B O O K R E V I E W S

Gilbert R. GredlerUniversity of South Carolina

Book Review Editor

Rye, D.R., & Sparks, R. (1999). Strengthening K-12 school counseling programs: A support sys-tems approach. Philadelphia: Accelerated Development. 230 pp., $24.95.

The increased emphasis on accountability in public education has raised the interest of school psy-chologists both in how to provide effective services and how to evaluate and document their effec-tiveness. The second edition of Strengthening K-12 School Counseling Programs fills a need forschool psychologists who may benefit from taking a more comprehensive approach to program plan-ning. It is aimed primarily at practitioners (and will be a good resource for trainers) to guide the de-velopment of an ongoing planning, implementation, and evaluation process in a school. While the230-page book addresses planning and managing a comprehensive developmental school guidanceprogram, the processes are similar for any student services program and can be adapted for schoolpsychological services.

The book has two basic tenets. The first is that good school programs are only as strong as theircommunity support. Community support is developed by identifying and responding to the valuesof both the school staff and the community. The first six chapters are devoted to the process of plan-ning and building community support. Strategies for obtaining administrative and community sup-port include developing a proposal to facilitate administrative approval and assembling a communi-ty advisory team. The mechanics of assembling the advisory team is outlined in considerable detail.A particularly helpful section of Chapter 5 is devoted to training and enhancing cohesiveness amongthe team members. Again, some of the content on job responsibilities is specific to school counselors,but appropriate substitutions for school psychologists can easily be made. The professional staff andthe advisory team members collaboratively identify the core beliefs of the program and of the com-munity. From this the book guides the practitioner in the development of a vision statement to guidethe program.

The second basic tenet is that successful school programs address the needs of the school andcommunity. Chapter 7 briefly describes the needs assessment strategies that are available to theschool psychologist. Detailed examples of needs assessment surveys are provided that are aimed atassessing needs from the perspective of teachers, students, parents, and other community members.Once the needs of the school and community are identified, goals and strategies are developed tomeet these needs. Evaluation strategies are discussed that build on the values/needs/goals/strategiesframework developed through the planning process. Once again detailed examples are provided forelementary and secondary school levels. The contents of the program goals and strategies examplesare oriented to prevention programming and will prove especially helpful to school psychologists in-terested in becoming more involved in prevention activities.

I believe that this book has two limitations when considered by the school psychologist. First,the book is written from the orientation of the school counselor. There are many similarities betweenthe roles and activities of the school counselor and the school psychologist, but the full use of thesample instruments and guidelines will require adapting the example forms to the specific rules andexpectations of school psychological services. The second weakness of the book is its brevity. Whilethere are some detailed sections included in the chapters, some of the chapters are brief to the pointof being an expanded outline. Neither of these weaknesses are irreparable problems, but the book it-

Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 37(4), 2000© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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self will need to be supplemented by additional materials from the professional resources in schoolpsychology. It will probably be easier for an experienced school psychologist to work with the struc-ture of the book, whereas the neophyte school psychologist may find it more difficult to work onlyfrom the information in this book.

The increased emphasis on accountability for all school services has caught many school psy-chologists unprepared to deal with the demands in a systematic fashion. Considering the strengthsand weaknesses of this book, I would recommend it to school psychologists who wish to becomemore proactive and take a more comprehensive perspective on delivering and documenting the ef-fectiveness of school psychological services. The emphasis in this book on planning, implementa-tion, and evaluation is also relevant to the increased importance placed on interagency collaborationfor the provision of services to children and families with serious disabling conditions. Many of thestrategies and concepts will apply when the school psychologist is involved in developing a morecoordinated system of care for children and families.

Michael B. BrownEast Carolina University

Glang, A., Singer, G.H.S., & Todis, B. (Eds.). (1997). Students with acquired brain injury: Theschool’s response. Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H. Brooks. 424 pp., $29.95.

Special education programming for students with brain injuries poses a very unique challenge to ed-ucators, a fact that is clearly delineated in this comprehensive and real-life text. Although the reau-thorization of PL 94-142 by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990 estab-lished a separate special education category (PL 101-476) for students with brain injuries, the authorsexplain how many schools attempt to fit students into existing special education structures. This strat-egy generally fails to provide adequate programming. This edited volume, a wonderful resource forall school-based professionals, serves as a guide to understanding the complex and diverse needs ofstudents with brain injuries and offers a wealth of very specific resources and strategies for improvingeducational services in the schools. Using experiences of educators and families in typical schoolsettings, the authors have provided specific interventions and a solid foundation for school-basedprofessionals committed to improving special education programming for students with brain injuries.

