An integrated components preventive intervention for aggressive elementaryschool children: The Early Risers program

The Early Risers prevention program aims to alter the developmental traject ory of children with early onset aggressive behavior. The program features 4 CORE components: (a) an annual 6-week summer school program, (b) a teache r consultation and student mentoring program, (c) child social skills group s, and (d) parent education and skills-training groups, all delivered in ta ndem with a FLEX family support program individually tailored to address th e unique needs of families. At baseline, the mean age of the sample was 6.6 years. Following 2 years of intervention, program children showed signific ant improvement relative to controls in academic achievement and school beh aviors. Change on behavioral self-regulation was moderated by level of chil d aggression, with intervention effects found for only the most severely ag gressive children. Parents with high program attendance rates showed improv ement in discipline methods.