Annemieke Golly

First Step to Success An Early Intervention Approach for Preventing School Antisocial Behavior

This article reports results of a 4-year study designed to develop and initially evaluate a combined home and school intervention approach to preventing school antisocial behavior. The First Step to Success program targets at-risk kindergartners who show the early signs of an antisocial pattern of behavior (e.g., aggression, oppositional-defiant behavior, severe tantrumming, victimization of others). First Step to Success consists of three interconnected modules: (a) proactive, universal screening of all kindergartners; (b) school intervention involving the teacher, peers, and the target child; and (c) parent/caregiver training and involvement to support the childs school adjustment. The major goal of the program is to divert at-risk kindergartners from an antisocial path in their subsequent school careers. Two cohorts of at-risk kindergartners, consisting of 24 and 22 students, were identified and exposed to the First Step to Success program during the 1993–1994 and 1994–1995 school years, respectively. A randomized, experimental, wait-list control-group design was used to evaluate intervention effects. Cohort 1 and 2 subjects were followed up through Grades 2 and 1, respectively, with differing teachers and peer groups. Results indicated a measurable intervention effect for both cohorts and persistence of gains into the primary grades.

First Step to Success: Intervening at the point of school entry to prevent antisocial behavior patterns

This article provides a description of the First Step to Success early intervention program for preventing development of antisocial behavior patterns among young, at-risk children. A brief review of the risk factors and family conditions associated with antisocial behavior patterns is provided as a context and rationale for early intervention approaches designed to divert at-risk children from this path. First Step to Success was developed as a response to the increasing numbers of at-risk children who begin school with the early signs of antisocial behavior due to the risk factors to which they have been exposed. This intervention program is coordinated and delivered by a school professional who can serve teachers and parents in a consultant capacity (e.g., school psychologist, early interventionist, school counselor, behavioral specialist, and so forth). The program has three modular components: proactive, universal screening, school intervention, and parent training. These components are applied in concert with each other to teach the at-risk target child an adaptive pattern of school-related behavior. A description of these components, and guidelines for implementing them, are presented as well. ©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the First Step to Success Early Intervention: Demonstration of Program Efficacy Outcomes in a Diverse, Urban School District.

This article reports on a randomized controlled trial of the First Step to Success early intervention that was conducted over a 4-year period in Albuquerque Public Schools. First Step is a selected intervention for students in Grades 1 through 3 with externalizing behavior problems, and it addresses secondary prevention goals and objectives. It consists of three modular components (screening, school intervention, parent training); lasts approximately 3 months; and is initially set up, delivered, and coordinated by a behavioral coach (e.g., school counselor, behavior specialist, social worker). Project Year 1 of this efficacy trial was devoted to gearing-up activities (e.g., hiring, training, planning, logistical arrangements); Years 2 and 3 each involved implementing First Step with approximately 100 behaviorally at-risk students. Students, teachers, and classrooms were randomly assigned to either intervention or usual care comparison conditions. Year 4 activities focused on conducting long-term, follow-up assessments and implementing sustainability procedures to preserve achieved gains. Pre-post teacher and parent ratings of student behavior and social skills showed moderately robust effect sizes, ranging from .54 to .87, that favored the intervention group. Direct measures of academic performance (oral reading fluency, letter—word identification) were not sensitive to the intervention. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

First Step to Success: Replication and Social Validation of an Early Intervention Program.

In this article two studies are described. Study I involves a replication of the First Step to Success early intervention program for at-risk kindergartners. Study 2 focuses on social validation of the First Step program by implementers and consumers. A follow-up survey was conducted of educators who were trained in the program to determine the proportion who actually implemented it following their training. This survey also identified barriers to the implementation process as well as program features that educators liked and regarded as critical to a successful program application. Results indicated that the replication was successful; the outcomes achieved for the replication sample were nearly identical to those for the original field-test sample, which consisted of two cohorts of kindergarten children. Educators who participated in the First Step training sessions rated the content and quality of the training highly. About half of those who received training actually went on to implement the program. Participants generally liked the structure of the intervention and the fact that it did not prove disruptive to ongoing kindergarten instructional activities.

