This website's mission is to help school personnel develop a supportive, safe and inviting learning environment where students can thrive and be successful. It provides evidence-based information and techniques to assist the school community in the prevention of school violence.

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A Framework for Understanding and Teaching Literacy

We are proud to announce the release of The Melissa Institute Literacy Website

Visit the site now at: www.litdiet.org

The site was developed by Dr. Dale Willows of the University of Toronto, a member of both the National Reading panel and the Scientific Board of the Institute.

We wish to thank everyone who supported the development of this important website. We know with scientific certainty that violence and illiteracy are linked together. We urge you to support our efforts to teach every child to read on grade level by the end of third grade and to help remediate those who missed that important milestone.

Child Anxiety: Signs and Symptoms of Problematic Reactions

By Wendy K. Silverman, Ph.D., ABPP
Scientific Board,
The Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment

    All children have anxiety reactions. Transient or temporary child anxiety reactions are expected and cause relatively little interference in functioning for the average child. Transient child anxiety reactions tend to be associated with new or unexpected events (e.g., the first day of school). Most importantly, transient child anxiety reactions can be handled with minimal reassurance or encouragement.

    Some children show anxiety reactions that are more than transient or temporary. Some children may begin showing signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are one of the most common disorders in young people. The most important signs to look for relate to interference or impairment in functioning. That is, are the child’s anxiety reactions beginning to interfere with functioning in the areas that are most critical for children? These include the areas of peer relationships, academics, family relationships, and the child’s feeling excessive internal, subjective distress. If interference or impairment is evident, it is possible that the children’s reactions are more than just transient. They may be suggestive of a clinical anxiety disorder.

    There are different types of anxiety disorders that children can experience. The most common anxiety disorders of childhood are: separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. Other anxiety disorders that children can experience are: obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorders, and panic disorder.

    Generally, all anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive avoidant behaviors, negative or distorted thoughts usually about harm or catastrophic events occurring to the child or loved ones, and upsetting bodily reactions such as stomachaches and headaches. For example, a child with separation anxiety problems may avoid the parent separating from him or her; may worry if the parent does leave, the parent may never return; and may complain of severe stomach pains when parent does leave.

    There are over 25 randomized clinical trials showing that problematic childhood anxiety reactions can be reduced effectively by having the child gradually face the situations or events that provoke anxiety (i.e., “exposure”) coupled with the use of cognitive and behavioral treatment procedures. Exposures can be done either “live” (or in vivo) or imaginally. Exposure based cognitive behavioral therapy is effective whether delivered in an individual, group, or parent-child format.

    In light of the evidence that problematic childhood anxiety can be effectively reduced using exposure and cognitive behavioral therapy, children no longer need to be silent sufferers. The key is for school counselors, teachers, and parents to recognize the signs and symptoms of problematic childhood anxiety reactions and make appropriate referrals for this type of evidence based treatment approach.

Resources:

• Last, C. G. (2006). Help for worried kids: How your child can conquer anxiety and fear. New York: Guilford press.
• Silverman, W. K. & Kurtines, W. M. (1996). Anxiety and phobic disorders: A pragmatic approach. New York: Plenum Press.
• Silverman, W. K., & Ollendick, T. H. (2005). Evidence-based assessment of anxiety and its disorders in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 380-411
• Silverman, W. K., Pina, A. A., & Viswesvaran, C. (2008). Evidence-based psychosocial treatments for phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 105-130.

RtI and Violence Prevention:
An Alternative to "Punish and Hope"

By Jim Larson, Ph.D.,
Scientific Board,
The Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment

    Response to Intervention (RtI) is defined as "the practice of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals, and applying child response data to important educational decisions" (Batsche et al., 2006). Recent revisions to federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guidelines have provided legal incentives for school personnel to approach the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities through the RtI model. This approach employs successively more intense instructional interventions in place of the time-worn "test and place" procedures that have resulted in skyrocketing numbers of special education placements. Under RtI, before a decision about special education placement is made, struggling students are provided research-supported academic instruction in the general education classroom (Tier I Ð All Students) and additional small group instructional opportunities until academic gains are realized (Tier II Ð Some Students). If sufficient gains are not forthcoming, a decision is made to try a more intense, one-on-one approach (Tier III-Few Students). When school personnel use RtI, they explore the possible responses to a child's academic difficulties along the full continuum of research-supported instructional possibilities until the most effective and least restrictive intervention is determined. The programming implications of RtI for school violence prevention are significant.

    An old Chinese saying counsels that "a man should not kill a fly on his friend's forehead with a hatchet." Sound advice, indeed. Yet is this admonition against overreaction routinely ignored when it comes to school violence prevention? The most frequent response to any form of serious student aggression in school is out-of-school suspension. But simply suspending or expelling young people who display anger-fueled aggression is not "providing high quality instruction and interventions matched to student need" but rather merely pushing the problem down the road where it will surely worsen in both frequency and intensity. A student fight or some other form of angry interpersonal aggression may deservedly trigger an aversive disciplinary consequence, but it should also trigger a more complex educational question: "What does this student need to know and be able to do to in order to be successful in this school setting?" Too often, that difficult question is ignored in service to simple overreaction.

    The commonly employed "punish and hope" response to bullying, fighting, and aggressive anger outbursts in the school building is one that needs to be replaced with a strategy rooted in sound educational practices. A child who has difficulty controlling anger is a child with an educational need in much the same way as is a child who has difficulty learning to read. Both needs, left unaddressed, are significant risk factors for serious problem behaviors down the road. Employing a Response to Intervention approach to address aggressive problem behavior might take the following form:

Tier I (For all students, including the student in question):

• Ensure that the grounds and building have adequate adult supervision, particularly in those areas that disciplinary data show regularly occasion problem behavior. Teach the school code of conduct directly to all students so that it is understood in the same way as other curricular content. Provide articulated K-12 social and emotional education for all students (see http://www.melissainstitute.org/documents/weissberg-3.pdf).

Tier II (For the student in question and other students with similar needs):

• Provide school-wide and classroom positive behavioral supports such as mentoring, classroom behavioral incentives, interdependent group contingency interventions (e.g., The Good Behavior Game), academic tutoring, and a check in Ð check out program. Provide research-supported small group skills instruction in anger and aggression management. Provide parental support and education.

Tier III (For the student in question alone):

• Conduct a high quality functional behavioral assessment that reveals antecedent and consequent variables surrounding ongoing aggressive behavior, and then train the student in functionally equivalent replacement behaviors. Provide supportive environmental modifications such as adjusted school day, voluntary time-out room, and staff trained in de-escalation strategies. Provide individual therapy using motivational interviewing strategies (e.g., Miller & Rollnick, 2002). Establish "wraparound" support with the student's family and community network of service providers. See http://www.pbis.org/school/tertiary_level/wraparound.aspx.

Resources:

• Defusing Anger and Aggression: Safe Strategies for Secondary Educators (Iris Media, Eugene, OR) is a video program by author/educator Geoff Colvin, Ph.D. that takes the viewer through numerous realistic scenarios and is an excellent staff development tool.
• Helping Schoolchildren Cope with Anger: A Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention (Larson & Lochman, 2002; Guilford Press) and Think First: Anger and Aggression Management for Secondary Students (Larson, 2005; Guilford Press) are both research-supported small group anger management programs.
• Responding to Problem Behavior in the Schools: The Behavior Education Program (Guilford Press) is a research-supported check in Ð check out program.

References:

    Batsche, G., Elliott, J., Graden, J.L., Grimes, J., Kovaleski, J.F., Prasse, D., et al. (2006). Response to Intervention: Policy considerations and implementation. Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

     Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd. Ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

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