. Follow this link to learn more about the event and how to register for it; it is the third in a series of Webinars on the topic of PBIS that Professor Lewis is providing via CEC. (I don’t have a financial interest in them; I’m just shilling for them for free here.)

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Addressing bullying via PBIS

Published on 7 October 2011 in Acting out, Administration, Behavior management, Bullying, News, Professsional development, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .


Tim Lewis

Do you want to learn how to do something about bullying in schools? Here’s a way to get started.

Under the auspices of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Tim Lewis will present an online seminar (“Webinar”) entitled “Addressing Bullying Behavior Through Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports” on Thursday 20 October 2011 from 4:00 to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time, US). Professor Lewis, who teaches and conducts research at the University of Missouri, has a wealth of experience and expertise in the area of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders and positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), so this an excellent opportunity to get a good grounding in how to use the features of PBIS to help a school manage bullying problems. Follow this link to learn more about the event and how to register for it; it is one in a series of Webinars on the topic of PBIS that Professor Lewis is providing via CEC. (I don’t have a financial interest in them.)

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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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Cog mod for PTSD

Published on 6 July 2011 in Acting in, Acting out, Mental health, News, Research, The press and Treatment. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

In the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, Joanna Kowalik and colleagues reported that their review of studies on the use of cognitivie behavioral therapy for treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) revealed that cog-mod appears effective in changing raters’ responses on some of the widely used scales of the Child Behavior Checklist. However, the results of their literature review are not as powerful as one might hope, given the small number of studies and substantial variability in the studies themselves.

Abstract

Background and objectives There is no clear gold standard treatment for childhood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An annotated bibliography and meta-analysis were used to examine the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of pediatric PTSD as measured by outcome data from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Method A literature search produced 21 studies; of these, 10 utilized the CBCL but only eight were both 1) randomized; and 2) reported pre- and post-intervention scores.

Results The annotated bibliography revealed efficacy in general of CBT for pediatric PTSD. Using four indices of the CBCL, the meta-analysis identified statistically significant effect sizes for three of the four scales: Total Problems (TP; ?.327; p = .003), Internalizing (INT; ?.314; p = .001), and Externalizing (EXT; ?.192; p = .040). The results for TP and INT were reliable as indicated by the fail-safe N and rank correlation tests. The effect size for the Total Competence (TCOMP; ?.054; p = .620) index did not reach statistical significance.

Limitations Limitations included methodological inconsistencies across studies and lack of a randomized control group design, yielding few studies for meta-analysis.

Conclusions The efficacy of CBT in the treatment of pediatric PTSD was supported by the annotated bibliography and meta-analysis, contributing to best practices data. CBT addressed internalizing signs and symptoms (as measured by the CBCL) such as anxiety and depression more robustly than it did externalizing symptoms such as aggression and rule-breaking behavior, consistent with its purpose as a therapeutic intervention.

Because they are integrating so few studies it is very difficult to have a sensitive meta-analysis in this case. However, that Professor Kowalik and her collaborators found differences at all is encouraging. I hope they’ll continue to follow this literature. Also, I hope researchers will be using other measures of outcomes and that those other measures will be examined in future integrative literature reviews, too.

Kowalik, J., Weller, J., Venter, J., & Drachman, D. (2011). Cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of pediatric posttraumatic stress disorder: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42, 405-413. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.02.002

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Follow up of Fast Track

Published on 7 February 2011 in Acting out, News, Prevention, Research, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

These are the lead researchers in the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group with their current universities (over the years, some have changed affiliations):

The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, a team of composed of seven of the most eminent US scholars studying the development of childhood behavior disorders, published another in its series of papers tracking the outcomes of the children it has been following in a long-term study about preventing acting out disorders. In this longer-term follow-up analysis, the team found that the effects were still present for the children who showed the most risk of having behavior disorders in the first place.

This project and these folks are the big time. The work has been conducted very carefully and cannot be represented as an example of over-hyped findings.
Continue reading ‘Follow up of Fast Track’

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CCBD conference 2011

Published on 2 February 2011 in Autism, Behavior management, News, Professsional development, Research and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

The Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD) is hosting a meeting at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk (VA, US) and the registration deadline is tomorrow, 3 February 2011. CCBD has reduced the fees and there are spcial discounted rates for teams of three or more attendees.
Continue reading ‘CCBD conference 2011′

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Sugar’s still not to blame

Published on 1 November 2010 in Behavior management, Causes, Families, News, Research and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

The sugar-makes-kids-hyper hypothesis is still false. Dan Willingham stuck another fork in it. Roasty-toasty. All done. Fizzle.

Now, I’m not advocating a high-fructose, feed-’em-soda-and-sweets diet, to be sure. It’s just that folks need to disabuse themselves of the popular myth that children’s levels of behavioral activity are governed by consumption of sucrose (whether from sugar cane or sugar beet).

Professor Willingham, who pops bubbles with the best of them, lanced this one in his guest post, “The Answer Sheet: How sugar really affects kids.” The evidence is basically the same as what I covered in the mid 1990s under the title “Sugar High?.”

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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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ABAI on restraint and seclusion

Published on 5 August 2010 in Acting out, Behavior management, News, Policy, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Based on the work of a task force composed of highly qualified individuals, the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) has issued position statement about the use of restraint and seclusion in treatment. Members of the task force, which was appointed by the executive board, include Jon S. Bailey, Michael F. Dorsey, Louis P. Hagopian, Gregory P. Hanley, David B. Lennox, Mary M. Riordan, Scott Spreat, and Timothy R. Vollmer (chair).

The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and its members strongly oppose the inappropriate and/or unnecessary use of seclusion, restraint, or other intrusive interventions. Although many persons with severe behavior problems can be effectively treated without the use of any restrictive interventions, restraint may be necessary on some rare occasions with meticulous clinical oversight and controls. In addition, a carefully planned and monitored use of timeout from reinforcement can be acceptable under restricted circumstances. Seclusion is sometimes necessary or needed, but behavior analysts would support only the most highly monitored and ethical practices associated with such use, to be detailed below.

In the “below,” the document goes on to present in detail the a set of guiding principles and specific recommendations about the use of seclusion and restraint. Read the statement, “ABAI Statement on Restraint and Seculsion” from the ABAI Website.

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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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ASAT Online

Published on 1 April 2010 in ADHD, Autism, News and The press. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

AST Online’s most recent newsletter (as of this date) provides lots of helpful information. Check it!

US legislators consider law for preventing abusive restraint and seclusion

Published on 1 February 2010 in Administration, Behavior management, Musings, News, Policy, Prevention and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

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.
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