behavioural problems

In recent years, as gender violence has become more visible in Spain, so sensitivity to the needs of children exposed to this violence has increased. However, interventions usually focus on psychosocial rehabilitation of women rather than their children. The aim of this work is to analyse the behavioural and emotional problems of a sample of children living in shelters with their mothers after having suffered gender violence. The Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL) was used to analyse the behavioural and emotional problems of 46 children aged between six and sixteen (M = 11.15; SD = 2.6) living in shelters. An ad hoc Likert questionnaire was also designed to gather information about these children’s school adaptation. Behavioural and emotional problems were detected in most of the minors, as well as difficulties in academic performance and school adaptation. A relationship between behavioural and emotional problems and school adjustment was also observed. These results reflect the need for greater attention to the difficulties of children exposed to gender violence and show the importance of the educational sphere for early detection and support of these difficulties.

This is the English version of an article originally printed in Spanish in issue 273 of the revista española de pedagogía. For this reason, the abbreviation EV has been added to the page numbers. Please, cite this article as follows: Rosser-Limiñana, A., & Suriá-Martínez, R. (2019). Adaptación escolar y problemas comportamentales y emocionales en menores expuestos a violencia de género | School adaptation and behavioural and emotional problems in minors exposed to gender violence. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77 (273), 313-332. doi: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP77-2-2019-04

Pragmatic language is the socially appropriate use of language in accordance with the context in which interactions take place. In view of this, deficiencies in pragmatic skills have a significant impact on psychosocial adjustment. Recent evidence has shown that children who present behavioural problems usually display these linguistic difficulties as well. The aim of this work is to analyse different interventions intended to improve the pragmatic skills of children with behavioural and/or attention problems and discuss the evidence of the results. After a literature search, nine interventions were found: five aimed at children with behavioural problems and four intended for children with attention and hyperactivity problems. The results showed that, while the characteristics of the interventions varied considerably, they generally achieved positive results, especially when they were implemented using a systemic approach with other educational agents participating (such as the family or peer group). Even so, the lack of available evidence suggests that further research into evidence-based interventions to help children improve their pragmatic, communicative, and social competences is required.

Cite this article as: Rodríguez-Meirinhos, A. y Ciria-Barreiro, E. (2018). Revisión de intervenciones para mejorar las habilidades pragmáticas en niños y niñas con problemas de conducta y atención | Review of interventions to improve pragmatic language skills in children with behaviour and attention problems. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 76 (270), 295-312.  doi: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP76-2-2018-05