The Implementation of Life Space Crisis Intervention in Residential Care and Special Education for Children and Adolescents with EBD: An Effect Study

Abstract

When working with children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders, conflicts are a part of daily life. At present, a variety of conflict resolution or conflict management programs, that can be divided into three categories, are described in the literature. A first category contains programs that focus on training for children and adolescents, and are often curriculum-based. The second category focuses on training for parents, and the third category contains programs that focus on training for professionals. The presents study was designed to evaluated the effectiveness of Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI), a therapeutic and verbal strategy developed by Long that fits into this third category of conflict management programs. Throughout a four-year project, al staff in a Flemish centre offering residential care and special education were trained in LSCI. On a yearly basis, data with regard to time in program, academic achievement, behavioural problems and anxiety problems were collected. The results show an increase in time spent in program and in academic achievement, and a decrease in youths' anxiety, indicating that the implementation of LSCI contributes constructively to the treatment of children and adolescents with EBD.

Therapeutic residential care in Spain. Population treated and therapeutic coverage

“…This outcome may indicate that cases, which end up being referred to TRC centres, already have problems that hinder their placement in the regular network of residential care. This difficulty could be due to the inability of the regular network to provide a therapeutic response but, on another hand, it could be because these cases can generate a lot of disruption in the centres, hampering their general functioning (Soenen et al, ). The rest of the differences identified seem to point in this direction.…”

“…A possible explanation could be that many of the cases referred to these specialized centres arrive with a prior history of therapeutic failures, which leads them to refuse any intervention of this type (Aventin et al, ; Lambert et al, ). However, also taking into account the variables that increase the probability of being referred to TRC (placement changes and drug abuse), these centres may be being used as tools for restraint and control, at least initially, with the intention of achieving stabilization so as to be able to start therapeutic intervention (Soenen et al, ).…”

“…For instance, there is the problem of finding a way to overcome the young people's great reticence to being treated for the emotional and behavioural problems that have led them to these placements, possibly due to previous therapeutic failures and to fear of being stigmatized (Aventin, Houston, & Macdonald, ; Lambert, Hurley, Tomlinson, & Stevens, ). In addition, the most appropriate way of dealing with situations of crisis and conflict that frequently occur in these types of facilities has not yet been solved (Soenen, Volckaert, D'Oosterlinck, & Broekaert, ).…”

Eric Broekaert (1951-2016): the life and legacy of a TC pioneer and integrative thinker

“…case management (Vanderplasschen et al, 2004)), quality of life (De Maeyer et al, 2010;Colpaert et al, 2013)) and emotional and behavioural disorders (EBDs) among children and adolescents (e.g. unaccompanied minors (Derluyn and Broekaert, 2005;Mels et al, 2008;Vindevogel et al, 2011), crisis intervention (D'Oosterlinck et al, 2008;Soenen et al, 2014), youth offenders (Colins et al, 2009)). He headed the Department of Orthopedagogics for almost 25 years until 2014 and was one of the special guests at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of education in orthopedagogics in September 2015 (see Plate 2), since he was actively involved in its evolution for over 40 years, first as a student and later as a staff member.…”

Extending School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) with Emotional Support Systems: A Non-Randomized Study Testing the Effectiveness of a School-Wide Health Care Policy TIME-IN in Special Education

“…For the moment, ART has only been evaluated in adults, although it was claimed to be also applicable to younger age groups (Berking & Schwarz, 2014). Furthermore, to support emotionally overwhelmed children, Life Space Crisis Intervention was used (LSCI; Long, Wood, & Fecser, 2003), which was stated to fit well within a schoolwide approach (Dawson, 2003), and was found to be effective for children with SEN (Soenen, Volckaert, D'Oosterlinck, & Broekaert, 2014). As such, TIME-IN is a school-wide health care policy, consisting of both behavioural and emotional support systems, with the final aim of promoting children's school readiness (Weymeis, 2015).…”