A selected prevention based group program for identified children with poor social skills is described. Two hundred fifty children and their parents who reside in inner city neighborhoods and their classroom teachers will be assigned to a prevention intervention program in the Paterson, New Jersey elementary schools. The I Can Problem Solve Program aims to modify the behaviors of these children through weekly group prevention education groups, individual counseling sessions, and education and collaboration of their parents and teachers for one school year. The proposed study also seeks to demonstrate that participation in this intervention with trainings and a full collaborative effort of their parents and teachers will improve the emotional- social competence of the identified children. This study will also analyze the impact of the I Can Problem Solve Program on children with no parent or teacher participation and a control group will also be assigned. The findings for all trajectories will be analyzed and compared.

Problem Statement

Extreme violent events such as the “Columbine Massacre” have drawn attention to the prevention and remediation of violence and aggression in schools. Some may wonder if we have been focusing too much on academics and not enough on people. Every day children experience some type of interpersonal problem with authority figures or peers. In Paterson New Jersey for instance, children report that the “norm” is to fight with others whether it be physically or verbally to get “respect.” When asked why this is so, many respond, “that’s the way everyone handles things around here.” Others have a more interesting response, “ My parents said to hit them back.” In thinking of an argument to build a case around those responses, one cannot help but to empathize with the idea that these children are truly surrounded by violence an aggression every day and mostly everywhere, including their homes. How do you tell a child, or do you tell a child that such solution produced by the parent, may not necessarily be the best? Or how easy would it be to intervene on such behaviors when everyone is doing it. These behaviors, even when not overtly violent, may inhibit learning and create interpersonal problems for those involved (Wilson & Lipsey, 2003). If it were the case where children were deterred from applying such a solution by simply “telling” the children that it may not be a good idea to hit others after all, will that make them stop? Probably not. For these reasons, many school based intervention programs have been designed and implemented in an effort to combat the violence and aggression that has arisen amongst children in the schools.

Many studies attest that these programs have been successful in altering children behaviors, A sufficient number of school-based intervention programs have been evaluated to support systematic review of their effectiveness (Wilson & Lipsey, 2003). However, limited research studies have examined the effects of the interactions among multiple ecologies on social

competence in children. My hypothesis is that school based intervention programs will work best when there is a collaborative effort between the parents, teachers, and the counselors working with the identified children

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to assess the impact of early intervention and prevention on emotional-social competence as a collaborative effort between the counselors, teachers and parents in the elementary schools in Paterson, New Jersey. This research proposal is not intended to target aggression directly as a means to emotional-social competence but the processes that may be associated with this type of behavior such as social skills, academic functioning, substance abuse, conduct problems and the like. Therefore, the proposed study will explore the following questions:

How successful is an early intervention and prevention education program in increasing social competence in children in the Paterson elementary schools?
Or, how successful is the use of the I Can Problem Solve Prevention Education program on increasing social competence in children in the Paterson elementary schools?
What is the impact of routine collaboration with parents and teachers in implementing early intervention and prevention education programs on the children’s social competence?
How does the program impact the children whose parents and teachers are not active participants?
According to the Children’s Bureau Fact sheet (2002), through the US Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 1,800,000 referrals alleging child abuse or neglect were accepted by state and local child protective services (CPS) agencies for investigation or assessment. The referrals included more than 3 million children, and of those, approximately 896,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect by the CPS agencies. Their parents neglected more than 60 % of these victims.

The NJ State Department of Human Services (1996), reported 10,537 cases substantiated abuse and neglect and 17,902 cases presented a risk. Of those, 20 children died from abuse in the state of New Jersey. In 80% of the reported cases, the parent was the abuser.

The Child Abuse Statistical Report (2002), stated DYFS received a total of 37, 424 child abuse and neglect referrals. DYFS field staff substantiated 7,918 referrals (2002). Of those, approximately 61% involved neglect, 8.6% involved sexual abuse, and 2.7% involved emotional abuse (Abuse/Neglect Statistical Report, 2002). Demographically, 43.3% of abused/neglected children were black, 34.7% were white, and 15.5% were Hispanic. A natural parent or guardian was the perpetrator in 76.8% of substantiated abuse/neglect cases (Abuse/Neglect Statistical Report, 2002).

The truth of the matter is that many children are engaging in nonproductive behaviors such as drugs, violence, and other criminal acts. Additionally, many parents and caregivers, some who may have children labeled as “delinquents” mistreat their children. Does poor parenting contribute significantly to inadequate social functioning or is the “bad behavior” causing parents to lose their grips and violently punish their children? Some may argue that lack of parenting skills is the “cause” producing delinquent children or children display nonproductive behaviors. Others believe this is so, but also empathizing with the idea that these abusive parents were abused themselves, therefore, may be ignorant to any other way of parenting.

Child maltreatment in general is viewed as a contributing factor for poor adult adjustment. But very often, we see such indicators in children through their interactions in school whether it be with authority figures or peers. Lack of socials skills is one reason , perhaps one of the bigger reasons, why many children end up in detention facilities, inpatient psychiatry units and the like. Many children, especially in inner cities such as Paterson, are raised with “gangster smarts.” In other words, when it comes to dealing with people they do whatever they have to do to get the “respect” of others. Often times that means solving an interpersonal problem with a physical altercations and other violent and aggressive acts. This is the way most of these children are taught at home so when they come to schools, they handle “people issue” in the same manner.

Living in Paterson may be rough, but it is a lifestyle that most people who live there are adapted to.

The teachers on the other hand, have a whole set of issues. Because the schools in Paterson are so focused on academics and test scores, teachers are often burnt out and stressed and have classrooms as big as thirty children or even bigger. Many have already given up on an idea that the Paterson children can change and therefore support power assertions and punitive measures in order to “control” the children. However, are these teachers really in control? What’s happening is that most teachers, perhaps the ones that are burnt out, are not realizing that they are probably creating more work for themselves. Teachers often have preconceived notions about certain children and therefore label these children directly or indirectly where those specific children act as the label states “bad.” If there is continuous cycle of these “bad” behaviors and teachers continue to try alter behavior through punitive measures over and over again, something must be clear. Those measures are simply not working, unless the teacher believes that engaging in constant power struggles is a solid solution.

Dryfoos highlighted three significant conclusions in assessing children and their families. According to Dryfoss (1994) a significant proportion of children will fail to grow into contributing successful adults unless there are major changes in the ways they are taught and nurtured; although families and schools have traditionally carried out the responsibilities for raising and education children, they require transformations to fulfill these obligations more effectively; and new kinds of community resources and arrangements are needed to support the development of young people into responsible, healthy, productive workers and citizens (Weissberg, Kumpfer, Seligman, 2003).

All in all, parents as well as teachers have the greatest influence on children because they are who spend the greatest part of the day with them. Intervention strategies such having the children meet with a counselor or having them attend a program may be effective, but these children then go home and to classroom and often times aren’t given the opportunity to practice “good” behavior. Hence, a routine collaborative effort where parents as well as teachers would be trained in the prevention education program and implement it both in their classrooms and at home, can increase the impact this intervention will have on a child.

Review of Literature