The goal of this study was to determine whether intensive training can ameliorate cognitive skills in children. Children aged 7 to 9 from low socioeconomic backgrounds participated in one of two cognitive training programs for 60 minutes/day and 2 days/week, for a total of 8 weeks. Both training programs consisted of commercially available computerized and non-computerized games. Reasoning training emphasized planning and relational integration; speed training emphasized rapid visual detection and rapid motor responses. Standard assessments of reasoning ability - the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence (TONI-3) and cognitive speed (Coding B from WISC IV) - were administered to all children before and after training. Neither group was exposed to these standardized tests during training. Children in the reasoning group improved substantially on TONI (Cohen's d = 1.51), exhibiting an average increase of 10 points in Performance IQ, but did not improve on Coding. By contrast, children in the speed group improved substantially on Coding (d = 1.15), but did not improve on TONI. Counter to widespread belief, these results indicate that both fluid reasoning and processing speed are modifiable by training.

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The finding of a positive association between medication use and standardized mathematics and reading test scores is important, given the high prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and its association with low academic achievement. The 2.9-point mathematics and 5.4-point reading score differences are comparable with score gains of 0.19 and 0.29 school years, respectively, but these gains are insufficient to eliminate the test-score gap between children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and those without the disorder. Long-term trials are needed to better understand the relationship between medication use and academic achievement.

A large urban district ( N = 90,546 students, n = 180 schools) implemented restorative interventions as a response to school discipline incidents. Findings from multilevel modeling of student discipline records ( n = 9,921) revealed that youth from groups that tend to be overrepresented in suspensions and expulsions (e.g., Black, Latino, and Native American youth; boys; and students in special education) had similar, if not greater, rates of participation in restorative interventions than their peers. First-semester participants in restorative interventions had lower odds of receiving office discipline referrals (OR .21, p < .001) and suspensions (OR .07, p < .001) in the second semester. However, the suspension gap between Black and White students persisted. Implications for reform in school discipline practices are noted.

The present study investigates sleep, mood, and the proposed bidirectional relationship between the two in psychiatric disorders. Participants with interepisode bipolar disorder (n = 49), insomnia (n = 34), and no psychiatric history (n = 52) completed seven consecutive days of sleep diaries and mood measures. The interepisode bipolar and insomnia participants exhibited greater sleep disturbance than the healthy control individuals. Negative mood was equally heightened in both interepisode bipolar disorder and insomnia, and there were no differences between the three groups in positive mood. Total wake time was associated with next morning negative mood in bipolar disorder, whereas evening negative mood was associated with subsequent total wake time in both bipolar disorder and insomnia. Additionally, positive mood was associated with subsequent total wake time for the insomnia group. Results support the theory that disruptions in nighttime sleep and daytime mood may be mutually maintaining and suggest the potential importance of transdiagnostic or universal processes.

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