Venka Simovska's article "Case Study of a Participatory Health-Promotion Intervention in School" provides important insights regarding the active involvement of youths in service programs. This response essay extends Simovska's discussions and frames them within three key areas: positive youth development, youth voice, and meaningful…

The appropriateness of using statistical data to inform the design of any given service development or initiative often depends upon judgements regarding scale. Large-scale data sets, perhaps national in scope, whilst potentially important in informing the design, implementation and roll-out of experimental initiatives, will often remain unused…

This teaching note describes my multiyear experience with interventions designed to enhance student engagement and learning through various teaching techniques, most notably active and collaborative learning through local case studies. While other aspects of this course had been successful, I was disappointed in the level of engagement--the…

Salthouse (2011) critically reviewed cross-sectional and longitudinal relations among adult age, brain structure, and cognition (ABC) and identified problems in interpretation of the extant literature. His review, however, missed several important points. First, there is enough disparity among the measures of brain structure and cognitive…

There has been considerable discussion in recent years about the role in educational research of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews (SR). Advocacy of these methods arose partly as a result of the spread of the notion of evidence-based practice from medicine into other fields, and of the rise of the "new public…

The case for more attention to productivity in career guidance delivery is related to the pressures both for greater public accountability and for increasing access to services without massive increases in resources. The term "productivity" is defined and its applications in a career guidance context are explored. Possible strategies for enhancing…

This paper offers a way of thinking about the process of parent-infant psychotherapy. I start by outlining some ideas as to what can go awry in troubled parent-infant relationships, and then a way of working with parents with pre-verbal babies. I suggest a model for understanding three interlaced levels at which change might occur if a…

Discusses the goals of Reality Rub Life Space Crisis Intervention, and provides the transcript of an interview with a troubled youth to illustrate the way the intervention techniques works. Goals include correcting interpersonal distortions and misperceptions; identifying defenses; and connecting behavior, feelings, stressful events, and…

Increasing attention is being directed toward the fate of the object tie of the child in divorce, since the child experiences at least partial object loss. Discusses problem of "negative identification" for these children in which parents complain child takes on negative characteristics of former spouse. Presents case histories, discusses…

Because mental health practitioners often find themselves required to actively intervene when clients are unable to fend for themselves, beneficence and protective treatment are being reexamined. Presents a conceptual model of protective intervention that can be used by clinical decision makers. (JPS)

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome, an uncommon but potentially lethal complication of antipsychotic medication, is reviewed, including analysis of 29 cases in which the condition appeared in individuals with mental retardation. Recommendations about reducing morbidity and mortality in this population are offered. (Author/DB)

In many countries today, public higher education operates within some form of market framework, typically a government-regulated quasi-market. However, having created a market environment, how should the government agencies involved act when they wish to use higher education to achieve a particular policy goal? This paper considers the impact on…

A new approach to behavioral control with individuals having both visual impairments and multiple disabilities stresses the use of positive intervention strategies, bases treatment on functional assessments of challenging responses, and emphasizes broad changes in the lifestyles of individuals. Case examples illustrate applications. (Author/DB)

In this article, Vivian Chavez and Elisabeth Soep explore the collaboration among youth and adult participants at Youth Radio, a broadcast-training program in the San Francisco Bay Area. At Youth Radio, participants transcend the conventional relationship between adult "teachers" and youth "learners" to coproduce media…

This article presents the authors' response to Gunther and Diekema's argument about growth attenuation and due process. As a case study, growth attenuation raises complicated issues. The authors address some issues that have not been sufficiently addressed. Those involve family support, assistive technology, constitutional rights to "self," the…