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The Purpose of research is to discover a prevention/intervention program for students with or at risk of emotional disturbances. The purpose behind building social skills is to give students the self-esteem, self-determination, and self-motivation they need to be successful in school and life. Most of these prevention/intervention programs incorporate various agencies such as Mental Health, Department of Social Services, and Aid to Adoption, Department of Probation, Psychiatrists, and Education. Of the 12 teachers in my (SED) program that I interviewed, I found that all of them expressed a need for more training in areas of cultural awareness, learning styles, classroom management, and modification strategies in order to be more efficient in the classroom. Less than half of Head Start Teachers have college degrees (associate, bachelor, or graduate) in child development, education, or related fields and very few have had training in behavior management or ways to promote social and emotional competence (Webster-Stratton, Reid, Hammond, 2001). The Purpose of my study is to provide a guide to various prevention/intervention programs that could be used within my school setting.

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The Purpose of this research is to discover a prevention/intervention program for students with or at risk of emotional disturbances. Mack Smith is a Special Education Teacher in Northern California Serving the special needs of his community for the past 9 years.

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