Prevention of Behavioral and Social Problems

The Need for Preventive Services

Although there is no standardized reporting system, information summarized by Knitzer, Steinberg, and Fleisch (1990) suggests that relatively few maladapting schoolchildren receive school-based mental health care and that those who do receive services that are neither lengthy nor timely. For instance, although up to 15% of schoolchildren experience clinical-level dysfunction, schools formally designate only 1% of the school population as having serious problems, labeling them behaviorally or emotionally disturbed. Only two thirds to three fourths of these children receive any school mental health services, and less than half receive more than five sessions a year. Finally, although most children with serious problems are identified in the early primary grades, the ...