This volume is divided into four sections. In Section I, “Understanding the Context”, three chap-ters establish a clear understanding of the challenges faced by families and schools working with stu-dents who have acquired brain injury (ABI). First, ABI is clearly explained in terms of etiology, med-ical classification/terminology, and neurobehavioral effects. The editors chose the term “acquired”rather than “traumatic” brain injury in order to include students who have suffered internal brain in-juries (e.g., brain tumor) because they often have the same programming needs as students who havesuffered external brain injuries (e.g., from a motor vehicle accident). Two chapters based on quali-tative research follow and poignantly clarify the real-life issues and problems faced in providingcomprehensive special education programming for students with ABI. Case studies and personal per-spectives of parents and educators highlight the obstacles faced in these endeavors and serve to in-troduce some of the predominant themes of the book. For example, schools have trouble meeting the

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unique and complex needs of students with ABI. Although teachers can be enthusiastic at first, thistends to be a honeymoon phase and they often become discouraged and feel unprepared to serve thesestudents adequately. Issues of family–school tension and conflict are common as there are often dif-fering expectations and competing agendas. By the end of this section, the problems inherent in try-ing to fit students with ABI into existing special education structures become evident, as does theneed for educators and families to think creatively and work collaboratively. These issues highlightedin Section I lay the foundation of needs addressed by the three remaining intervention-focused sec-tions: II) “Planning and Carrying Out Instruction”, III) “Social and Behavioral Interventions,” andIV) “Parents and Professionals Working Together”.

Three chapters in Section II provide useful and practical information, including how to be aknowledgeable consumer of neuropsychological evaluations and the importance of clarifying refer-ral questions before this type of evaluation. Instructional strategies are presented using case studiesalong with tables and appendices of resources, assessments, instructional designs, and accommoda-tions. Four chapters in Section III are devoted to addressing the social and behavioral effects of ABI,with one author describing personality changes and challenging behavior as often “the most troublingconsequences of ABI.” Behavioral difficulties are often misperceived, and this section helps readersunderstand that there are many contributing factors to behavior problems in students with ABI. Spe-cific behavior problems such as inhibition, impulsivity, and poor anger control are discussed alongwith interventions grounded in research and experience. Issues of social isolation are discussed as isthe need to build friendships, and community and social support, for students and families. The finalfour chapters (Section IV) focus on parents and professional working together. An excellent chapterby Barbara R. Walker provides a variety of specific strategies and meaningful examples for estab-lishing parent–professional partnerships. Finally, the need for specialized training is addressed, andspecific curriculums and programs are described. This is followed by a chapter of in-depth answersto common questions asked by teachers about how to serve a student with ABI.

In summary, this impressive resource comprehensively describes the specific needs of studentswith ABI and provides tested strategies for intervention. The use of real-life experiences and per-sonal perspectives of family members and educators inspires the reader to improve partnerships withparents and begin applying specific intervention ideas. The editors certainly met their goals of pro-viding a practical resource for educators that is grounded in experiential research from typical schoolsettings and providing detailed descriptive approaches for serving students with ABI. It is a resourcethat all school teams should have access to in their professional library.

Mary Ellen WarrenUniversity of South Carolina

Spear-Swerling, L. & Sternberg, R.J. (1996). Off track: When poor readers become “learningdisabled.” Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 336 pp., $26.50.

The book jacket states: “The identification of poor readers as ‘learning disabled’ can be the first ofmany steps toward consigning students to a lifetime of reading failure.” With that statement readersimmediately know they are in for an interesting read—essentially what we have is a thorough dis-

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cussion of the learning disability field. Also included are several polemic statements of how the educational establishment has gone wrong in the diagnosis and treatment of children who are labeledas “learning disabled.”

In 11 chapters the authors discuss what ails the field of learning disabilities (LD), offer a histo-ry of LD, discuss their definition of reading disability, review case histories of children with readingproblems, and present their ideas on the identification and assessment of children with reading prob-lems. The authors also discuss what they consider to be worthwhile educational practices for chil-dren with reading disabilities, mention possible causes of reading problems, and discuss how earlyintervention programs can be helpful. They conclude by offering what they consider to be a betterway to think about reading difficulties. Listed below are some of the authors’ complaints, concerns,and general comments about present day LD practices:

1. Reading disability exists on a continuum ranging from mild to severe (p. 6).2. A child may be considered reading disabled in one state, but may not qualify as such if

s(he) moves to another state (p. 6).3. If treatment is defined as placement in special education, the benefits can be questionable

(p. 7).4. Too much emphasis is placed on intrinsic biological abnormality as the factor in reading

disability (pp. 7–8).5. The “unexpected” educational failure of middle-class children has driven the LD field

(p. 37).6. Schools have “financial incentives” to classify children as LD because of the availability

of state and federal funds (p. 37).7. There is much evidence against the underlying abilities paradigm (p. 38).8. Direct instruction and information-processing models also try to treat reading problems

(pp. 40–43).9. Phonological processing ability is most important (p. 46).

