The Fast Track Program For Children At Risk

"The authors conducted a prevention program called Fast Track, consisting of multicomponent, home-school prevention activities carried out with at-risk children from first to 10th grades over a 10-year period, to prevent serious antisocial behavior and youth violence and achieve positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes. They describe the research that informed the design of the program as part of their Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, how the study was implemented, and outcomes up to 20 years later. They discuss the context for youth violence prevention in the US; the developmental and intervention research that informed the design of the program; the study design and the children and families who participated in it; interventions and impacts in elementary, middle, and high school years; early adult outcomes of the program; implications for developmental theory and research on the prevention of violence; and how communities can address the problem of future violence by focusing on high-risk young children."--Provided by publisher.

This unique volume reports on the largest long-term preventive intervention study ever conducted with children at risk for serious violence and poor life outcomes. From first through 10th grade, Fast Track provided multicomponent interventions to support children, families, and schools in achieving positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes. The book explores the developmental processes associated with early aggression, describes how each component of FastTrack was developed and implemented, and summarizes outcomes up to 20 years later. Vivid case studies track the impact of comprehensive school- and family-based programming on children's pathways through the elementary and high school years. The concluding chapter offers recommendations for using Fast Track components in future violence prevention initiatives. See also the authors' Social and Emotional Skills Training for Children: The Fast Track Friendship Group Manual, a step-by-step guide to implementing one of the core components of Fast Track.

From leading authorities, this volume presents a unique evidence-based group intervention for the 10?15% of children who are challenged by peer difficulties in elementary school. The book features 145 engaging full-color reproducible handouts, posters, and other tools. In addition to teaching core social skills (participation, communication, cooperation, good sportsmanship, conflict resolution), Friendship Group promotes emotional understanding and empathy, self-control, and effective coping with social stressors. Two complete sets of sessions are provided (grades K?2 and 3?5), including step-by-step implementation guidelines. The large-size format facilitates photocopying; purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

"Fast Track" is a comprehensive intervention designed to reduce conduct problems and promote academic, behavioral, and social improvement. The program's components include the "Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies" curriculum, parent groups, parent-child sharing time, child social skills training, home visiting, child peer-pairing, and academic tutoring. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) identified one study of "Fast Track" that both falls within the scope of the Children Classified as Having an Emotional Disturbance topic area and meets WWC group design standards. This study meets standards without reservations and included 891 students who were identified in kindergarten as being behaviorally disruptive and at high risk for long-term antisocial behavior in 54 schools in four locations. For children classified as having an emotional disturbance (or children at risk for classification), "Fast Track" was found to have potentially positive effects on emotional/internal behavior, reading achievement/literacy, external behavior, and social outcomes. Appendices include: (1) Research details for Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1999a; (2) Outcome measures included in main findings for each domain; (3) Outcome measures included in supplemental findings for each domain; (4) Findings included in the rating for the emotional/internal behavior domain; (5) Findings included in the rating for the reading achievement/literacy domain; (6) Findings included in the rating for the external behavior domain; (7) Findings included in the rating for the social outcomes domain; (8) Description of supplemental findings during later intervention years (grade 3) for the reading achievement/literacy domain; (9) Description of supplemental findings during 2-year follow-up (grade 12) for the external behavior domain; (10) Description of supplemental findings for highest risk students for the external behavior domain; (11) Description of supplemental findings for moderate risk students for the external behavior domain; (12) Description of supplemental findings during later intervention years (grades 3-8) for the social outcomes domain; (13) Description of supplemental findings during later intervention years (grades 4-5) for the other academic performance domain; and (14) Description of supplemental findings during 2-year follow-up (grade 12) for the other academic performance domain. WWC Rating Criteria and a glossary of terms are included. [The following study was rated in this intervention report: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (1999a). Initial impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risk sample. "Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology," 67(5), 631-647.].

Comprehensive, authoritative coverage of the cognitive behaviour therapy interventions for all conditions seen in children and adolescents.

Antisocial behaviour and conduct disorders are the most common reason for referral to child and adolescent mental health services and have a significant impact on the quality of life of children and young people and their parents and carers. Rates of other mental health problems (including antisocial personality disorder) are considerably increased for adults who had a conduct disorder in childhood. This new NICE guideline seeks to address these problems by offering advice on prevention strategies and a range of psychosocial interventions.It reviews the evidence across the care pathway, encompassing access to and delivery of services, experience of care, selective prevention interventions, case identification and assessment, psychological and psychosocial indicated prevention and treatment interventions, and pharmacological and physical interventions.Readership: Intended for healthcare professionals in CAMHS, but this will also be useful to professionals in primary care (as there is much emphasis on recognition).

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Bullying has long been tolerated as a rite of passage among children and adolescents. There is an implication that individuals who are bullied must have "asked for" this type of treatment, or deserved it. Sometimes, even the child who is bullied begins to internalize this idea. For many years, there has been a general acceptance and collective shrug when it comes to a child or adolescent with greater social capital or power pushing around a child perceived as subordinate. But bullying is not developmentally appropriate; it should not be considered a normal part of the typical social grouping that occurs throughout a child's life. Although bullying behavior endures through generations, the milieu is changing. Historically, bulling has occurred at school, the physical setting in which most of childhood is centered and the primary source for peer group formation. In recent years, however, the physical setting is not the only place bullying is occurring. Technology allows for an entirely new type of digital electronic aggression, cyberbullying, which takes place through chat rooms, instant messaging, social media, and other forms of digital electronic communication. Composition of peer groups, shifting demographics, changing societal norms, and modern technology are contextual factors that must be considered to understand and effectively react to bullying in the United States. Youth are embedded in multiple contexts and each of these contexts interacts with individual characteristics of youth in ways that either exacerbate or attenuate the association between these individual characteristics and bullying perpetration or victimization. Recognizing that bullying behavior is a major public health problem that demands the concerted and coordinated time and attention of parents, educators and school administrators, health care providers, policy makers, families, and others concerned with the care of children, this report evaluates the state of the science on biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization and the risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences.