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Neuropsychology is one field that holds promise in the construction of comprehensive, developmental models for the promotion of social competence and prevention of problem behavior. Neuropsychological models of behavior suggest that children's neurological functioning affects the regulation of strong emotions, as well as performance in social, cognitive, and behavioral spheres. The current study examines the underlying neurocognitive conceptual theory of action of one social-emotional development program. Hypothesized was that inhibitory control and verbal fluency would mediate the relationship between program condition and teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Participants were 318 regular education students enrolled in the second or third grade. A series of regression analyses provided empirical support for (a) the effectiveness of the PATHS Curriculum in promoting inhibitory control and verbal fluency and (b) a partial mediating role for inhibitory control in the relation between prevention condition and behavioral outcomes. Implications are that programs designed to promote social and emotional development should consider comprehensive models that attend to neurocognitive functioning and development. Lack of consideration of neurocognitive pathways to the promotion of social competence may ignore important mechanisms through which prevention affects youth outcomes. Furthermore, the findings suggest that developers of social-emotional preventions should design curricula to explicitly promote the developmental integration of executive functioning, verbal processing, and emotional awareness. Doing so may enhance prevention outcomes particularly if those preventions are implemented during a time of peak neurocognitive development.

In this study, the authors examined the long-term effectiveness of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) curriculum on the adjustment of school-age children with special needs. The PATHS curriculum focuses on promoting children's emotional development, self-regulation, and social problem—solving skills. Eighteen special education classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions in this controlled trial. Teachers received both training and ongoing consultation and provided PATHS to students in Grades 1 through 3. Data were collected before the intervention and for 3 successive years. Growth curve analysis indicated that the intervention reduced the rate of growth of teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors 2 years after the intervention and produced a sustained reduction in depressive symptoms reported by the children. Discussion focuses on the need for social—emotional learning (SEL) programs in special education and factors that can promote SEL among children with special needs.

The purposes of this study were (1) to evaluate the growth of social-cognitive knowledge in deaf and hearing children during the early and middle school years and (2) to assess the relative importance of language in 2 domains of social cognition. This study separately examined the child's ability to (1) evaluate the concepts of good and bad and (2) take another person's perspective. Subjects consisted of 30 deaf and 30 hearing children divided into 3 developmental levels (52 months, 74 months, and 119 months old). For the good/bad evaluation test, each child was shown 12 sets of multiple-choice pictures. Each set had 4 alternatives, which included 1 good, 1 bad, or all neutral activities. Role-taking ability was evaluated through the child's choice of strategy in a binary-choice hiding/guessing game. The results showed that deaf children evidence a developmental delay in the understanding of the concepts of good and bad. With regard to role-taking ability, there appears to be a developmental delay with young deaf children, which is no longer apparent by the age of 6. The assumption of egocentrism in school-age deaf children frequently found in the literature thus appears to be misleading. It is not that these deaf children are unable to take another person's perspective, but rather that they are delayed in evaluative understanding. The results suggest that language is of varying importance in differing domains of social and personality development.

Despite interest in early neuropsychological status as a possible contributor to children's behavioral development, prospective longitudinal investigations of neuropsychological measures in relation to later behavioral outcomes in childhood are few. A 2-year longitudinal study in a nonselected childhood sample is reported. The study tested the influence of early neuropsychological performance (verbal fluency, mental inhibitory control, and visual spatial ability) on later childhood behavioral problems and social competency. Regular education children (n = 235) were assessed at three time points 1 year apart. To control for autocorrelation of outcome measures, Time 1 behavior was partialed while testing the effects of Time 1 neuropsychological scores on Time 3 outcome. To control for autocorrelation of neuropsychological scores, Time 2 scores were partialed while testing the predictive effect of Time 1 scores on Time 3 outcome. Both sets of regression models suggested modest but statistically significant effects for inhibitory control and verbal fluency, but not IQ, reading, or visual spatial ability, on behavioral outcome. Study results are consistent with a modest causal effect of selected neuropsychological skills on later behavioral adjustment. The findings support theories that implicate subtle neuropsychological dysfunction in the development of behavioral problems in childhood.

