The Implementation of Life Space Crisis Intervention in Residential Care and Special Education for Children and Adolescents with EBD: An Effect Study

When working with children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders, conflicts are a part of daily life. At present, a variety of conflict resolution or conflict management programs, that can be divided into three categories, are described in the literature. A first category contains programs that focus on training for children and adolescents, and are often curriculum-based. The second category focuses on training for parents, and the third category contains programs that focus on training for professionals. The presents study was designed to evaluated the effectiveness of Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI), a therapeutic and verbal strategy developed by Long that fits into this third category of conflict management programs. Throughout a four-year project, al staff in a Flemish centre offering residential care and special education were trained in LSCI. On a yearly basis, data with regard to time in program, academic achievement, behavioural problems and anxiety problems were collected. The results show an increase in time spent in program and in academic achievement, and a decrease in youths' anxiety, indicating that the implementation of LSCI contributes constructively to the treatment of children and adolescents with EBD.