While recess provides children with a time to play and take a break from the school day, research has shown that it is also a necessary and vital part of their social, emotional, and academic development. This book provides tools and strategies for school mental health professionals, teachers, and administrators to evaluate and improve the recess experience in order to ensure that children benefit as much as possible from this important time. Using a data-based problem solving strategy, the author presents methods for assessing playgrounds, identifying features that may negatively impact students and their social interactions, intervening to modify and strengthen these features, and monitoring to guarantee that the interventions have created successful outcomes. An accompanying CD contains forms, examples, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources to support the procedures discussed throughout the book.

While recess provides children with a time to play and take a break from the school day, research has shown that it is also a necessary and vital part of their social, emotional, and academic development. This book provides tools and strategies for school mental health professionals, teachers, and administrators to evaluate and improve the recess experience in order to ensure that children benefit as much as possible from this important time. Using a data-based problem solving strategy, the author presents methods for assessing playgrounds, identifying features that may negatively impact students and their social interactions, intervening to modify and strengthen these features, and monitoring to guarantee that the interventions have created successful outcomes. An accompanying CD contains forms, examples, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources to support the procedures discussed throughout the book.

The Handbook of Youth Prevention Science describes current research and practice in mental health preventive interventions for youth. Traditional prevention research focused on preventing specific disorders, e.g. substance abuse, conduct disorders, or criminality. This produced "silos" of isolated knowledge about the prevention of individual disorders without acknowledging the overlapping goals, strategies, and impacts of prevention programs. This Handbook reflects current research and practice by organizing prevention science around comprehensive systems that reach across all disorders and all institutions within a community. Throughout the book, preventive interventions are seen as complementary components of effective mental health programs, not as replacements for therapeutic interventions.

This book is suitable for researchers, instructors and graduate students in the child and adolescent mental health professions: school psychology, school counseling, special education, school social work, child clinical psychology and the libraries serving them. It is also suitable for graduate course work in these fields.

The Handbook of Youth Prevention Science describes current research and practice in mental health preventive interventions for youth. Traditional prevention research focused on preventing specific disorders, e.g. substance abuse, conduct disorders, or criminality. This produced "silos" of isolated knowledge about the prevention of individual disorders without acknowledging the overlapping goals, strategies, and impacts of prevention programs. This Handbook reflects current research and practice by organizing prevention science around comprehensive systems that reach across all disorders and all institutions within a community. Throughout the book, preventive interventions are seen as complementary components of effective mental health programs, not as replacements for therapeutic interventions.

This book is suitable for researchers, instructors and graduate students in the child and adolescent mental health professions: school psychology, school counseling, special education, school social work, child clinical psychology and the libraries serving them. It is also suitable for graduate course work in these fields.

Based on educational research, this book will help school librarians create an environment that supports resilience in their school library media center. Resilience is the capacity of children to grow up successful, content, and competent even though they are faced with adversities like poverty, violence, illness, or neglect. Schools can create environments that help these children succeed. The Resilient School Library provides information about resilience and suggests specific strategies school library media specialists can use to support children who are at risk. These same strategies will also strengthen the resilience of those children who are already functioning well. After a brief introduction to the six elements of resilience, each element is addressed in greater detail in chapters focusing on academic efficacy, self-selected learning goals, behavioral self-control, positive relationships with peers, a positive relationship with a caring adult, and creating a family situation that supports what happens in school. A chapter on pedagogical strategies supplements comments in the six main chapters, while a chapter on action research will help readers document the effect of the plans they enact to support resilience.

Despite the marked increase in anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviour among school-aged youth, millions of children with mental health needs never receive treatment. Too many are overlooked by "refer-test-place" approaches that only consider evidence of psychopathology without examining students' psychological well-being (or lack of well-being). Consequently, many vulnerable students slip through the cracks without receiving interventions. Fostering the Emotional Well-Being of Our Youth provides an alternative-a dual-factor model of students' mental health that integrates wellness and pathology into a single multi-tier system of mental health support. Philip J. Lazarus, Shannon M. Suldo, and Beth Doll, with foremost scholars in the field, explain what this paradigm shift means for school mental health professionals: why the promotion of well-being is important; how practitioners' day-to-day practices will change; and what the outcomes will be. This volume provides the tools to advocate for and implement supports that foster students' complete mental health.

"This soundly structured book reinforces and enriches educators' skills in population-based mental health. It provides usable information on how to get administrative buy-in for implementing coordinated, proven prevention and intervention practices. Rich with Web connections and references, it can serve as a textbook, a practitioner's workbook, and as a tool kit for implementation." -Kevin P. Dwyer, Consultant, Turnaround for Children Former President, National Association of School Psychologists The road map for designing and implementing effective mental health services for all students! Studies have shown that mental wellness is a key determinant of students' academic and developmental success, but simply addressing the problems of individual students is not enough. Increasingly, schools are turning to population-based models for providing mental health services to ensure that students maintain the psychological, social, and emotional competence needed for learning. This comprehensive guidebook demonstrates how to use this approach to effectively assess mental health needs and design appropriate prevention and intervention strategies that will benefit individual students, whole classrooms, and an entire school population. Drawing from a wealth of current research and backed by evidence supporting the effectiveness of the population-based approach, this wide-ranging resource offers: Formal and informal strategies for identifying and prioritizing a school's mental health needs, as well as risk and protective factors Insights into creating and managing a nurturing school environment, promoting psychological well-being, and preventing mental health problems Suggestions for engaging parents in the process of fostering mental health Intervention strategies that address significant behavioral problems, including violence, bullying, depression, and difficulty relating to peers An integrated ten-step sequence for shifting from conventional approaches that focus only on individual problems to population-based services that support all students Transforming School Mental Health Services is the ideal resource for school mental health professionals and critical decision makers looking to optimize students' wellness and educational performance.

Transforming School Mental Health Services provides a 'roadmap' for designing and implementing school psychological services for all students in a school. School psychologists will find guidelines for: - Conducting a mental health needs assessment of the entire student body - Analyzing patterns and trends to identify risk factors and common needs - Using the needs assessment to plan and implement mental health service programs that respond to identified needs

Drawing on their respective roles as a school library media specialist and a psychologist, these authors present a comprehensive five-step model of bibliotherapy. They explore how it can be used to match the nature and prevalence of the mental health needs of children and young adults. Within the five steps, activities that comprise diverse bibliotherapy programs are described and competencies necessary for bibliotherapy practice are examined. Extensive references to the professional literature and a sample program that reflects the team-based planning process advocated by the authors conclude this invaluable resource.

This indispensable practitioner resource presents classroom-based strategies for supporting all students' success and psychological wellness in grades K-9. The authors clearly explain what makes a classroom a healthy place to learn. They describe effective procedures for recognizing when a classroom is lacking essential supports, intervening to put missing supports into place, and evaluating the effects on learning and development. Rich case studies show how the strategies have been used by actual educators. Reproducible worksheets and planning tools are included; the large-size format facilitates photocopying. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials. New to This Edition *Incorporates a substantial new research base. *Expanded K-9 grade range. *Discussions of timely topics: English language learners, cultural diversity, response to intervention, and positive behavior supports. *Most case studies are new. *Seven additional reproducibles (intervention strategy sheets). This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by Sandra M. Chafouleas.