10. The teacher’s belief in her or his ability to teach an “LD” child is a factor in referrals forspecial help (p. 67).

11. The road to proficient reading means there should be more instructional emphasis onphonological tasks; phonological awareness is an important factor in future reading per-formance (pp. 95, 82–86).

12. Kindergarten progress needs to be more attuned to improving a child’s phonological skills(pp. 96–97).

13. Children can become concerned about going to the resource room for help in reading(p. 121).

14. Special education programs and Title One programs tend to emphasize drill and practiceworksheet activities, and poor readers get much less practice in reading words as part ofa coherent text than children in the regular classroom (p. 131).

15. There might be something to the visual processing deficient theory as a factor in somereading disability cases (pp. 137–138).

16. There is no one single method that is adequate for all children with reading problems(p. 154); direct systematic instruction in decoding is necessary (p. 155).

17. A measure of reading comprehension is a more realistic indicator of reading potential thanis an IQ score (p. 158).

18. Use of informal reading inventories (IRIs) should be limited because of lack of standard-ization (p. 158).

19. Decoding skills, letter-sound knowledge, and phonological awareness are the main fac-tors to be assessed in identifying a reading disability (p. 159).

20. Criterion-referenced tests would be more useful than use of standardized norm-referencedtests (p. 160);

21. Low motivation, limited practice, and negative expectations are important factors with allchildren who are reading disabled (pp. 175–176).

What is one to make about this book’s various messages? While many of the authors’commentsare on the mark, the reader may come away with a feeling of irritation. Does the “recent” research

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tell us anything that is really new? Are all the present practices that flawed? Does this book reallyprovide all the necessary answers to the reading difficulties of today’s school children? In an attemptto answer some of these questions, it is necessary to review some of the educational events of thepast 45 years.

Special education up to the 1960s was mainly for children who were mentally retarded and/oremotionally disturbed. Other classes took care of children with various physical disabilities. Amer-ican parents in the 1970s organized chapters of the Association of Children with Learning Disabili-ties (ACLD) in order to gain consideration for children with learning problems and who were notmentally retarded or who had severe emotional problems. The parent movement was also helped bya number of prominent special educators and psychologists joining forces with the parents. PublicLaw 94 –142 helped to establish nationwide learning disabled classes. True, the movement originallyemphasized the neurological component of learning buttressed by specialists from psychology andeducation. Interesting enough, over the last several years this component has been downplayed, andthe use of the discrepancy between ability and achievement measures has become (unfortunately)the final arbiter for labeling and placement.

As a school psychologist and trainer over these last 45 years, I welcomed the arrival of learn-ing disabled classes into the school system. LD specialists multiplied and unfortunately clashed withthe school’s remedial reading specialists as to who was more capable of providing services to thesechildren.

The number of children labeled “learning disabled” grew by leaps and bounds as educatorsand psychologists practiced their trade. Then more questions began to surface as to how to bestserve children with reading problems. Allington and McGill-Franzen in 1990 correctly stated thatmany children with reading problems were wrongly classified as learning disabled. At the sametime the schools began to embrace the early intervention approaches of Marie Clay, herself a for-mer school psychologist. Her Reading Recovery program has had a marked success in the UnitedStates.

While Spear-Swerling and Sternberg give the program some positive plaudits they are worriedthat Clay does not pay enough attention to training children in phonological awareness. This has beenflatly rejected by Clay (1991). Unfortunately, the authors do not provide sufficient up-to-date refer-ences on Reading Recovery. In fact what we are probably now viewing is another cycle of how tobest help children with learning problems.

At one time the psychological theories of Arnold Gesell and his students Ilg and Ames were invogue. They stated flatly that children’s readiness to learn was primarily biological and that moretime was the major factor required to enhance readiness to learn. The schools bought into this psy-chological theory; as a result, kindergarten retention became popular and pre-first or readiness class-es were established in schools throughout the United States.

While the ways of the educational bureaucracy can certainly be maddening at times, we mustrealize that many school systems have made real progress in helping children with reading problems.One shining example is in New Hampshire where the number of children placed in transition roomshas declined 69% over the last nine years. This has been due to the introduction of the Reading Re-covery program in that state.

