School-Based Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children with Emotional, Disturbance

Children and adolescents with emotional disturbance (ED) exhibit chronic and diverse academic, emotional, behavioral, and/or medical difficulties that pose significant challenges for their education and treatment in schools. Historically, children with ED have received fragmented inadequate interventions and services that often yielded unfavorable school and community outcomes. Numerous child/family, diagnostic, and organizational barriers limit access. to appropriate and effective treatment. Given this information, two U.S. Presidential commissions (U.S. Surgeon General Report, 2000; President's Freedom Commission on Mental -Health, 2003) have called for the transformation of the mental health system emphasizing the early identification and intervention of children at risk for and with ED in school and public health care settings. In this manuscript, three school-based prevention and intervention programs for children at risk for and with ED are presented as examples of exemplary programs. These programs were selected based on a review of over 26 published school-based outcome studies with this population and the availability of at least three published outcome studies (including follow-up data) for each. Considerations for future school prevention and intervention programs are offered. Finally, priorities for training school personnel are outlined. C hildren with emotional disturbance (ED) are one of the most underidentified and untreated child clinical subpopulations (Wagner, 1995; Forness & .Kavale, 2001; President's New Freedom Commission, 2003). As indicated in the Surgeon General's report on mental health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000), one in five children display a diagnosable mental. disorder each year and approximately 5% have an ED that significantly impacts their -daily functioning at home and school. Similarly, children with ED represent about 5% of youth diagnosed with mental disorders and Correspondences to LindaA.Reddy at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Child/Adolescent ADHD Clinic, 1000 River Road, Teaneck, NJ. 07666; E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].