Project SIMPLE (School-Wide Inclusive Mental Health Promotion for Learning and Coordinated Community Engagement) is an Office of Special Education Programs Model Demonstration grant. Project SIMPLE’s focus is to develop a feasible and sustainable model to implement school-based mental health services and programming to high school students with disabilities. The project focuses on key factors on school-based mental health including (a) screening and assessment, (b) professional development for school personnel, (c) implementation of interventions, (d) family input, and (e) community mental health provider input. The intention is to build a comprehensive and synergistic collaboration between students, teachers, families, and communities to increase positive mental health outcomes for students with disabilities.
Adolescent males lag behind their female peers on a number of important academic and behavioral outcomes (e.g., lower rates of high school graduation & college enrollment, greater risk for violence, suicide, and substance abuse). Males with disabilities receive less support outside their families, are less likely to attend college, and have poorer social outcomes. The purpose of this study is to develop, refine, and pilot test the Paths 2 the Future for Young Men (P2FYM) curriculum for high school boys with a high-incidence disability. Using an iterative development process, we are further developing P2F, a gender-specific career development curriculum that was developed, pilot tested, and showed preliminary evidence of efficacy for high school girls with a disability (Doren, Lombardi, Clark, & Lindstrom, 2013).
Adolescence is a developmental period of significant risk for anxiety, depressive symptoms, and suicidality, and we propose to target key peer-based risk and protective factors using Cooperative Learning (CL). CL is a small-group instructional approach that can enhance peer relations and reduce peer-related risks, as well as promote academic engagement and achievement and reduce racial disparities. CL will be delivered with the aid of technology (PeerLearning.net) that automates the design and delivery of CL lessons, promoting rapid implementation, scalability, high fidelity, accessibility, and sustainability.