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Disciplinary polices have come under fire across the country with the revelation that thousands of preschool students are suspended or expelled each year–an issue that can be improved with professional development in social-emotional learning, according to new study. Researchers at Vanderbilt University found that teachers trained in using the Pyramid Model, an approach based on positive behavior support in developing children’s social-emotional competence and preventing and addressing...

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is releasing a document outlining suggested language for government agencies — and those they pay — to use when referring to people addicted to drugs and alcohol. “Drug abuser,” for example, should be replaced with “person with substance use disorder.” Even the idea of trying to get “clean” is discouraged; patients are instead to be said to be “in recovery.” The recommendations are aimed at reducing stigma against individuals with...

Mattie McQueen was about five years old when her mother offered a surprise: “Let’s all go for ice cream.” McQueen and three of her siblings scrambled out to Mom’s old blue station wagon. They talked, on the way, about what flavor of ice cream they’d get, till Mattie noticed they weren’t traveling the usual route to Dairy Queen. “Don’t worry,” her mom replied. “We’re going for ice cream.” Minutes later, she parked and led them into an office waiting room. “I’ll be right back,” she said. She...

Many adult assumptions and practices related to children take for granted that when kids misbehave, the reason is that they’re not sufficiently motivated to follow the rules. The solution, therefore, seems obvious: Ramp up the incentives or consequences tied to the desired behavior. The child psychologist Ross Greene upends this conventional wisdom. He disputes the notion that, as he puts it, “Kids do well if they wanna.” Instead, he maintains: “Kids do well if they can.” When adults see a...

“Money has been a constant struggle,” says Kim Silva of her 30 years as an early-education teacher in Massachusetts. “One unexpected expense can put you in the hole for months.” Silva, 46, is the lead teacher in a preschool classroom at NorthStar, a childcare center in New Bedford, Massachusetts, that largely serves children whose parents’ income is low enough that they are eligible to receive financial subsidies from the state to help pay for care. Silva has worked there since she was 15,...

In search of insight into the country’s stark cultural divides in preparation for a week of potentially difficult conversations in Kentucky where I’d be attending family reunion and 50-year high school reunion, I dove into “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” by J.D. Vance . Throughout this mesmerizing, painful, and hilarious memoir, I kept wondering if the author might know about the ACE study. The answer was found on page 226 when “ACEs” jumps out at me and...

Note: It's not just us in this community debating, discussing and thinking in varied ways about the resiliency word. I recently came across an article in the NY times by Paul Seghal called “The Profound Emptiness of ‘Resilience” I must admit, if it wasn’t sent to me by my boss, I am not so sure I would have read it. Not because I would have never come across it, but because “The emptiness of resilience?” What could he mean? Why would you consider resilience “empty!” I noticed my pulse rising...

In 2014, a Fox News Latino article cited that only 1 in 11 Latina/os seek mental health treatment. Chicana/o Psychology is rarely discussed as recourse to address this situation. In 2004, Dr. Manuel Ramirez outlined the tenets of Chicana/o Psychology , but the roots of Chicana/o Psychology run deeper. In 1977 the book “Chicano Psychology” was published. Still before that was the work of Dr. George I. Sanchez (considered the “Father of Chicana/o Psychology”), whose work in the 1930s shed...

New York's schools will have to teach about mental health in their state-mandated health classes in two years. The 40-year-old mandate for health education already specifically requires teaching about alcohol, drugs, tobacco and the prevention and detection of cancers. Sponsors say the new curriculum will increase the likelihood that students recognize the signs of mental illness in themselves and others and seek help when it's needed. They say many students with emotional or behavioral...

An older, unemployed man with chronic back pain recently visited Dr. Robert Devereaux, a family physician in this Southwest corner of Virginia. Devereaux recalled that months earlier, during a routine exam, he found crushed fragments of painkiller pills inside the patient’s nose. Though he refused to prescribe more, Devereaux worries that the man is still getting the drugs and has not recognized his problem or gotten treatment for his addiction. That story is common here. “There are a lot of...

The Huffington Post feature Alliance for HOPE International 's Camp HOPE America program in a recent post. Thank you, Karianne Gwinn Johansen, for your leadership of Camp HOPE America. You have been so faithful in designing a program that can change the lives of thousands of kids in the years to come. With special thanks to Melissa Jeltsen for spending a week of her life with us at Camp HOPE last summer and seeing our efforts to help children and teens find pathways to hope and healing. Next...

One day, when Peter Chiavetta was just out of college, he was driving down a road in Eden, NY. Before he could even give the slightest conscious thought to his actions, he swerved off the road onto the shoulder. The car that was heading straight at Chiavetta slammed into the vehicle behind him. “I thought I was a good prepared citizen,” recalls Chiavetta. “I had road flares and a two-pound fire extinguisher in the trunk of my car. I’m standing in the middle of the road with my little fire...