This revised and expanded edition focuses on successful practices, models, programs, and recommendations for working with adolescents who have emotional or behavioral disorders.
Dr. Cheney is joined by 31 nationally recognized contributing authors to provide answers to the hard questions of how to improve the educational, vocational, and community outcomes of youth with EBD.
Overview
“Findings from the work of this book’s authors, as well as many others, confirms the importance of self-determined transition goals and activities in normative settings in the community as critical features for success. We have evolved from a culture that once suggested that best placement for young adults with EBD was in sheltered workshops with adults who had chronic mental health problems. Our best practices now suggest that early involvement in school-based vocational programs that are linked with competitive employment in the community leads to greater success and learning by youth with EBD. Further, the more these placements take into consideration the interests and skills of the individual student, the more likely he or she is to succeed in employment.
Across the educational programs discussed in this book, it is clear that flexible educational programs, which may be located on or off campus, are needed to provide youth with alternative modes of earning school credits. Requiring youth with EBD to take existing classes in a rigid high-school curriculum is a formula for disaster. It is highly recommended that youth be able to choose from an array of classes that are school, community, or work based. The IEP should include statements about classes that are to be taken and how they meet the educational and curriculum needs of the student.
For students who have been adjudicated in the juvenile justice system, a concentrated effort must be made to engage school, vocational rehabilitation, mental health, and other agencies providing social services for these youth when the youth reenter the community. These youth will need a highly involved transition specialist to work with them, as found in the project in Oregon. Furthermore, they will need more than just a placement with a family or living facility in the community. These youth will need extensive and ongoing supervision and support in their work and education in the community. Social support as well as educational or vocational support will be necessary to fulfill the employment and life goals of these youth.
Finally, a multicultural and familial perspective is required to improve upon our outcomes with youth. We must truly be able to reach these youth as individuals and use respectful methods that are culturally responsive. Too often, the institutional demands of school and work override the individual needs of ethnically diverse learners. A sound transition plan will include culturally competent practices and consider the role that family members might take in the plan. Family networks and support have been found to be important in the cases presented throughout this book.
By following these suggestions, it should be possible for educators and social service providers to improve transition services for youth with EBD. Although barriers and challenges will continue to surface for these youth, their service providers, and their families, the lessons learned to date are that unconditional care and a zero-reject model is the bottom line for service provision. This bottom line always emphasizes what we have known for years — caring, individualized services provided by authoritative adults can lead to successes for youth with EBD in employment, education, and community living.”
—Douglas Cheney, Editor
Kathleen Abate is the Executive Director of the Granite State Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. She has over 20 years experience in advocacy, training, and program development, based in the principles of self-determination for people with disabilities. Kathleen is also the parent of a young man with emotional challenges who is now a successful leader in his community.
Michael Todd Allen, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Psychological Sciences and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. His research interests include the neural substrates of learning and memory, applying findings from psychology and neuroscience to the classroom, and metacognitive tutoring of at-risk students.
Hank Bohanon, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Education at Loyola University Chicago. He conducts research regarding the implementation of positive behavior support in high schools. He also leads projects that conduct evaluation for statewide initiatives, including response to intervention and social and emotional learning.
Patricia M. Braziel is the project coordinator for dissemination and outreach services for the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC). Her research areas include special education identification practices, school completion, and transition services for students with disabilities.
Michael Bullis is the Sommerville-Knight Professor and Dean of the College of Education at the University of Oregon. For more than 20 years, he has conducted research on the school-to-community transition of adolescents with emotional disorders and directed model demonstration projects that provide direct transition services to this population.
Tim Canter is a transition specialist located at the Serbu Youth Campus, Lane County, Oregon, Juvenile Justice Center. He is also employed by the Springfield, Oregon, School District.
Erik W. Carter, Ph.D., is an associate professor of special education in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research and teaching address secondary transition services, self-determination, peer relationships, and access to the general curriculum.
Heather Griller Clark, Ph.D., is a principal research specialist at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on issues of transition, gender, and professional development for youth with emotional and behavior disorders in the juvenile justice system.
Hewitt B. “Rusty” Clark, Ph.D., is Director of the National Network on Youth Transition for Behavioral Health and a professor at the Florida Mental Health Institute, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida. Dr. Clark has innovated and researched numerous programs, has published widely in the areas of individualized interventions for children and youth with emotional/behavioral difficulties, and has developed the Transition to Independence Process (TIP) system, and evidence-supported model.
Gail M. Cormier is the Executive Director of North Carolina Families United. She has worked for over 25 years in New Hampshire and North Carolina with at-risk youth who are struggling with mental health issues, helping them get back into their communities, stay in school, and be successful contributing adults and family members.
Jonathon Drake, MSW, has been the RENEW Training Coordinator at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire since 2008 and has worked with over 50 youth using the RENEW model. Mr. Drake has also provided training and technical assistance to high school professionals and mental health clinicians to implement RENEW in various settings.
