Child and Adolescent Suicidal Behavior: School-Based Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention (The Guilford Practical Intervention in Schools Series)

193 Pages·2010·1.23 MB·English

by  David N. Miller PhD

Child and Adolescent Suicidal Behavior
The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series
Kenneth W. Merrell, Series Editor
This series presents the most reader- friendly resources available in key areas of evidence-based practice in
school settings. Practitioners will find trustworthy guides on effective behavioral, mental health, and academic
interventions, and assessment and measurement approaches. Covering all aspects of planning, implementing,
and evaluating high- quality services for students, books in the series are carefully crafted for everyday utility.
Features include ready-to-use reproducibles, lay-flat binding to facilitate photocopying, appealing visual ele-
ments, and an oversized format.
Recent Volumes
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Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools
Susan M. Swearer, Dorothy L. Espelage, and Scott A. Napolitano
Conducting School-Based Functional Behavioral Assessments, Second Edition:
A Practitioner’s Guide
Mark W. Steege and T. Steuart Watson
Evaluating Educational Interventions:
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T. Chris Riley- Tillman and Matthew K. Burns
Collaborative Home/School Interventions:
Evidence-Based Solutions for Emotional, Behavioral, and Academic Problems
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Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom:
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Kenneth W. Merrell and Barbara A. Gueldner
Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, Second Edition:
A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention
Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
Responding to Problem Behavior in Schools, Second Edition: The Behavior Education Program
Deanne A. Crone, Leanne S. Hawken, and Robert H. Horner
High- Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome in Schools: Asessment and Intervention
Frank J. Sansosti, Kelly A. Powell-Smith, and Richard J. Cowan
School Discipline and Self- Discipline:
A Practical Guide to Promoting Prosocial Student Behavior
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Response to Intervention, Second Edition: Principles and Strategies for Effective Practice
Rachel Brown- Chidsey and Mark W. Steege
Child and Adolescent Suicidal Behavior:
School-Based Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention
David N. Miller
Child and Adolescent
Suicidal Behavior
School-Based Prevention, Assessment,
and Intervention
DaviD N. MillEr
Foreword by Alan L. Berman
THE GUilFOrD PrESS
New York london
© 2011 The Guilford Press
A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
www.guilford.com
All rights reserved
Except as indicated, no part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in Canada
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LIMITED PHOTOCOPY LICENSE

These materials are intended for use only by qualified professionals.

The publisher grants to individual purchasers of this book nonassignable permission to
reproduce all materials for which photocopying permission is specifically granted in a
footnote. This license is limited to you, the individual purchaser, for personal use or use
with individual clients or students. This license does not grant the right to reproduce these
materials for resale, redistribution, electronic display, or any other purposes (including
but not limited to books, pamphlets, articles, video- or audiotapes, blogs, file- sharing sites,
Internet or intranet sites, and handouts or slides for lectures, workshops, webinars, or therapy
groups, whether or not a fee is charged). Permission to reproduce these materials for these
and any other purposes must be obtained in writing from the Permissions Department of
Guilford Publications.
The authors have checked with sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to provide
information that is complete and generally in accord with the standards of practice that are
accepted at the time of publication. However, in view of the possibility of human error or changes
in behavioral, mental health, or medical sciences, neither the authors, nor the editor and publisher,
nor any other party who has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work warrants
that the information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete, and they are not
responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.
Readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained in this book with other sources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data
Miller, David Neil, 1963–
Child and adolescent suicidal behavior : school-based prevention, assessment, and intervention /
David N. Miller.
p. cm.–(The Guilford practical interventions in the schools series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60623-996-4 (pbk.)
1. Students— Suicidal behavior. 2. Teenagers— Suicidal behavior. 3. Suicide—
Prevention. 4. Educational counseling. 5. School psychology. I. Title.
HV6545.8.M55 2011
371.7′13—dc22
2010024960
To my dad, Donald A. Miller— devoted husband, loving father, diehard Yankee fan,
and lifelong resident of Johnson City, New York—with gratitude, affection, and love.
A member of the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion during World War II, at age 20
he believed he would die in the Ardennes forests of Europe fighting the Nazis
in the Battle of the Bulge—the single largest and deadliest battle in U.S. history.
But he survived both the battle and the war, and in 2009 celebrated his 85th birthday
surrounded by family and friends. A man of exceptional character and uncommon decency,
there is no one for whom I have greater respect or admiration. I am proud to be his son.
—D. N. M.

About the Author
David N. Miller, PhD, is Associate Professor of School Psychology at the University at Albany,
State University of New York, where he has served as Director of the School Psychology Pro-
gram. He is a certified school psychologist and has extensive experience working with children
and adolescents exhibiting suicidal behavior, as well as other emotional and behavioral prob-
lems, in both public and alternative school settings. Dr. Miller is senior author of the book Iden-
tifying, Assessing, and Treating Self- Injury at School; is the author of several journal articles
and book chapters; and serves on the editorial advisory boards of several professional journals.
His primary research and clinical interest is suicidal behavior and related internalizing prob-
lems in children and adolescents, particularly issues in school-based suicide prevention.
vii

Foreword
Foreword. An odd word, it seems to me. My dictionary defines it as “prefatory remarks.” Just
why does a book need prefatory remarks? You bought this book, or perhaps you are reading this
in consideration of buying this book, not because of what I am about to write, but because the
book’s content speaks to you in some meaningful way. I understand that a foreword is meant as
an introduction of the author and his work to you, his intended audience. So, my role in writing
these remarks is to serve as sort of an emcee at a dinner meeting at which David N. Miller is
about to give a keynote address—in this case, a rather long and significant one that you will be
able to archive on your bookshelf and take down to review, study, and learn from whenever you
are hungry for the fabulous brain food that it is.
Let me be honest with you. David asked me to write this foreword. That’s as it should be
(and this, indeed, is the way these things are done). David is a friend and a colleague whom I
admire greatly—you don’t ask someone who doesn’t know and respect you to introduce you.
Being asked to do this unquestionably is an honor, mostly because it aligns me with him and
with this most significant piece of scholarship, meaning my name will be in this book for as long
as it sits on your bookshelf! Moreover, it is an honor because he asked me to write this, not any
of his other friends and colleagues. So, at the very least, he believes that my (vs. someone else’s)
writing the foreword to his book adds value to this work. How did I get to matter this much?
I have to believe it is because I have paid my dues as a suicidologist for almost 40 years and
as a research clinician with a focus on adolescent suicide for 30 of those years—so, as you might
surmise, I am older than David. No less, I am senior author of a text on adolescent suicide that
David repeatedly references in this volume (thanks, David). But therein lies the rub. Is this not
a potential conflict for me? By introducing and praising this book, am I not giving weight to a
publication that competes with my own? My meager annual royalties are at stake here, right?
Not in the least.
I could not be more welcoming of this volume and what it adds to the other resources
already available. Five years have passed since I and my coauthors published the second edition
of our work and, in that time, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new research studies have been
published, prevention efforts piloted and catalogued as evidence-based or best practices, and
clinical interventions tested in real-world settings. I welcome and laud this addition to the field
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