Helping Schoolchildren Cope with Anger, Second Edition: A Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention

240 Pages·2010·1.56 MB·English

by  Jim Larson PhD

HELPING SCHOOLCHILDREN
COPE WITH ANGER

Helping
Schoolchildren
Cope with Anger
A Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention
SeCond edI tIon
Jim Larson
John E. Lochman
Foreword by Donald Meichenbaum
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Larson, Jim, 1942–
Helping schoolchildren cope with anger : a cognitive-behavioral intervention / Jim Larson,
John E. Lochman ; foreword by Donald Meichenbaum. — 2nd ed.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60623-973-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Anger in children—Treatment. 2. Oppositional defiant disorder in children—
Treatment. 3. Cognitive therapy for children. 4. School mental health services. I. Lochman,
John E. (John Edward) II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Anger. 2. Child. 3. Aggression—psychology. 4. Child Psychology—
methods. 5. Cognitive Therapy—methods. 6. School Health Services. WS 105.5.E5]
RJ506.A35L37 2011
618.92′89—dc22
2010035211
About the Authors
Jim Larson, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Director of the School Psychology Pro-
gram at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. He is also a member of the Scientific
Board of the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment, headquartered in
Miami, Florida. Formerly a school psychologist with the Milwaukee Public Schools and the
lead psychologist in the school system’s Violence Prevention Program, Dr. Larson’s major
research interests are the treatment of anger and aggression in children and youth and pro-
gramming for the prevention of school violence.
John E. Lochman, PhD, ABPP, is Professor and Doddridge Saxon Chair of Clinical Psy-
chology at the University of Alabama and Director of the University’s Center for the Pre-
vention of Youth Behavior Problems. Dr. Lochman has conducted extensive research and
published widely on family, peer, and neighborhood risk factors; social-cognitive processes;
and intervention and prevention with aggressive children. He is the recipient of awards
including the International Collaborative Prevention Research Award from the Society for
Prevention Research, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
v