Nicole Deschenes, RN, M.Ed., is Codirector of the National Network on Youth Transition (NNYT), an organization dedicated to improving practice, systems, and outcomes for youth and young adults with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Author of various publications and reports, she is also on the faculty of the Department of Child and Family Studies at the Louis de La Parte Florida Mental Health Institute in Tampa. Her current efforts focus on developing effective transition models for youth.
Cinda Johnson, Ed.D,, is an assistant professor in the College of Education and Director of the Special Education Program at Seattle University. Her research areas include secondary transition services and the post-school outcomes of youth in special education, with particular emphasis on youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. She is the principal investigator for the Center for Change in Transition Services for Washington State.
Dennis A. Koenig is Chief Clinical Officer for Positive Education Program (PEP). He manages referrals and enrollment and supervises all agency clinical services for children and families. He provides mental health programming and service consultation and crisis intervention and has been instrumental in developing and launching the agency’s schoolbased program for transitional youth ages 16 to 22.
Larry J. Kortering, Ph.D., is a professor of special education at Appalachian State University and a co-principal investigator for the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC). His research areas include school completion, assessment, and transition services for students with disabilities.
JoAnne M. Malloy, MSW, is a developer of the RENEW model and has directed six state and federally funded employment and dropout prevention projects, with a focus on intensive services for youth with emotional or behavioral disorders. Ms. Malloy has authored numerous articles and book chapters on employment and secondary transition for youth with emotional disorders and adults with mental illnesses.
Sarup R. Mathur, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at Arizona State University. Her research areas include social skills, behavioral issues of children and youth, and professional development.
Francie R. Murry, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Special Education at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research areas include positive support and academic and behavioral program development for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders and those at risk for identification of the disability.
Festus E. Obiakor, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Exceptional Education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His research interests include multicultural psychology and special education, self-concept development, school reform, and international/comparative education. In addition, in his works he is interested in how we can reduce misidentification, misassessment, miscategorization, misplacement, and misinstruction of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in general and special education.
Amy M. Pleet, Ed.D., Secondary Inclusion Consultant at the University of Delaware Center for Secondary Teacher Education, provides professional development to Delaware school districts on topics related to program improvement, instructional strategies, and parent engagement so students with disabilities are better prepared to transition into adulthood.
Anthony J. Plotner, Ph.D., is a research fellow in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His areas of research interest include transition planning/services and postsecondary outcomes for persons with disabilities.
Chad A. Rose, MA., is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois. His areas of research interest include bullying and victimization among students with disabilities, with a focus on students with emotional or behavioral disorders.
James G. Shriner, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His areas of research interest include issues related to policy implementation and standards-based instruction/assessment/accommodation for students with disabilities, including those with emotional or behavioral disorders.
Patricia L. Sitlington, Ph.D., (1947–2009) was a professor of special education at the University of Northern Iowa. She wrote extensively in the area of transition services, assessment, and post-school outcomes for students with disabilities and also served as director or co-director of a number of federally and state-funded research projects.
Sarah A. Taylor, MSW., Ph.D., is the CalSWEC-II Mental Health Coordinator and a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at California State University, East Bay. Dr. Taylor earned her MSW in 2002 and PhD in 2007, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include transition-age youth, community mental health, disability, and LGBTQ issues.
Deanne Unruh, Ph.D., is a senior research associate in the Secondary Special Education and Transition Research Unit at the University of Oregon. Her areas of research interest include secondary transition services targeting youth in the juvenile justice system and adolescents with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties.
Claudia Lann Valore is Chief Program Officer for Positive Education Program (PEP). She oversees programming for the agency’s early childhood, day treatment, and autism centers, which annually serve nearly 1,000 youth with emotional, behavioral, and/or significant developmental disabilities.
Thomas G. Valore, Ph.D., is Staff Development Director for Positive Education Program (PEP). He oversees the creation and implementation of consultation and training curricula for internal and external audiences of special education and mental health professionals. An educator and psychologist, his training and experience qualify him as an expert in serving troubled and troubling youth.
Miriam Waintrup, M.Ed., is a senior research assistant in the Secondary Special Education and Transition Programs Research Unit at the University of Oregon. Her work has focused on coordinating research and model demonstration projects on transition for high-risk youth with disabilities.
Donna L. Wandry, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Special Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, has professional priorities in teacher preparation, family empowerment in transition, school legal issues, and school/agency transition systems change.
Lynn K. Wilder, Ed.D., is Associate Professor and Program Leader for Special Education and Early Childhood Education in the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. Her research and publications include reliability of assessment for diverse students with emotional/behavioral disorders, positive behavior support for parents of children with challenging behavior, developing culturally responsive faculty, and working with students with low socioeconomic status.
