"Bella is a 5-year-old girl with autism who attends a reverse inclusive preschool class. She primarily uses gestures and a communication binder to communicate with others. In addition, she is not toilet trained even though her teachers and her parents have tried numerous attempts over a 3-year period to train her. Bella also has gastrointestinal…

Comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered models are context specific and developed by school-site teams according to the core values held by the school community. In this article, the authors provide a step-by-step, team-based process for designing comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered models of prevention that integrate academic, behavioral, and…

Children who are intellectually gifted are often emotionally mature for their ages. For a variety of reasons--including an unrewarding curriculum, preference for others of the same intellectual ability, or a feeling of social rejection--this maturity is sometimes masked at school. This can lead to what the author calls a "forced-choice" dilemma.…

In this article, I develop a new conceptual framework, a new thinking technology, for understanding the bullying that takes place between children in schools. In addition, I propose a new definition of bullying. This new thinking technology reflects a shift in focus from individual characteristics to the social processes that may lead to bullying.…

The objective of the proposed systematic review is to determine the effectiveness of pre-graduation interventions aimed at persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to shape behaviors, social interactions, and/or skills that result in employment in mainstream competitive employment settings. Interventions included in this review produce an…

In an April, 2012 Wall Street Journal article titled "Wealth or Waste? Rethinking the Value of a Business Major," national reporter Melissa Korn explores an intriguing fact: the business major, the most popular major on college campuses for over 30 years and the discipline believed to be most economically viable by prospective college…

In this paper I draw on ethnographic observation data taken from a school-based study of two groups of 12-13-year-old pupils identified as high achieving and popular to explore how relations between teachers and pupils are mediated and constituted through the spectre of neoliberal values and sensibilities--zero-sum thinking, individualism and…

During the early childhood years, children learn to interact with one another in ways that are positive and successful. Researchers stress the importance of positive peer relationships in childhood and later life. The absence of positive social interactions in childhood is linked to negative consequences later in life, such as withdrawal,…

Research on school social dynamics suggests that antisocial behavior is often supported by peer group processes particularly during late childhood and adolescence. Building from a social interactional framework, this article explores how information on the social functions of aggressive and disruptive behavior may help to guide function-based…

This article describes a bullying/conflict intervention system termed the student support system, which has been implemented in a suburban high school in the northeastern United States. The system is part of a concerted effort to improve school social climate, improve the quality of students' social interactions, and reduce bullying. It is based…

The sustained rise in popularity of psychology both at degree and A-level in the UK over the last two decades is a remarkable event, not only because it is indicative of wider cultural changes but because it is understudied by psychologists themselves and not predicted by curriculum planners. The aim of this article is to offer a theoretical…

Although physical activity may provide a means for adolescents to improve their physical appearance and subsequently lessen body-related concerns, the fear of being negatively evaluated by others can act as a barrier to physical activity. Moreover, environments where people are constantly looked at and evaluated--such as physical education…

In this article, the authors clarify the role of the leadership team, providing a rationale for one integrated team to examine academic, social, and behavioral programming, with careful attention to including all key stakeholders. Next, the authors discuss the procedures for teaching all key stakeholders the comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered…

This article shares the voices of preadolescent girls as they participated in an eight-month book selection study which enabled them to be active agents in their book and reading experiences. The girls, school-identified as struggling readers and self-identified as resistant readers, complicate current notions of reading, as influenced by…

Students learn best when they feel accepted, included and have positive social relationships. Over a period of two school years, four students with disabilities told their stories of the reality of their secondary school experiences including their experiences of friendships and social relationships in their classrooms and out-of-class settings.…