For this reviewer the authors place too much emphasis on intervening with children in kinder-garten with phonological programs rather than improving instruction in the first grade. The currentemphasis on phonological training certainly has the phonologist troops excited and marching withfull banner. However, will this extreme emphasis disappear as “the answer” as has Gesellian theoryand practice?

In summary, this book makes many important points about learning disability issues but weshould remember we have learned much about learning disabilities during the past 45 years.

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The fact that many schools have inaugurated new programs of intervention such as Reading Re-covery and Success for All indicates a new sophistication in implementing programs to help childrenwith learning problems.

References

Allington, R.L., & McGill-Franzen, A. (1990). Children with reading problems: how we wrongfully classify them and fail toteach many to read. ERS Spectrum, 8, 3–9.

Clay, M.M. (1991). Syntactic awareness and Reading Recovery: A response to turnover. New Zealand Journal of Education-al Studies, 26, 87–91.

GRG

RMC Research Corporation. (1996). Retention in the early grades. Denver, CO: Author (devel-oped by B. Anderson & staff of RMC). 24 pp., $10.00.

This short booklet takes a broad look at retention in the early grades. In four chapters the author dis-cusses the following topics: why do teachers retain young children? how do children and familiesexperience retention? does retention help children close the academic achievement gap? what alter-natives to retention are schools exploring?

The book is well written. Anderson also includes a number of aids in helping teachers under-stand their own retention practices. One page is also devoted to a listing of possible alternative strate-gies to retention. This would be an excellent booklet to use with teachers for a workshop conductedby the school psychologist on issues of retention and intervention programs.

GRG

Golombok, S., & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. New York: Cambridge University Press.275 pp., $22.75.

This book offers the reader a thorough delineation of gender development, tracing such from con-ception through adulthood and emphasizing the interaction of biology and socialization. Topics cov-ered include gender stereotypes, parental influences, play, intimate relationships, and the role of fam-ily, school, and work.

The author also discusses the influence of psychoanalysis, social learning, and cognitive theo-ries and how they shape our thinking about gender development. Golombok is professor of psy-

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chology at the Institute of Psychiatry at City University in London. Fivush is associate professor ofpsychology at Emory University in Atlanta. This book is a very thorough and up-to-date review oftheory and research concerning gender development. The authors have amassed a wealth of researchstudies and are able to present the results in a very readable style.

School psychologists will probably be most interested in the chapters on school and psy-chopathology.

The authors point out that boys are referred for behavioral problems in the classroom more of-ten than girls. Much of the increased attention to boys from teachers is obviously related to the timespent on behavioral management.

The authors mention that many research studies demonstrate that females outperform males inthe language area. They state that females have fewer reading problems, spell more words correct-ly, and outperform males on vocabulary measures and reading comprehension through high school(p. 174). However, they mention that while females show a small advantage over males in verbalabilities, the difference is so small as to be unimportant (p. 174). The same conclusion also appliesto differences in math ability. While males do show superiority in mathematical abilities, once againthe differences are so small as to be meaningless for all practical purposes (p. 177).

Concerning psychological maladjustment the authors mention that psychiatric disorder is morecommon in childhood among boys but the frequency of disorder changes when children reach theadolescent period. Boys were found to be more vulnerable to family stress and parent divorce, andthe outcome is marked by conduct disorder. There is a thorough discussion of these factors and a dis-cussion of why girls react differently than boys.

Readers will find that this book offers one of the most thorough and readable discussions of gen-der development available today.

GRG

Knell, S.M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral play therapy. Northmont, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc. 247pp., $55.00.

The current emphasis on mental health promotion and prevention in the schools is impetus enoughfor reading Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy. The author, Susan Knell, is a well respected clini-cal child psychologist who has directed an outpatient child guidance center in Cleveland and has su-pervised many graduate interns. Another major reason for reading this book, however, is the strongemphasis on a treatment approach that has been distinctly developed for preschool to elementary-age children.

Knell rightly argues that most therapeutic approaches with young children are adapted fromadult models that ignore developmental considerations and often emphasize work with adults wholive and interact with the child. At the same time, she reviews evidence that individual play therapymodalities are used by a majority of child mental health practitioners. Thus, the major purpose of thebook is to present the rationale and basic techniques behind a “new” individually focused treatmentapproach for young children, called Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT). The real innova-tion here is not the development of yet another treatment approach per se, rather it rests on the unique

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emphasis of cognitive development as the basis of integrating well established cognitive and be-havioral interventions using play as the major medium for communication.

