This study investigated the response to class-wide phonological awareness and oral language teaching for 40 children who entered school with speech and language difficulties. A stepped wedge research design was adopted to compare the immediate impact of the 10-week teacher-led instruction. The progress of the children with speech and language…

This article describes the components of the FAN model used in the Fussy Baby Network® intervention. Careful attunement and matching to the parents' experience help stressed parents feel understood and not alone and foster a sense of coherence during this difficult time. It is this attention to the parent's experience that allows flexibility in…

A year after the earthquake in Sichuan, China, a strength-based arts and play support program was launched to promote the well-being of young survivors, and this study was designed to examine its effectiveness. It was hypothesized that participation in the program would have direct positive effects on general self-efficacy and peer support, and…

Every summer, fires rage in different areas of the western United States. They are often massive, out of control, and extremely destructive. How do these fires begin and how are they controlled? What are the overall impacts of a wildfire? Are there any benefits of a wildfire? These questions will be addressed in this article. (Contains 3 online…

The impact of disasters on the mental health, well-being and social inclusion of children and young people is well established. However, there is very limited evidence about effective community-based interventions to support positive outcomes. In this paper, we review the empirical and theoretical evidence and propose a conceptual framework to…

Children exposed to disasters are at an increased likelihood for multiple trauma exposure. The objective of our study is to understand the efficacy of post disaster school based services for reducing trauma symptoms of youth exposed to multiple traumatic events. Students (N = 112) age 8-17 that were survivors of Hurricane Katrina received…

Objective: This article presents the Journey of Hope (JoH), a school-based intervention for children who have experienced a collective trauma such as a natural disaster. Through the use of group work, the JoH focuses on building coping skills and enhancing protective factors to help children recover. Method: This quasi-experimental research…

For young children, consistency, nurturance, protection, and support are required for both resilience and full recovery. This article reviews relevant literature, developmental issues affecting young children, and factors that influence resilience and recovery including both promotive and protective influences. Focus is also placed on disaster…

Evidence that posttraumatic growth is a potential outcome in the process of recovery from trauma and natural disaster highlights the importance of social environmental factors that encourage a growth response in survivors. This art-based research project followed up on a group of youth survivors (N = 11) of the 2007 earthquake in the Ica region of…

Introduction: The year 2015 marks the fourth year of a drought in California. With no signs of the drought improving, communities in California are left to prioritize their water usage. In the Central Valley, the limited water supply has forced farmers to prioritize on acreage and planting, decisions that trickle down and may impact farmworker…

Long before the earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010, but particularly since, international media and humanitarian groups have drawn attention to the "vulnerable child" in Haiti, a child often portrayed as needing "saving". Focusing in particular on the "restavek" (child domestic laborer), this article first…

The literature offers no descriptions of the adaptive outcomes of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after natural disasters. Aim of this study was to evaluate the adaptive behaviour of participants with ASD followed for 1 year after their exposure to the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila (Italy) compared with an unexposed peer group with ASD,…

This study explored pathways through which hurricane-related stressors affected the psychological functioning of elementary school aged children who survived Hurricane Katrina. Participants included 184 mothers from the New Orleans area who completed assessments one year pre-disaster (Time 1), and one and three years post-disaster (Time 2 and Time…

The last decade has seen a growing recognition amongst international donors, development agencies, non-government organisations and academics of the vital role education can play in bringing about recovery following violent conflict, natural disaster and other crises. This has led to the development of increasingly targeted and sophisticated…

Background: In individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 70-90 % have at least one comorbid non-PTSD disorder. Objective: This study tested several hypotheses to untangle comorbidity issues. Following McMillen et al. ("Compr Psychiatry" 43(6):478-485, 2002), we hypothesized that few non-PTSD disorders would arise following…