Helping Schoolchildren Cope with Anger: A Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention

by Jim Larson PhD, John E. Lochman PhD, ABPP, Donald Meichenbaum PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

 

This invaluable guide presents all of the information and clinical tools needed to implement the Anger Coping Program, an empirically supported intervention for students in grades 3–6. Practitioners are taken step by step through setting up treatment groups, teaching vital skills for reducing aggression and disruptive behavior, and building strong partnerships with teachers and parents. Many practical suggestions are provided for adapting the program to different settings and optimizing student outcomes. In a large-size format to facilitate photocopying, the book includes reproducible handouts, forms, and parent letters (in English and Spanish).

New to this Edition 
* Redesigned to be even more practitioner friendly.
* Chapters on integrating the Anger Coping Program with schoolwide response to intervention (RTI) and positive behavioral supports, intervening with girls and with culturally diverse students, and working with individuals instead of groups.
* Several new reproducible tools, including a classroom progress monitoring report.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606239742
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	10/19/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	222
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jim Larson, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Director of the School Psychology Program 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 programming for the prevention of school violence. John E. Lochman, PhD, ABPP, is Saxon Professor Emeritus in Psychology, Interim Director of the Alabama Life Research Institute, and Director Emeritus of the Center for Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems at the University of Alabama. He is also Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University Medical Center. A clinical psychologist, Dr. Lochman has authored more than 400 scientific articles, chapters, and books on the causes and consequences of highly aggressive behavior in childhood, and on the effects of intervention for this behavior. His current focus is research on dissemination, implementation, and adaptation of interventions. Dr. Lochman has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology and is a former President of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice (Division 37 of the American Psychological Association) and the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (Division 53 of the American Psychological Association).

Table of Contents

1. The Development of Aggression2. The Empirical Foundation for a Developmental Model of Aggressive Children’s Social-Cognitive and Emotional Difficulties3. The Role of Anger Management Training in a Comprehensive School Program of Positive Behavioral Supports4. Getting Started with the Anger Coping Program: Group Leaders, Screening, and Identification5. Generalization and the Role of the Classroom Teacher6. Preparing for the First Meeting: Procedures to Implement and Pitfalls to Avoid7. Outcome Research Results for the Anger Coping Program and the Coping Power Program8. The Anger Coping Program Manual9. Considerations When Treating Girls and Treating Children from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds10. Possible Negative Group Effects and Alternative Use as an Individual Format11. Case Example12. Frequently Asked Questions13. AfterwordAppendices:A. Anger Coping Program Teacher Nomination FormB. Anger Coping Program Teacher Screening ScaleC. Classroom Goals InterviewD. Anger Coping AgreementE. Anger Coping Program Classroom Generalization Inservice GuideF. My Goal SheetG. Goal Attainment Scaling FormH. Sample Parental Consent LetterI. Anger Coping Program Initial ChecklistJ. Hassle LogK. Anger Coping Program Parent LettersL. Sample Parental Consent Letter and Anger Coping Program Parent Letters—Spanish VersionsM. Anger Coping Program Classroom Progress Monitoring Report (CPMR)N. Anger Coping Program Intervention Integrity ChecklistsO. Stimulus PicturesRecommended Further Reading

 

Interviews

Elementary-level school psychologists, counselors, social workers, and administrators; graduate-level students in these areas. Serves as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses in school violence prevention.

Editorial Reviews

This guide presents the Anger Coping Program, an empirically supported group intervention for 8- to 12-year-olds with anger and aggression problems. The guide provides novices and experienced practitioners with everything needed to implement the program. Background is given on childhood aggression, then detailed instructions are given for screening participants, collaborating with teachers and parents, conducting sessions, and monitoring outcomes. Reproducible handouts, child self-report forms, and parent letters in English and Spanish are included. Larson teaches psychology and directs the School Psychology Program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Lochman teaches clinical psychology at the University of Alabama. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"Larson and Lochman...have restructured this edition so it is more practitioner-friendly. It includes chapters on integrating the programme with other school-wide responses to interventions and positive behavioral supports; adding more detail on working with girls and culturally diverse students and working with individuals. This edition also offers a manualised approach and templates for monitoring change and outcomes....There is great potential here for schools, and to that extent anyone working in a residential setting in the UK, to extrapolate the learning from the programme and consider how it might be adapted. Of course, it will resonate with those schools who already have a whole-school approach through Targeted Mental Health in Schools, but it then builds a response programme to children who have particular problems with self-regulation and anger."

