As increasingly younger children exhibit spiraling social behavior problems, researchers are focusing on the role of family dynamics in these problems. For this study, investigators explored the relationship between problem-solving skills and verbal comprehension in children from distressed families. Twenty-nine children, ages 4 to 8, completed…

The need to create social work interventions consistent with the needs and perceptions of different gender and ethnic groups has long been recognized. This article presents a method for using empirical data and consumer input to create a gender and ethnically relevant AIDS prevention intervention for African- and European-American adolescents. To…

Findings from a study designed to evaluate the Houston Independent School District's (HISD) program for identifying students at risk of dropping out are presented in this report. In the 1988-89 school year HISD employed a scheme of four state-mandated criteria for identifying at-risk students, and this scheme's performance in predicting actual…

Substance abuse among adolescents continues to be a serious problem and a national concern. Most of the research on family correlates of substance abuse has been conducted with teenage addicts and has consisted primarily of reports obtained from the substance abusing adolescent only. This study attempted to identify clusters of family variables…

Whereas aggressive multimodal therapies are responsible for improved survival rates of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer, concern has grown regarding the potential for adverse and delayed developmental effects resulting from these treatments. In light of this concern, this study assessed 207 adult survivors of childhood cancer in…

Using a story told by a home visitor in a family literacy program for at-risk families, this paper illustrates issues related to building trust within among parents and the community, deciding on eligibility for services, accessing community resources, and building and maintaining strong relationships with clients. Maintaining that such stories…

The interactive creation of an attachment bond of affective communication between the psychobiologically attuned primary caregiver and the infant is central to human emotional development. These emotional transactions directly influence the experience-dependent maturation of the infant's early developing right hemisphere, which is in a growth…

This report examines child poverty in the United States, discusses its cause and persistence, and makes recommendations for solutions. Areas examined involve the historical roots of social-welfare policy in the United States; the facts behind the mythologies and misperceptions concerning child and family poverty; the children and families to be…

Three types of intervention strategies are helping children make a successful transition into kindergarten: early intervention programs, school survival skill training, and delayed school entry. Early intervention programs are early childhood and preschool programs such as Head Start. The overall long-term effectiveness of such programs has…

In American culture, although literacy is an integral part of daily life, little is known about the development of teaching of early literacy skills to young children with disabilities. This study examined the effects of a comprehensive early literacy curriculum designed for use with preschool children, focusing primarily on children with…

This paper defines "adventure-based intervention,""young people," and "trouble and risk" in light of the therapeutic work done at Bryn Melyn Community (Bala, Wales), a therapeutic treatment center. Bryn Melyn provides intensive individualized therapy to young people, aged 15-18, who are in the care of social services…

This study compared 17 toddlers identified as prenatally exposed to cocaine (along with marijuana, alcohol, or nicotine), with another group of 10 toddlers with no prenatal exposure. All subjects were African-American, 1-3 years of age, and in foster care. Toddlers were age- and gender-matched and compared on measures of temperament, development,…

This paper provides background information about the Project Hahn adventure-based program and its ongoing involvement with the Port Arthur Recovery Group to assist 42 adolescents directly affected by the murders of 36 people by a lone gunman in Tasmania in 1996. Case studies relate personal, social, and community issues faced by these adolescents,…

A historic problem in knowledge use is the gap--the disconnect--between research and practice. This gap is particularly noticeable in the education of children with disabilities and of others who are placed at risk of school failure--areas in which the United States Department of Education has invested significant research and development…

The 1980s brought an unprecedented rise in the number of homeless families with children. That there may be as many as three million homeless persons in the United States, with families representing one-third of this population, indicates that homelessness is a social problem of catastrophic proportions. This paper finds that while Federal…