Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia are especially vulnerable to traumatic and discriminatory experiences. However, limited literature and research has implemented and evaluated school-based interventions designed to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to overcome their adversity and achieve their potential at school. This article reviews the literature and frameworks on school programs designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who have experienced trauma. The key aspects of trauma-informed programs in schools for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is explored and recommendations made for further research and greater acknowledgement of cultural and historical issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students when implementing culturally informed and trauma-informed practices in schools.

The direct and interactive effects of temperament and parenting were examined in the prediction of early adolescent externalising behaviour problems (conduct disorder and hyperactivity), internalising problems (depression and anxiety), and substance use, using data on 1,402 13- and 14-year-olds. Significant direct effects were found for four temperament factors (negative reactivity, task persistence, activity, and approach), and four parenting factors (warmth, power assertion, physical punishment, and monitoring). For those high in persistence, low in negative reactivity, or low in activity, problem outcomes were generally very rare, regardless of parenting. Prevalence of behaviour problems was generally elevated among those low in persistence, high in negotive reactivity, or high in activity, even in cases where parenting was high in positive qualities such as warmth and monitoring. Prevalence of certain behaviour problems was substantially elevated when low persistence, high negotive reactivity, or high activity occurred in combination with lower parental warmth or lower monitoring. The results suggest that parenting can play an important moderating role in the relationship of particular temperament characteristics to behavioural problems.

The State Child Development Centre (SCDC) of Western Australia has been involved in the assessment and management of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders over the past twenty years. It is a Centre committed to the multimodal interdisciplinary approach to this and related developmental problems. Incorporated in this approach is the recognition that medication is likely to be an essential component in order to facilitate other measures being effective for a majority of children with well established attentional disorders. However, the Centre recognises that the concept of ADHD is not adequate to explain all the developmental problems of children, An alternative conceptualisation of ADHD as multiple stimuli disorganisation syndrome (MSDS) is proposed.

Civility relates to following rules that typically are aimed at promoting positive social behaviour. A lack of civility can be either intentional (e.g., insulting a classmate) or unintentional (e.g., packing up early). Civility is an important issue within classroom settings because it not only influences classroom functioning, but may also serve as a gateway to more serious antisocial behaviour. With regard to the latter, we were specifically interested in whether attitudes towards behaviour deemed as ‘incivility’ were associated with more serious bullying behaviour. Beyond any associations with each other, we were also interested in whether incivil attitudes and bullying share common personality correlates among adolescents. To answer these questions, our study examined the links between HEXACO personality traits, intentional and unintentional incivility, and bullying. Adolescents (n = 396) completed self-report questionnaires, and results were analysed with structural equation modelling. There were similarities and differences between the personality correlates of bullying and attitudes towards the two kinds of incivility. In particular, we found a significant association between personality and bullying behaviour that was mediated by attitudes towards intentional incivility. Our results highlight the importance of increasing awareness of educators regarding classroom incivility, given its potential negative implications within a school setting.

Temperament qualities of 308 Australian children are flrst described and then compared with 3623 children in the United States. Australian children display considerable balance in their preferences for extroversion-introversion and organised-flexible styles. However, more prefer thinking than feeling styles and imaginative than practical styles. Gender differences exist on thinking-feeling and practical-imaginative styles. Compared to their USA age peers,Australian children, both boys and girls, are more likely to prefer thinking as well as flexible styles.Australian and USA children generally do not differ in their preferences for extroversion-introversion and practical-imaginative styles.

Chronic illness, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has a major impact on the sociol, emotional, and educational well-being of the young people affected by it. Many students are either absent from school for prolonged periods or able to attend for only a few classes each week. Students have identified the importance of educational strategies in the management of their illness. If the school or educational setting is functioning appropriately, then social, emotional, developmental, and academic issues associated with chronic illness gradually resolve. A program developed in conjunction with the Victorian Visiting Teacher Service is described. Strategies used to assist housebound students, their carers, teaching staff, and students who are gradually returning to school are outlined.

The purpose of the present paper is to (1) provide an overview of the nature of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as it seems to be viewed by North American clinicians and clinical scientists; (2) describe its diagnostic criteria as they are applied in that region; (3) discuss the prevalence of ADHD in the region; and (4) briefly present a new theoretical model of the authors emerging from that North American perspective. Some of the critical issues related to these matters will be raised along the way. Given the thousands of scientific papers on this topic, however, an overview of these various topics is all that space here can afford. Readers wishing a more thorough treatment of these topics as well as those pertaining to history, developmental courses, associated risks, assessment, and treatments for ADHD are directed to other writings by the author (Barkley, 1990).

This article reviews the relatively scanty literature on students' perception of transition from primary to secondary school. Students at one particular nonmetropolitan Queensland secondary school were surveyed for their reactions to an induction program, modelled on the Queensland Inter-year Program (McQuade, 1987). Specific aspects taken from the program included preparatory discussions led by the primary school class teacher, contact visits by staff and students both from and to the high school, and the consequent program. Recollected anxieties or concerns are explored in the light of students' perceptions six months after transition. Unanticipated problems from the students' perspective are also reviewed, as are the major support sources as perceived by students. Some suggestions are made for such programs in the light of this survey and the literature.

