An ecological model for school-based mental health services for urban low-income aggressive children

Abstract

An ecological model for school-based mental health services that targets urban low-income aggressive children--a highly vulnerable and underserved population--is presented. The goals of the model are to increase children's and teachers' involvement in the delivery of services and to increase the integration of these services into existing school resources and activities. The model proposes that mental health service providers work in collaboration with teachers to deliver services that (1) can be managed by existing school resources and personnel, (2) are related to empirically based factors associated with reduced aggression and increased social functioning, and (3) are group administered to increase the number of children served and to reduce stigmatization associated with mental health services. The model is individualized and flexible by acknowledging that contexts for aggression differ across classrooms and children and by providing services specific to those contexts. Two studies are presented illustrating the application of this model to decrease aggression and increase academic engagement in low-income urban public schools.

Tier II Interventions within the Framework of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Essential Features for Design, Implementation, and Maintenance

“…Beyond these packaged interventions, there are numerous other strategies that have proven effective when implemented in a small group context. These include activity schedules (e.g., Bryan & Gast, 2000;O'Reilly, Sigafoos, Lancioni, Edrisinha, & Andrews, 2005), group contingencies (e.g., Bushell, Wrobel, & Michaelis, 1968;Embry, 2002;Hayes, 1976), increased supervision (Atkins et al, 1998;Lewis, Colvin, & Sugai, 2000), and select social skills programs (for a review of the evidence on social skills training see Cook et al, 2008;Gresham, Cook, Crews, & Kern, 2004). Although a thorough review of each of these programs is beyond the scope of this article, interested readers will find Hawken, Adolphson, Macleod, and Schumann's (2009) review of the evidence-base and key features of several Tier II interventions particularly helpful.…”

Estabilidades e mudanças em padrões familiares de crianças com problemas de comportamento exteriorizado

“…Os dados mostraram que a prontidão para alfabetização e os fatores demográficos relacionados ao baixo nível econômico e à baixa escolaridade dos genitores exercem influência direta nos problemas de comportamento das crianças (Ackerman, Izard, Schoff, Youngstrom & Kogos, 1999;Atkins, Mckay, Arvanitis & London, 1998).…”

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“…Mental health services in schools take many forms including counseling (Armbruster & Lichtman, 1999;Rappaport, 2001), classroom-based consultation to teachers (Atkins et al, 1998Weiss, Harris, Catron, & Han, 2003;Weist, Goldstein, Morris, & Bryant, 2003), and more recently, universal prevention programs (Elias, Zins, Graczyk, & Weissberg, 2003), although the extent and quality of services are essentially unknown (Wilson, Lipsey, & Derzon, 2003). In the last decade we have witnessed intensive efforts by researchers and policymakers to prioritize social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools.…”