Young Minds Magazine

"The book covers everything a school practitioner needs to consider when offering an anger management program."

Virginia Child Protection Newsletter

"The book is aimed at those working with eight-to-twelve-year-olds and it uses a group approach which is practitioner friendly. More specifically, the authors are writing for psychologists, counsellors, and other professionals working in schools or school-like settings....The reader is given clear guidance on screening and identification techniques in a step by step method, supplemented with reproducible forms and suggested practitioner scripts."

SEN (Special Education Needs) Magazine

"Larson and Lochman are true scientist-practitioners who have produced an exceptional resource for school- and community-based clinicians. This revised second edition provides a useful update of aggression prevention research and shows how the Anger Coping Program aligns with current models of school-based practice. The session-by-session format is very user friendly. As someone who has worked with this intervention for over 15 years, I highly recommend this book."—Colleen Cicchetti, PhD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
 
“I have used the Anger Coping Program for many years and have trained hundreds of school psychologists and school counselors in its use. This highly effective program is now even more valuable with the addition of chapters specifically addressing considerations when treating girls and implementation with individuals. Another new chapter shows how the program is a perfect tool to use within an RTI framework."—Judith A. McBride, PhD, consultant, Long Beach Unified School District, California 
 
"This is a comprehensive resource for school psychologists, counselors, and others who are working with aggressive and behaviorally challenging students. Practitioners get everything needed to implement the authors' approach, including appropriate background research. The Anger Coping Program provides essential positive behavioral support to students who need it—and it gives school personnel valuable tools for dealing with some of the most difficult challenges they face."—Beth Herman-Ukasick, MSE, school psychologist, Violence Prevention Program, Milwaukee Public Schools

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Michael S. Goldsby, PhD, CCRP (Family Psychiatry of The Woodlands)
Description: Driven by their desire to address the growing incidence of physical aggression among 8-to-12-year-old school children, these authors present the cognitive-behavioral-based, empirically supported therapeutic intervention known as the Anger Coping Program (ACP). This timely book examines the historical and current data on child aggression and describes in detail how therapists and others can intervene effectively with angry, aggressive children by implementing the ACP therapeutic approach. The in-depth information in this book will allow clinical practitioners to review the techniques and immediately implement this program in schools and school-like settings.
Purpose: The authors' purpose in writing this book is to provide a "practitioner-friendly" book on how to intervene effectively with angry, aggressive children. They also wanted to create a convenient and reliable resource for practitioners on the theory, empirical data, and practical application of the ACP.
Audience: The target audience includes school psychologists, counselors, administrators, parents, and others who work with 8-to-12-year-old children exhibiting anger management and behavior problems in school or school-like settings. Mental health professionals in residential settings may also find the book to be of value.
Features: With this second edition, the authors have made substantial improvements, such as updating empirical data and practical application procedures and providing hints and suggestions that help make the book much more practitioner-friendly. The first two chapters are a comprehensive overview of the development of aggression, which helps readers to better understand the guiding principles and theoretical orientation of ACP. Therapists who have limited experience with aggressive, angry children will find these chapters to be extremely helpful as a foundation for the subsequent chapters that address the practical application of ACP. Chapters three through seven introduce essential concepts of ACP, which is described as a schoolwide collaboration and an intervention that is truly multisystemic across schoolwide systems in its approach that actively involves the most influential adults in the child's life. Also in this edition is the newly formatted and updated step-by-step treatment manual for the program. Other important additions are the chapters on working with girls, as well as with children from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Assessment: The timing of this second edition could not be better. School officials, administrators, and counselors are seeing an increase in the incidence of violence and aggression among 8-to-12-year-old school children, and now they can implement an empirically supported therapeutic intervention that targets this growing concern. The Anger Coping Program is magnificently explained in detail in a way to make this the most user-friendly training curriculum for it to date. I highly recommend this book as the go-to instructional guide for all mental health practitioners who wish to help school children cope with anger using these techniques.

Doody's Review Service