Profiles of Young Children Teacher-Identified as At Risk for Emotional Disturbance: A Pilot Study.

* Ideally all children would enter kindergarten with the skills and behaviors necessary for a smooth transition from home to school. Unfortunately, for many American children early school success is not a reality (U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics, 2000). Environmental and developmental risks, such as inconsistent parenting, complications during birth, and early exposure to poverty or low socioeconomic (SES) neighborhoods, often have negative consequences on children's social and emotional development and longterm academic achievement (Kauffman, 2001; Wicks-Nelson & Israel, 2003). One consequence that has been linked to early maladaptive environments is the development of emotional disturbance (ED). Researchers investigating the factors associated with ED have revealed that several environmental and developmental risks are common to children in this population (for a review, see Kauffman, 2001). In isolation, exposure to a singular risk may contribute to academic or social failure; however, when children face multiple risks, negative consequences are elevated (Kauffman, 2001).In spite of the profusion of services and interventions provided to children with ED, researchers assessing outcomes reveal many dispiriting consequences of ED. For example, research reviews assessing the academic characteristics of children with ED have demonstrated significant levels of underachievement in reading, math, and written expression evident across age categories and educational placement settings (see Trout, Nordness, Pierce, & Epstein, 2003). Longitudinal studies, such as the National Adolescent and ChildTreatment Study (NACTS) (Greenbaum et al., 1996) and the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS; Wagner, 1995), have found that, when compared to students in other disability categories and to students without disabilities, students with ED present higher rates of school dropout, higher levels of truancy and course failure, and lower grade-point averages across grade levels.Given the discouraging outcomes of ED, many researchers have begun to focus their attention on prevention and early intervention programs for young children at risk (Clarke & Campbell, 1998). To date the preliminary results of longitudinal studies suggest that prevention and early intervention can play a significant role in decreasing negative outcomes (Guralnick, 2000). However, variability in the effects of early intervention efforts has led researchers to question which programs work best for which populations (Guralnick, 2000). Without an understanding of the characteristics and profiles of risk in young children teacher-identified as at risk for ED, it is difficult to identify the critical factors that should be addressed in prevention and early intervention programs.Risk-Factor ResearchRisk factors have been defined as "events that occur at the child, family, and environmental levels that increase the probability of diagnosis or the severity of a serious emotional disturbance (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, family violence, and drug-alcohol abuse; family history of mental illness, violence, or drug-alcohol abuse)" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1998b, ¶ 34). Researchers assessing these risks have suggested that the examination of risk factors is critical for the creation of intervention and prevention efforts (Brambring, Losel, & Skowronek, 1989). For example, in the Surgeon General's report on the status of children's mental health, risk-factor research was cited as critical for (a) the determination of risks related to the origin of the disease, (b) the identification of children most at risk, (c) the determination of relative strengths of different risk factors, (d) the creation of effective prevention programs for children under a range of circumstances, and (e) the determination of where resources should be most efficiently and effectively allocated (U.S. …