The present study assessed the differences in intelligence and achievement of deaf adolescents from three family constellations: (a) 19 deaf children with deaf parents (dc/dp), (b) 19 controls with hearing parents and hearing siblings matched to the dc/dp group (dc/hp 1), (c) 20 deaf children with deaf siblings and hearing parents (dc/ds), and (d) 20 deaf controls with hearing parents and hearing siblings matched to the dc/ds group (dc/hp 2). Subjects were matched on 16 variables to control for extraneous factors. Dependent variables included nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary achievement, reading comprehension, language achievement, and sign language experience. The results indicated that the relationships of nonverbal intelligence, verbal achievement, and early sign language are more complex than was apparent in past studies.

This study examined individual differences in children's emotional understanding and behavioral adjustment. Participants included 220 first- and second-grade children (75% regular education, 25% special education) who were individually interviewed using the Kusche Affective Interview--Revised. Dependent measures of emotional understanding and experience included the ability to provide personal examples of 10 different emotions and the cues used for recognition of five emotions in oneself and other persons. Children were also administered the WISC-R Vocabulary, Block Design, and Coding subtests. One parent independently completed an Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist for each child. Results indicated that children who were rated as higher in behavior problems showed deficits in emotional understanding. Intellectual functioning was negatively associated with behavior problems and attenuated the effects of behavior problems on emotional understanding. Implications of the current findings for prevention and treatment programs for children with behavior problems are discussed.

This study examined the effectiveness of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) Curriculum on the social, cognitive, and behavioral status of elementary school-age deaf children. PATHS, a school-based preventive intervention model, was designed to improve children's self-control, emotional understanding, and problem-solving skills. The intervention field trial included a quasi-experimental, wait-list control design involving 57 children in 11 self-contained classrooms utilizing Total Communication. Teachers were trained in the intervention model and provided PATHS lessons during most of one school year. Results indicated that the intervention led to significant improvement in students' social problem-solving skills, emotional recognition skills, and teacher- and parent-rated social competence. There was no effect in this normative sample on teacher- or parent-rated psychopathology. One-and two-year posttest results indicated maintenance of effects. Results on the waitlist control group indicated replication of effects in a second sample. Discussion focused on the nature of change in school-based prevention trials.

The present research was undertaken (1) to examine the emotional understanding of deaf elementary school-age children and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of an affective curriculum designed specifically to teach emotional understanding to this same population. For evaluation purposes, the Kusche Emotional Inventory (KEI) was developed to separately assess the ability to recognize 20 emotion concepts and read their printed labels. For the second aspect of the study, the FREUD (Facilitating and Restructuralizing Emotional Understanding and Development) Curriculum, consisting of approximately 28 lessons on emotion concepts, was developed, implemented, and evaluated. Two subject populations included 50 deaf elementary school-age children trained in Total Communication and 22 Oral deaf children. Half of the children in each of these groups were taught the curriculum by their teachers, who were trained and supervised by researchers connected with the parent project (PATHS - Providing Alternative THinking Strategies - for Deaf Children), with which the FREUD Project was associated. The curriculum was taught for approximately five months. All children received an extensive assessment battery and were tested on the KEI three times for Recognition and Reading of emotion concepts. Children were divided into older and younger groups for analyses. At pretest, both KEI scores were significantly related to age, language skills, reading achievement, neuropsychological tests, impulsivity, and externalized behavior problems. At posttest, both the younger and older experimental children showed large, significant gains in emotional recognition and reading, while the control children did not. The FREUD Curriculum was therefore found to be extremely effective in teaching both younger and older TC and Oral children to recognize emotion concepts and read their printed labels. Gains were maintained at follow-up 1 1/2 months later. Significant improvements in reading achievement were also noted for the experimental children. The findings strongly supported the proposed model of emotional development and the hypothesis that language is important for mediating emotional experience and understanding. The KEI also showed very good reliability and validity. It was suggested that the FREUD curriculum could be profitably utilized as a combination prereading - socioemotional program with normal hearing children as well as with other special populations.

This report presents findings on an independent evaluation of an early intervention program for severely and profoundly deaf children. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, this comprehensive program served families with children under age 3. The evaluation included comparison with a matched sample of deaf children without intervention. Included were a developmental assessment and videotape of linguistic and social interactions. Results indicated more developmentally mature communication and higher-quality interaction in families who had received intervention.