Public School and University Teacher Training Programs for Behaviorally Disordered Children: Are They Compatible?

The findings from a survey of public school programs for behaviorally disordered children are presented suggesting that a majority considered their theoretical focus to be behavioral. If a majority of university teacher-training programs in behavior disorder also consider their primary theoretical focus to be behavioral as previous research suggested, then the two would appear to complement each other. Another portion of the survey, however, indicated that the pragmatic approaches to treatment found in public school behavior disorders programs cover techniques reflecting a wide variety of theoretical models. Consequently, there exists a mismatch which prevents maximum effectiveness in both teacher training and service delivery for behaviorally disordered children. It was concluded that university teacher training programs should reflect a more eclectic stance by carefully synthesizing assorted theoretical components into a composite which meets the diverse pragmatic demands of public school programs for behaviorally disordered children.1