Abstract:

This session will focus on Cognitive behavior interventions (CBIs) and how affective mental health approach has been used with children and adolescents in various educational settings. The session also includes a description of strategies that inform classroom implementation of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy a cognitive behavior intervention that has been traditionally used as clinically approach.

CBIs result in behavior change by teaching relevant tasks that are based around strategies to correct cognitive distortions through the application of logic and the search for evidence. The underlying premise of CBI is that thinking precedes feelings and feelings precede behavior. Therefore, if cognitions change then feelings and behaviors will change. Cognitive-behavioral interventions encompass a variety of strategies. Components of CBI training include but not limited to self-instruction, self-control, role-play, modeling, coaching, problem-solving, response-cost procedures and relaxation techniques (Ager & Cole, 1991;Etscheidt, 1991; Kazdin, 1987; Kazdin, 1991; Kendall, Reber, McLeer, Epps, & Ronan; 1990).

REBT is a unique philosophy of life and an effective intervention for reducing intense emotional feelings and behaviors (Ellis, 2001; 1991). Originally designed to be a clinical technique, REBT has been developed into a practical classroom tool for the prevention and remediation of emotional and behavioral disturbances (EBD). REBT recognizes the influence that cognitions have on behavior and emotions and suggests that all three must be regarded in order to modify disturbances. The educational purpose of REBT is to help students learn to deal with serious emotional problems that may negatively impact a person’s ability to reach their goals, to combat extremely negative feelings and behaviors, to provide a model that shows how individuals can manage their problems (DiGiuseppe, 1998). Research studies have demonstrated the efficacy of REBT with school-aged children in treating a number of psychological and behavioral problems including: conduct disorders (DiGiuseppe, 1988), low frustration tolerance (Knaus, 1983), impulsivity (Kendell & Fischler, 1983), obesity (Foreyt, 1987), and increasing self-esteem and self-concept (Omizo, 1986).

From a REBT perspective, valuable affective programming should increase thinking that promotes goal attainment and thereby reducing emotional disturbance. Educational REBT programs have been taught to groups of children as young as 8 who learned to accept responsibility for their emotions and to use cognitive, behavioral, and affective techniques in order to reduce self-defeating attitudes, feelings and behaviors. Traditional classroom environments to non-traditional educational settings with special populations including pullout and resource classroom settings, after school programs, Upward Bound programs, school programs housed in a psychiatric hospital and day treatment settings. A number of studies have supported Ellis’s theory that cognitions can modify behavior and are related to emotional disturbance (Barnes, 2000; Banks, 2006; Morris, 1993; Patton, 1995; Rudish & Millice, 1997; Sapp, 1996; 1994; Shannon & Allen, 1998). Participants will learn more about CBIs and the implementation of REBT in educational settings.