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The links between a positive teacher-child relationship and young children’s academic and social-emotional development have been well established, particularly for children with disruptive behavior... more...

The current review summarizes the management of early-childhood externalizing behavior problems (ages 2–5) within the primary care setting. The review highlights factors pediatricians should consider when addressing externalizing behavior problems and summarizes general principles, opportunities for prevention and health promotion, parent-training interventions, integrated models, and therapies to consider when referring families to a specialty mental health provider. Pediatricians have an important role in addressing early-childhood externalizing behavior problems in the primary care setting, and practices can take a range of meaningful steps to address these issues both universally and for children with higher levels of impairment. In particular, integrated approaches offer the opportunity to increase access to behavioral health services while also providing the chance to build medical providers’ skills in managing early-childhood externalizing behavior problems in the primary care setting. Pediatricians have a range of options to consider and can use the literature regarding evidence-based programs to guide their decisions on the best interventions to implement in their settings. Further dissemination work is needed to better understand which programs are most effective when implemented in community settings. more...

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment-based, teacher-child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3-4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual (BAU). Sparse evidence was found for main effects on child behavior. Teachers in Banking Time demonstrated lower negativity and fewer positive interactions with children compared to BAU teachers at post assessment. The impacts of Banking Time and child time on reductions of parent- and teacher-reported externalizing behavior were greater when teachers evidenced higher-quality, classroom-level, teacher-child interactions at baseline. An opposite moderating effect was found for children's positive engagement with teachers. more...

The present study investigated teachers’ and teacher aides’ (TAs) agreement in their ratings of preschoolers’ externalizing behavior and their associations with observed classroom behavior for a sample of children at risk of developing a disruptive behavior disorder. One hundred twenty-two teachers rated 360 students’ externalizing behavior in the first month of school, and within the next 6 weeks, children were observed in their classroom. Results indicated that teacher and TA reports were moderately correlated, teacher-rated severity of oppositional defiant disorder behaviors was related to agreement, and teacher/TA agreement did not predict observed externalizing behavior. In general, using teacher and TA ratings together versus a single informant’s rating did not provide a better estimate of information gathered from observational measures. Results demonstrate the importance of gathering observations and rating scales when evaluating preschoolers’ externalizing problems. Future work should explore factors that contribute to teachers’, TAs’, and observational methods’ differential evaluations of externalizing behavior. more...

This study examined the relationship among base- line program and teacher characteristics and subsequent im- plementation of Banking Time .B anking Time is ad yadic in- tervention intended to improve a teacher's interaction quality with a specific child. Banking Time implementation was ex- amined in the current study using a sample of 59 teachers and preschool children displaying disruptive behaviors in the classroom (~three children per classroom). Predictors includ- ed preschool program type, teacher demographic characteris- tics (personal and professional), and teacher beliefs (self-effi- cacy, authoritarian beliefs, and negative attributions about child disruptive behavior). Multiple measures and methods (i.e., teacher report, consultant report, independent observa- tions) were used to assess implementation. We created three implementation composite measures (dosage, quality, and generalized practice) thathad highinternalconsistencies with- ineachcomposite but were only modestly associatedwithone another, suggesting unique constructs of implementation. We found that type of preschool program was associated with dosage and quality. Aspects of teacher demographics related to all three implementation composites. Teacher beliefs pre- dicted dosage and generalized practice. Results suggest that the factors that predict the implementation of Banking Time vary as a function of the type of implementation being assessed. more...