Carol A. Kusche

Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the PATHS curriculum

This study examined the effectiveness of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum the emotional development of school-aged children. PATHS, a school-based preventive intervention model was designed to improve childrens ability to discuss and understand emotions and emotion concepts. The intervention field trial included 30 classrooms in a randomized design and involved the assessment of 286 children from grades 2 and 3. Approximately 30% of the children were in self-contained special needs classrooms, with the remainder in regular education. Teachers were trained in the intervention model and provided PATHS lessons during most of the one school year. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for both low- and high-risk (special needs) children in improving their range of vocabulary and fluency in discussing emotional experiences, their efficacy beliefs regarding the management of emotions, and their developmental understanding of some aspects of emotions. In some instances, greater improvement was shown in children with higher teacher ratings of psychopathology. Discussion focused on the nature of change school-based prevention trials.

The mediational role of neurocognition in the behavioral outcomes of a social-emotional prevention program in elementary school students: effects of the PATHS Curriculum.

Neuropsychology is one field that holds promise in the construction of comprehensive, developmental models for the promotion of social competence and prevention of problem behavior. Neuropsychological models of behavior suggest that childrens neurological functioning affects the regulation of strong emotions, as well as performance in social, cognitive, and behavioral spheres. The current study examines the underlying neurocognitive conceptual theory of action of one social-emotional development program. Hypothesized was that inhibitory control and verbal fluency would mediate the relationship between program condition and teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Participants were 318 regular education students enrolled in the second or third grade. A series of regression analyses provided empirical support for (a) the effectiveness of the PATHS Curriculum in promoting inhibitory control and verbal fluency and (b) a partial mediating role for inhibitory control in the relation between prevention condition and behavioral outcomes. Implications are that programs designed to promote social and emotional development should consider comprehensive models that attend to neurocognitive functioning and development. Lack of consideration of neurocognitive pathways to the promotion of social competence may ignore important mechanisms through which prevention affects youth outcomes. Furthermore, the findings suggest that developers of social-emotional preventions should design curricula to explicitly promote the developmental integration of executive functioning, verbal processing, and emotional awareness. Doing so may enhance prevention outcomes particularly if those preventions are implemented during a time of peak neurocognitive development

Sustained Effects of the PATHS Curriculum on the Social and Psychological Adjustment of Children in Special Education

In this study, the authors examined the long-term effectiveness of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) curriculum on the adjustment of school-age children with special needs. The PATHS curriculum focuses on promoting childrens emotional development, self-regulation, and social problem—solving skills. Eighteen special education classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions in this controlled trial. Teachers received both training and ongoing consultation and provided PATHS to students in Grades 1 through 3. Data were collected before the intervention and for 3 successive years. Growth curve analysis indicated that the intervention reduced the rate of growth of teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors 2 years after the intervention and produced a sustained reduction in depressive symptoms reported by the children. Discussion focuses on the need for social—emotional learning (SEL) programs in special education and factors that can promote SEL among children with special needs.

A two-year longitudinal study of neuropsychological and cognitive performance in relation to behavioral problems and competencies in elementary school children.

Despite interest in early neuropsychological status as a possible contributor to childrens behavioral development, prospective longitudinal investigations of neuropsychological measures in relation to later behavioral outcomes in childhood are few. A 2-year longitudinal study in a nonselected childhood sample is reported. The study tested the influence of early neuropsychological performance (verbal fluency, mental inhibitory control, and visual spatial ability) on later childhood behavioral problems and social competency. Regular education children (n = 235) were assessed at three time points 1 year apart. To control for autocorrelation of outcome measures, Time 1 behavior was partialed while testing the effects of Time 1 neuropsychological scores on Time 3 outcome. To control for autocorrelation of neuropsychological scores, Time 2 scores were partialed while testing the predictive effect of Time 1 scores on Time 3 outcome. Both sets of regression models suggested modest but statistically significant effects for inhibitory control and verbal fluency, but not IQ, reading, or visual spatial ability, on behavioral outcome. Study results are consistent with a modest causal effect of selected neuropsychological skills on later behavioral adjustment. The findings support theories that implicate subtle neuropsychological dysfunction in the development of behavioral problems in childhood.

The relations between emotional understanding, intellectual functioning, and disruptive behavior problems in elementary-school-aged children

This study examined individual differences in childrens emotional understanding and behavioral adjustment. Participants included 220 first- and secondgrade children (75% regular education, 25% special education) who were individually interviewed using the Kusche Affective Interview—Revised. Dependent measures of emotional understanding and experience included the ability to provide personal examples of 10 different emotions and the cues used for recognition of five emotions in oneself and other persons. Children were also administered the WISC-R Vocabulary, Block Design, and Coding subtests. One parent independently completed an Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist for each child. Results indicated that children who were rated as higher in behavior problems showed deficits in emotional understanding. Intellectual functioning was negatively associated with behavior problems and attenuated the effects of behavior problems on emotional understanding. Implications of the current findings for prevention and treatment programs for children with behavior problems are discussed.

The Understanding of Emotional and Social Attributions in Deaf Adolescents

The present study examined deaf adolescents’ understanding of causes and emotions using an attributional model. Subjects consisted of 137profoundly deaf high school students (mean age = 17.2 years) who were tested in Simultaneous Communication for their understanding of causal concepts, emotion concepts, and perceived cause‐affect associations. No significant differences were found for age and only one significant difference was found for sex. However, all of the comparisons involving language achievement level were highly significant, with the higher deaf students consistently scoring better than the lower subjects. Data obtained from a former study of 188 hearing children from two developmental levels (mean ages = 6.4, 10.4 years) were included for purposes of comparison. The deaf students evidenced a similar affective understanding to that of the younger (first‐grade) level. The results indicate that language plays an important role in the understanding of causal ascriptions, emotion concepts, and caus...

Nonverbal Intelligence and Verbal Achievement in Deaf Adolescents: An Examination of Heredity and Environment

The present study assessed the differences in intelligence and achievement of deaf adolescents from three family constellations: (a) 19 deaf children with deaf parents (dc/dp), (b) 19 controls with hearing parents and hearing siblings matched to the dc/dp group (dc/hp 1), (c) 20 deaf children with deaf siblings and hearing parents (dc/ds), and (d) 20 deaf controls with hearing parents and hearing siblings matched to the dc/ds group (dc/hp 2). Subjects were matched on 16 variables to control for extraneous factors. Dependent variables included nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary achievement, reading comprehension, language achievement, and sign language experience. The results indicated that the relationships of nonverbal intelligence, verbal achievement, and early sign language are more complex than was apparent in past studies.

Early Neuropsychological Correlates of Later Clock Drawing and Clock Copying Abilities Among School Aged Children

Although widely used in empirical study and bedside neuropsychological evaluation of geriatric populations, there is little literature on clock copying and drawing among children. However, existing research suggests that clock drawing tests (CDTs) may be effective and efficient tools for assessing neurocognitive development in children. This paper reports data on clock drawing on demand (CDT-D) and clock drawing to copy (CDT-C) among a non-clinical sample of elementary school aged children and identifies predictive relationships between earlier measures of executive function, visuo-construction, and visual-motor coordination and CDT performance 3 years later. Similar to findings with adult samples, analyses revealed better performance on copying than on drawing. Longitudinal analyses indicate that general intelligence significantly predicted performance on both tasks. Visual-motor coordination only predicted performance on the drawing on demand subtest of the CDT.