Contact: Maridith Geuder
Child behavior problems ranging from school attendance and concentration to eating disorders and antisocial behavior are covered in a new reference text co-edited by a Mississippi State professor.
"The Handbook of Child Behavior Therapy" is being issued this month by New York-based Plenum Press. The 500-page work is the product of T. Steuart [cq] Watson, an educational psychology teacher and researcher at the Starkville school, and Frank M. Gresham of the University of California at Riverside.
"The book is divided into sections that reflect where behavior problems are manifested and treated," Watson said. These include school- and home-based problems, medical and pediatric problems and problems that cross settings, he explained.
"We believe treatment should be based on the function of behavior," Watson said. "In other words: What motivates a child?"
Watson said the publication is the first of its kind to approach therapy in this way. "The aim of the book is to provide both the 'what to do' and the 'how to do it' of child behavior."
In addition to serving as a professional reference, the book may be used as a course text by graduate students.
Watson, who holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska, also is the author of a forthcoming textbook on school crime and violence. Scheduled for release early next year, it will focus on ways to get students involved in addressing safety issues on campus.