CBPT is most strongly tied to the major premises behind cognitive therapy. A goal of this ther-apeutic approach is to help the child adopt less maladaptive thoughts and in doing so to acquire moreadaptive behaviors. The major innovation here is that developmentally appropriate cognitive prob-lem-solving procedures, combined strategically with behavioral interventions, can be beneficial foryoung children if presented using play as the central treatment modality. In CBPT, play is consid-ered the optimal experiential modality to facilitate a child’s understanding of contradictory emotionsand other cognitive and affective developmental shortcomings. The assumption is that the benefitsderived from this combined approach will be greater than any singular approach because treatmentis integrated in a developmentally sensitive way.

The book is divided into three major sections with a total of 12 chapters and 288 pages. The firstsection includes two chapters that present a concise overview of the history of play therapy and a re-view of major developmental considerations, particularly cognitive development, that strongly im-pact treatment with young children. The second section includes four chapters that outline the ratio-nale for and theoretical framework behind CBPT. In chapter three, Knell, lays out the distinct premisesupon which the remainder of the book is based. Essential similarities and differences between CBPTand traditional behavioral and cognitive therapies are reviewed in the next two chapters. In chapterfour, the basic tenants of respondent conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning principlesare reviewed, including techniques such as desensitization, relaxation, reinforcement, shaping, time-out, and overt and covert modeling. In chapter five, the history and principles behind adult-focusedCognitive Therapy are contrasted with adaptations for young children that stress “absences in think-ing rather than on distortions per se” (p. 74). Self-control (i.e., self-recording), cognitive change (i.e.,looking at evidence, exploring alternatives, examining consequences), and self-verbalization tech-niques (i.e., thought-stopping, coping self-statements, storytelling) are reviewed. Chapter six providesan excellent overview of strategies to assess young children’s thoughts and beliefs.

The third section is comprised of five chapters focused on elimination problems, electivemutism, fears and phobias, divorce, family violence, and/or personal abuse. The final chapter in thissection presents a cursory consideration of basic adaptations to cognitive therapy for working withchildren, including how to prepare the child and adults for therapy and issues related to generaliza-tion, termination, and relapse prevention. A useful appendix of child-appropriate books is providedand categorized into eight topical sections: dealing with feelings, separation, anxiety, shyness, fears,toileting, divorce, elective mutism, and sexual abuse.

One controversial assumption that forms the basis of this text is that, while the major relation-al aspects of nondirective play therapy and its therapeutic role are acknowledged, Knell argues thatthis is not sufficient for work with young children. CBPT was created to incorporate systematicallyempirically validated cognitive and behavioral techniques within a play therapy modality. Client-centered play therapy proponents will disagree with the structured emphasis wherein the therapistdiagnoses a child’s developmental status, jointly identifies appropriate treatment goals, and initiatesa play-based problem-solving approach to accomplish task-focused goals. As stressed throughout,the overall goal of CBPT is to increase insight through interpretation within a problem-solving frame-work rather than solely to build a therapeutic relationship or to serve as an emotional release. More-over, external contingencies, such as praise, are seen as crucial to reinforce and communicate ap-propriate behavior to young children.

Two critical issues lessen the relevance of this work within school settings. One rests with thefact that this is essentially a child-focused, clinic-based approach that goes against many of the cur-rent themes in school-based mental health promotion, where the emphasis is on building competen-cies and resilience and on providing ecologically valid, systemic interventions that go beyond iso-

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lated work with the child. While the importance of involving parents is frequently mentioned, thereis little information on how to teach parents to employ specified techniques. More importantly, thereis little discussion of how initially to motivate families to seek treatment, successfully engage par-ents in the therapeutic process, or prevent premature dropout from treatment: issues that are of ut-most importance when working in school settings. The second drawback for school-based practi-tioners is the limited focus on older elementary or adolescent students. Omitted from this discussionis the critical work conducted over the last decade by cognitive therapy researchers on how to em-ploy successfully cognitive change strategies with resistant adolescents.

Nevertheless, there are several important reasons for selecting this text to enhance your library.First, Knell has successfully linked pertinent case examples to illustrate key points and conceptsthroughout the text. Moreover, she has done an excellent job of integrating many previously isolat-ed techniques and approaches into a coherent framework that can guide practitioners to consider cog-nitive development systematically when formulating intervention plans. The chapters on play andbehavioral and cognitive therapies offer a good review of the wide array of interventions that can beappropriately adapted for work with younger children. Finally, although the references are nowsomewhat dated, the bibliography includes the most critical references to the child therapy literaturethrough the early 1990s.

Gloria MillerUniversity of Denver

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