The First Step to Success Program: An Analysis of Outcomes with Identical Twins across Multiple Baselines.

The investigation described here focused on effects of the First Step to Success early intervention program designed for kindergartners who show the early signs of emerging antisocial behavior at the point of school entry. First Step is a collaborative home and school intervention that was developed to address the needs of such children and was evaluated over a 4-year period. Two studies are reported herein, involving two sets of identical twins enrolled in regular kindergarten programs. The results of these studies indicated that exposure to the First Step program produced powerful behavior changes that were maintained throughout the programs duration. Limitations of the studies are discussed, as well as questions for future research.

The Oregon First Step to Success Replication Initiative Statewide Results of an Evaluation of the Program's Impact

First Step to Success is a collaborative home and school early intervention program designed to address secondary prevention goals and outcomes for behaviorally at-risk children in the K—2 age-grade range (see Walker, Kavanagh, Stiller, Golly, Severson, & Feil, 1998; Walker, Stiller, Golly, Kavanagh, Severson, & Feil, 1997). In 1999 the Oregon state legislature provided approximately

Assessing the Effectiveness of First Step to Success Are Short-Term Results the First Step to Long-Term Behavioral Improvements?

450,000 over a 2-year period to begin making the First Step program available to all school districts and individual schools in Oregon that wished to adopt it. The Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) of Salem was awarded a subcontract from the Oregon legislature to conduct a program evaluation of the First Step initiative. HSRI evaluation results closely replicated those obtained by the First Step programs authors in the initial trial testing and evaluation of its effects during the development process. As a rule, the HSRI evaluators found consistently positive consumer satisfaction levels from First Step program participants but reported that the fidelity and overall quality of First Step implementation varied widely from excellent to quite poor. The implications for First Step applications, implementation processes, and expected program benefits are presented.

The Efficacy of a Home-School Intervention for Preschoolers with Challenging Behaviors: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Preschool First Step to Success.

This article reports on the effectiveness of First Step to Success, a secondary-level intervention appropriate for students in early elementary school who experience moderate to severe behavior problems and are at risk for academic failure. The authors demonstrate the intervention’s short-term effects on multiple behavioral and academic outcomes as delivered off-the-shelf in a variety of classrooms and schools across the country—effects that were mitigated by fidelity of implementation. Furthermore, the authors assess the body of evidence on First Step to Success against the standards for effectiveness and widespread dissemination promulgated by the Society for Prevention Research, thereby suggesting directions for further research.

First Step to Sucess

The field of early intervention is currently faced with the challenge of reducing the prevalence of antisocial behavior in children. Longitudinal outcomes research indicates that increased antisocial behavior and impairments in social competence skills during the preschool years often serve as harbingers of future adjustment problems in a number of domains including mental health, interpersonal relations, and academic achievement. This article reports the results of a cross-site randomized controlled trial, in which 128 preschool children with challenging behaviors were assigned to either a Preschool First Step to Success (PFS) intervention (i.e., experimental) or a usual-care (i.e., control) group. Regression analyses indicated that children assigned to the Preschool First Step intervention had significantly higher social skills, and significantly fewer behavior problems, across a variety of teacher- and parent-reported measures at postintervention. Effect sizes for teacher-reported effects ranged from medium to large across a variety of social competency indicators; effect sizes for parent-reported social skills and problem behaviors were small to medium, respectively. These results suggest that the preschool adaptation of the First Step intervention program provides early intervention participants, staff, and professionals with a viable intervention option to address emerging antisocial behavior and externalizing behavior disorders prior to school entry.

Developing Behavioral Alternatives for Antisocial Children at the Point of School Entry.

in the context of early schooling. The number of children who have been exposed to one or more of these risk factors has increased substantially in the last two decades (Schorr, 1988). Early childhood educators are generally not accustomed to seeing children who are extremely aggressive with peers; who are successful at resisting adult influence ; who wear gang colors; and who bite, kick, and hit their teachers with clear intent to hurt. As depressing as these behavioral characteristics and trends are, there is hope. We can buffer the effects of exposure to the risk fac-