Aims: To determine whether distinct trends can exist in children's diurnal cortisol slopes as they transition to school, and the extent to which these trends relate to preschool attendance and/or exerted effortful control. Method: A secondary analysis of the anonymised data gathered for the UK Transition to School Study was carried out. 105 children were studied over a 12-month period during transition to school at mean age 55 months. Children's diurnal cortisol slopes were measured as the difference between average salivary cortisol concentrations (SCC) sampled at waking and early evening over two days at each of three measurement time points: 4 months before, 2 weeks after, and 6 months after school entry. Children's effortful control was measured at 2 weeks after school entry using the parent-administered Child Behavior Questionnaire. Parental questionnaires recorded the duration children spent in preschool (months; days per week; hours per week), and four background characteristics: child gender, parental cohabitation, responding parent's age, and responding parent's level of education. Findings: Latent class growth analysis suggested two distinct trends in diurnal cortisol slopes during children's transition to school: 39% of children demonstrated flatter diurnal cortisol slopes. These children were likely to have spent fewer hours per week in preschool, and were likely to exert less effortful control 2 weeks after transitioning to school. These associations underscore the importance of continuity in children's daily routines as they transition to school. Implications are discussed concerning school readiness and the effectiveness of early interventions.

Bully-victim problems at school may have negative effects on students' mental health. Adolescents (N = 845) attending schools in South Australia anonymously answered questionnaires that included a measure of suicidal ideation. Student involvement in bully-victim problems at school and the emotional reaction to being viaimised by peers were also examined. Self-report but not peer nomination indicated that high levels of peer victimisation and relatively ineffective coping responses were independently and significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Implications for school policies and practices to address the issue of youth suicide are discussed.

This study investigates the effect of a coping skills program “The Best of Coping” on adolescents’ coping style and self-efficacy and highlights a model of program delivery through the collaboration of school staff and a school psychologist Eighty-eight adolescents were recruited from a Melbourne suburb and divided into treatment and control groups, with the treatment group receiving the program. All participants completed the Adolescent Coping Scale and Perceived Control of Internal States questionnaires prior to and after the program was conducted. Results showed significant decreases in nonproductive coping and increases in self-efficacy for the treatment group postprogram and a trend indicating increases in productive coping. The findings are discussed with regard to the need to implement programs that can teach adolescents optimism and problem-solving skills so that they may handle problems and stressors more effectively. With the increase in depression and suicide rates, the need to provide school based programs is discussed, with particular emphasis placed on program implementation by collaboration of the school psychologist with teachers.

In 1995, 2367 Australians lost their lives through suicide, and up to 100 times this number may attempt each year: Suicide has now become a major public health problem in Australia, which has seen the suicide rates in young males quadruple over the last 35 years or so. An analysis of current research on suicide and suicidal behaviour exploring possible causes and crosscultural issues, is discussed. As well, an extended definition of suicide as an intentional death and its antecedents provides the foundation for a discourse on the views now held by our corntemporary society. The paper argues that suicide not only is one of the most extreme consequences of personal psychosocial distress but also is often also an indicator of previous life events and environmental factors that potentiates for personal vulnerabilities.

Frydenberg and Lewis (1997) designed the Coping Scale for Adults (CSA) as an instrument to be used by parents, teachers, and administrators to develop their coping resources. This review of six studies using the CSA examined its validity and utility. The studies showed signifiant relationships between nonproductive CSA coping strategies and a number of undesired outcomes such as low self-esteem, feelings of being overwhelmed, and stress. Similarly, a consistent pattern of findings across studies linked the produaive strategies of the CSA to more positive outcomes and less negative ones. The findings appear to provide support for recent research indicating that the linkage between maladaptive styles and negative outcomes is stronger than are links between productive styles and productive outcomes. Consequently, therapeutic enhancement of productive coping strategies needs to be distinguished from therapeutic weakening of nonproductive coping strategies.

Background: Teachers are required to report suspected child abuse in many parts of the world, but there is a paucity of research characterising how they question children about wrongdoing. Aims: Because children often speak to multiple people before arriving at a forensic interview it is critical to understand how untrained teachers question children. Sample and Methods: Teachers (n = 47) completed a mock interview, written quiz, and rated their expected performance. Results: In both the interview and quiz, teachers asked few open and many leading questions. Yet, they asked proportionally more open and fewer leading questions on the quiz than during the interview, demonstrating an implicit awareness of good questioning. Holding a higher education level degree was associated with asking fewer questions overall, and fewer leading questions, during the mock interview. Higher perceptions of performance after the mock interview were associated with having asked more open and more specific questions. Conclusions: Overall, teachers asked fewer open questions than desired but also demonstrated some awareness of good interviewing skill. We review the teachers’ performance by highlighting the positive aspects of their interviewing skills, identifying areas for improvement, and making suggestions for enhancing teachers’ abilities to question children about wrongdoing.

