Absent from current child psychotherapy research is attention to theories, mechanisms, and processes that explain how therapy works. In keeping with the arguments in Hughes' target article, this paper builds on the ideas that there is a need for theory in child and adolescent therapy research, along with a progression from description to…

Concurs with Hughes' target article that identification of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) is insufficient to help practitioners and researchers select effective interventions for children, and suggests it may be premature to adopt developmental psychopathology as a treatment model. Discusses differences in opinion on theory development in…

Points out differences between target article and commentaries comprising special issue on role of theory in the science of treating children. All acknowledge the value of theory for psychosocial intervention, although some approach theory from different epistemologies. Argues that it is essential to the vitality of school psychology for…

Reviews several central themes raised in Hughes' target article that are appropriate for further development of intervention research, including the beneficial aspects of empirically supported treatments (ESTs); importance of theory in intervention development; and models of developmental psychopathology. Comments on potential dialectic between…

Refocuses Hughes arguments, in target article, away from empirically supported treatments (ESTs) and back to science-practice links to services. Discusses the importance of theory in school psychology practice and research. Argues that theory alone is insufficient when considering services for children and families. Suggests the EST movement helps…

Article discusses how theory plays an essential role in the development and evaluation of interventions for children's psychosocial problems; and applies principles of developmental psychopathology to the treatment of dysfunction in children. It delineates the benefits of incorporating theoretical and empirical findings from developmental…

Developmental psychopathology and principles advance in Hughes' target article can be useful to promote development, evaluation, and application of empirically supported interventions (ESIs), but embracing a pathological framework is extremely limited given the diversity in theoretical approaches relevant to school-based ESIs. Argues that in order…

Discusses some guidelines for effective persuasion derived from the research literature. Illustrates these guidelines' application to problems of consultation and focuses on three broad tasks that a persuader faces: identifying the potential bases of resistance, constructing effective messages aimed at such bases, and following up after the…

Offers an updated version of French and Raven's bases of social power model and describes Raven's power/interaction model of interpersonal influence. Applies elements of both models to school consultation practices. Explores social power and influence occurring during school consultation. Describes a research agenda for further exploration of…

Reviews a contemporary theory of attitude change, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion, and addresses its relevance to school psychology. Claims that a key postulate of ELM is that attitude change results from thoughtful (central route) or nonthoughtful (peripheral route) processes. Illustrations of ELM's utility for school…