Foreword
I was asked to write the foreword to the first edition of Helping Schoolchildren Cope with
Anger and did so with much enthusiasm. When the second edition was being prepared, the
request to provide another foreword was forthcoming. Once again, I was eager to obtain an
update and review the contributions of two major researchers in the field of anger manage-
ment training with students. In this edition, Jim Larson and John Lochman have provided
a detailed, clinically sensitive, theoretically and empirically based treatment manual for
working with aggressive youth. Focused on a group intervention, the book is designed for
use with 8- to 12-year-olds and employs an array of cognitive-behavioral procedures.
Before I describe the valuable features of the book’s comprehensive presentation, let
me first highlight the urgency of this work. Students who have emotional and behavioral
disturbances, especially evident in the form of anger regulation and aggressive behavior
(some 6–16% of boys and 2–9% of girls), are at a high risk of academic failure, poor peer
relationships, dropping out of school, and later psychiatric disturbances and trouble with
the law. The individual and societal costs of such a developmental trajectory are substantial.
Just consider that every high school dropout, over the course of his or her lifetime, will earn
$290,000 less and pay $100,000 less in taxes than students who graduate from high school.
Or consider that a 1% increase in those who graduate from high school in the United States
would save $1.4 billion in taxes or $2,100 per student per year (Moretti, 2007).
Surely, there are many entry points to alter this developmental course. Larson and
Lochman have provided a thoughtful description of the Anger Coping Program (ACP) and a
more extensive Coping Power Program that involves parent training as one way to alter this
trajectory. Both training programs are based on the social information-processing model of
aggressive behavior offered by Kenneth A. Dodge and his colleagues.
The ACP addresses the core difficulties and deficits that students have with emotional
self-regulation, including anger management, cognitive deficits, and distortions in perspec-
tive taking, attribution making, and social problem solving. In a detailed manner, Larson
and Lochman walk group leaders through session-by-session descriptions, and they use
case examples to illustrate the intervention steps.
vii
viii Foreword
Here is a list of the impressive strengths of this new edition:
1. Theory driven and evidence based, with impressive follow-up data for up to 3
years.
2. Ecologically based, focusing on how to integrate the ACP into a school-oriented
approach that includes a consideration of schools’ mission statements, codes of con-
duct, classroom management, and teacher and administrative collaboration.
3. Highlights generalization activities that facilitate behavior change across settings,
time, and response classes. The authors provide a detailed critical discussion of how
to go beyond a “train-and-hope” approach. Their discussion should be studied, no
matter what skills you are training.
4. Discusses how to involve parent training in any student-based intervention pro-
gram.
5. Considers how to alter interventions for girls versus boys (e.g., see the discussion of
the SNAP [Stop Now and Plan] program). Also considered is the role of cultural dif-
ferences and the “code of the streets” in the implementation of the ACP.
6. Provides a detailed Intervention Integrity Checklist and a discussion of ways to
evaluate the efficacy of ACP so data-driven decisions can be made.
7. Considers possible negative aggregation effects of conducting group versus indi-
vidualized ACP.
8. Explores ways to disseminate the ACP and related programs.
As the authors continue to collect data and refine the ACP, I look forward to a third
edition. Given the personal and societal costs of working with children with emotional and
behavioral disturbances, the need for effective interventions is critical. The field is indebted
to Jim Larson and John Lochman for their leadership, scholarship, clinical perspicacity,
cultural and gender sensitivity, and practical “know how.”
Any “race to the top,” as advocated by the present U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne
Duncan, needs to ensure that all children, including those with behavioral and emotional
problems, are included. The support of programs such as ACP and others reviewed in this
valuable book should be funded and fully evaluated.
DonalD MeichenbauM, PhD
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo, Ontario;
Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Education, University of Miami;
Research Director, Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment
REfERENCE
Moretti, E. (2007). Crimes and the code of criminal justice. In C. Belfield & H. M. Levin (Eds.), The
price we pay: Economic and social consequence of inadequate education. New York: Brookings
Institution.
Preface
Why did we originally choose to write a book about treating angry and aggressive children
in the schools? Because, while homicide among students is on the decline, interpersonal
physical aggression among them is not. Data from a combined report by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education and Department of Justice revealed that approximately 36% of high
school students reported that they engaged in a physical fight during the past year, with
12% of these on school property (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). Not all
children who are aggressive in the elementary schools go on to become adolescent fighters
and victimizers, but early chronic aggression is enough of a risk factor to warrant its being
taken very seriously. The collaboration that has resulted in this book is a reflection of our
understanding of that seriousness.
The plan for this book resulted from a meeting the two of us held at the National Asso-
ciation of School Psychologists in Chicago in the mid-1990s. Research on the Anger Coping
Program had been under way for well over a decade; yet, it was clear to us that this poten-
tially important intervention was still the domain of only a small circle of researchers and
very few practitioners. In our work with school systems, we were aware that most counselors
and school psychologists were eager to help address the problem of school violence but were
uncertain as to what skills to use to meet the treatment needs of aggressive students. Both of
us had done training workshops around the country, but clearly the need went well beyond
our limited capacities. We decided to link our Anger Coping Program with our combined
experience and scholarship to create a convenient and reliable resource for practitioners.
In this second edition of Helping Schoolchildren Cope with Anger: A Cognitive-Behav-
ioral Intervention, we have produced what we believe to be an even more “practitioner-
friendly” book on how to intervene effectively with angry, aggressive children. This is a
book for school psychologists, counselors, and other helping professionals who work with
8- to 12-year-old children in school or school-like settings. With certain adaptations, mental
health professionals in residential or other clinical settings will also find it particularly use-
ful.
ix
x Preface
Group treatment with aggressive externalizing children can be a considerable chal-
lenge, particularly for those who lack experience. Therapeutic techniques and procedures
are rarely addressed comprehensively at the preservice level, so most practitioners are left to
acquire the skills on their own. As a result, these children may be left completely unserved
or—as is often the case—inadequately served with efforts better designed for less challeng-
ing children. The treatment procedures described in this book are empirically based and
arise out of both authors’ controlled research and years of clinical experience with aggres-
sive children. An effort has been made in this second edition to combine the extensive
body of research with more practical clinical experiential acumen: procedures, hints, and
suggestions that have proven themselves useful over the years. We are enthusiastic about
the improvements in this new edition and believe that with its publication the field has an
excellent bridge from relevant research to the practitioner.
Chapters 1 and 2 provide a solid foundation in the many issues associated with the
development of aggression and a guiding theoretical orientation for the Anger Coping Pro-
gram. These chapters will be particularly useful for readers having little or no instruc-
tional background in aggression or cognitive-behavioral theory and will serve as a helpful
refresher for more experienced practitioners. The careful study of these two chapters is an
important prerequisite to the more “hands-on” chapters that follow.
In Chapter 3 we place the Anger Coping Program within the larger context of a truly
functional whole-school behavioral support plan. The ultimate effectiveness of small-group
or individual anger management skills training depends greatly on its proper placement
within the larger context of schoolwide and classroom-level behavioral supports. With the
growing influence of response to intervention and positive behavioral supports, skills train-
ing interventions need to be more clearly articulated within this wider effort.
Chapter 4 guides the practitioner through the essential practical steps required to
screen and identify those children who will benefit most from enrolling in the Anger Cop-
ing Program. Unlike some other counseling approaches, the Anger Coping Program is
truly a schoolwide collaboration that must actively involve the most influential adults in
the child’s life, such as teachers, administrators, and parents. The intervention is “multi-
systemic” in that it encompasses the schoolwide systems of counseling, teaching, and dis-
cipline in attempting to effect long-term skills acquisition and generalization. The critical
role that each system plays and the suggested techniques for involving interested adults are
explained in detail in Chapters 5 and 6.
Prior to our presenting the actual treatment manual itself, Chapter 7 reviews the empir-
ical evidence for the effectiveness of the Anger Coping Program. The need for practitioners
to understand and utilize empirically based interventions in their work with all children
cannot be overstated. Schools in particular are ideal locations for effecting positive thera-
peutic and behavioral change—but only if the efforts to do so are grounded in “what works.”
The available time in the school day is too short, the personnel costs too high, and the risks
to the children too great to engage in unsupported “train-and-hope” procedures.
In Chapter 8 readers will find the complete step-by-step treatment manual for the
Anger Coping Program, newly formatted and updated for this edition. Additional reproduc-
ible forms and suggested practitioner scripts combine to make a much more “user-friendly”
training curriculum.