Setting clear achievable goals that enhance reputational status has been shown to direct the energies of adolescents into socially conforming or non-conforming activities. It appears to be the case that following transition from Intensive English Centres (IECs) into mainstream schooling, students from African refugee backgrounds experience difficulties in attaining the goals they had initially set, and in light of this become non-conforming. This present study investigates the goal setting, reputational status, and behaviour of 60 students from African refugee backgrounds prior to and following their transition into mainstream schooling. Findings revealed that prior to mainstream schooling, while in an IEC, these adolescents set specific academic goals, were highly committed to attaining them, sought a socially conforming reputation, and did not involve themselves in non-conforming activities. Within 6 months of transitioning into mainstream classes, however, these same adolescents set social goals commensurate with a non-conforming reputation, attached great importance to these goals, and evidenced significant increases in their delinquent and aggressive behaviour and significant reductions in their connectedness to school and teachers. These findings have important implications for assisting adolescent students from refugee backgrounds to develop clear, self-set achievable goals, and in supporting them through the process of attaining them following transition to mainstream schooling.

Setting appropriate timing and force parameters of muscle activity is a significant part of producing skillful movement behavior: Data reported here suggest that an important characteristic of children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) is inconsistency and lack of precision in regulating timing and force characteristics of muscle activity to correct for perturbations to balance. Children with and without DCD stood on a moveable platform. Balance was perturbed under fully redundant sensory conditions and under conditions where vision was removed or vestibular input was modified. EMG activity in tibialis anterior and quadriceps leg muscles was recorded. Children with normal motor development produced less force than children with DCD. Children with DCD tended to rely on proximal muscle activity to respond to perturbations to balance and, in contrast to children with normal motor development, modified temporal but not force characteristics of muscle activity when the sensory framework for balance was modified.

This controlled trial of a teacher training intervention aimed to increase teacher competence in managing the problem behaviours associated with Asperger's syndrome, as manifested in a classroom setting. All teacher-participants currently managed a student with Asperger's syndrome in an inclusive classroom setting. Measures were taken on two occasions: pre-workshop and 6-week follow-up. Variables of interest were number of problem behaviours, success of teacher strategies used to manage problem behaviours and teacher self-efficacy in managing behaviours. Qualitative data assessing both the utility of the workshop and effectiveness of the individual management strategies was also gathered. At 6-week follow up, teachers reported increased confidence in their ability to manage the student with Asperger's syndrome, fewer problem behaviours displayed by the student and increased success in using strategies to manage the student in the classroom. The utility of both the workshop itself and individual management strategies were also endorsed by all teacher-participants. Suggestions for future research and limitation of the study are also discussed.

Most past models of student motivation have assumed that student motivation generalises across various achievement situations and curriculum domains; however, research has not fully explored the extent to which motivation may be domain-specific (Green, Martin, & Marsh, 2007; Martin, 2008). The purpose of the present investigation was to explore this issue by comparing and contrasting generalised models of motivation with domain-specific models and how they relate to achievement outcomes in mathematics and English. Secondary students (N = 476) completed both the domain-general (ISM, McInerney, 2003) and the researcher-derived domain-specific motivational measure (DSSM) followed by a standardised achievement test (WRAT-3, Wilkinson, 1993). Overall, the study resulted in mixed findings. There was some indication that there was enough independent variance between the domain-specific goal types to suggest they were tapping distinct constructs as found in previous research (Green et al., 2007). However, the small and often inconsistent correlations with achievement outcomes brings into question the usefulness for educators and the research practicality of pursuing such a division.

This study examined the association and directionality of effect between mental wellbeing and depressive symptoms in Australian adolescents. Data were collected on two occasions 21 months apart. At Time 1, 1,762 10- to 14-year-old adolescents from a range of socio-economic status areas participated. At Time 2 (T2), 1,575 participated again. On both occasions, the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) and the Children's Depression Inventory 2 (CDI 2) were administered via online survey. Cross-lagged, longitudinal path analyses demonstrated a negative association between earlier symptoms of depression and later positive mental wellbeing, and that the reverse was also true, though weaker. The model accounted for 20% of the variance in males’ T2 CDI 2 depressive symptom scores (26% for females) and 21% of the variance in males’ T2 SWEMWBS mental wellbeing scores (23% for females). Depressive symptomatology and mental wellbeing were highly correlated, but symptoms of depression were more strongly associated with later mental wellbeing than vice versa. This has implications for educational psychologists, teachers, health professionals, and policy makers seeking to reduce depressive symptoms or promote mental wellbeing. Focusing solely on the promotion of mental wellbeing, without intervening to reduce symptoms of depression, may limit the potential outcomes that might be achieved.