Poor outcomes for youth who have emotional disturbances (ED), especially for those youth who are placed in special education programs, are well documented. Parent Connectors is a parent-to-parent support program delivered through weekly telephone calls to families of youth with ED in special education programs, with the aim of increasing the engagement of parents in their child's education and treatment and improving the academic and emotional functioning of the child. Findings from a proof of concept study using random assignment of participants yielded encouraging support for the clinical efficacy of the intervention. Results demonstrated enhanced outcomes for parents who were highly strained at the beginning of the study. Implications for future research in the area of parent support are provided.

Early adolescence and the transition to middle school bring about many challenges for students and negative outcomes are not uncommon, including academic decline and social maladjustment. This developmental period is also marked by increased risk of mental health-related difficulties. Strengthening students' social and emotional competencies through the delivery of school-based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs has been suggested as one strategy for promoting positive development and preventing negative outcomes. In particular, the delivery of developmentally appropriate and evidence-based SEL programs at the universal level of tiered supports has the potential to benefit many students. The current study presents findings from a randomized controlled trial of the Speaking to the Potential, Ability, and Resilience Inside Every Kid (SPARK) Pre-Teen Mentoring Curriculum for 357 students from two schools. Results revealed that students who received the curriculum showed significant improvements in knowledge of curriculum content and principles; communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills; emotional regulation; and resilience compared to students in the comparison condition. Results provide initial evidence for the This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Most schools offer some type of school-based mental health service to students, and there is a growing body of empirically rigorous studies examining the effects on academic and mental health outcomes for students. However, students classified as having emotional disturbances are under-represented in these studies. Using a convenience sample of four different types of school-based mental health programs, changes in achievement levels and social and emotional functioning in youth with emotional disturbances served in special education (n = 148) were examined. Longitudinal results reveal there was improvement in either the emotional or social functioning of these youth in all four programs, while results for improvement in achievement levels were less consistent. Results reveal that in the targeted sample of programs with intensive or multifaceted services, there was improvement in academic as well as social and emotional functioning in these youth. Implications for school-based mental health services are discussed.