In November 2025, Yijing Lin led a presentation at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Theories (ABCT) describing a follow-up study conducted with the school consultation transcripts from our ATHEMOS study. A summary of that presentation and resources to support our findings below. INTRODUCTION ADHD often leads to academic impairments, including failing grades and a risk for school dropout (Fried et al., 2016; Schultz et al., 2009). Yet most

In November 2025, Kelly Lojinger led a poster presentation at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies summarizing the results of her thesis, using data from the ESSS study . A summary of that presentation is below, along with the handout. Introduction Internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression are among the most common mental health concerns for children and adolescents (Racine et al., 2021). Research suggests that school e

In November 2025, Abby Miller presented the results of a scoping review on culturally-adapted mental health interventions for Latino youth at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. A summary of that presentation and the handout below. Introduction Latino youth experience disproportionate mental health needs. Evidence shows that culturally adapted interventions—when core components are maintained—improve clinical outcomes and acceptabi

Our systematic review and content analysis of ADHD games was published (open access) in Frontiers in Psychiatry and is available now. Link here . We believe this study provides the most comprehensive overview to date of how therapeutic video games are being used to support children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We systematically reviewed published studies and analyzed the content of the games to understand the content, whether that cont

Camp Boost Team, 2025 In August 2025, East Carolina University proudly launched Camp Boost , a week-long program designed to support children with organizational, academic, and/or social needs. ECU's Camp Boost was modeled after the program at Ohio University , where the Center for Intervention Research in Schools (CIRS) runs a two- to three-week summer day camp for children aged 6–12. Like ECU’s version, Ohio University’s Camp Boost gives preference to children with ADHD,

In February 2025, Kelly Lojinger led a poster presentation at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in Seattle, WA. Her co-authors were Brandon K. Schultz and Mark D. Weist. Introduction •School-based behavioral health improves K-12 students’ overall well-being and academic success, but there are several barriers to effective delivery in those settings. •The Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Condu

In February 2025, Sequoyah Bell and Allison Dembowski (project coordinator) led a poster presentation at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in Seattle, WA. Co-authors included Christy Walcott, Brandon K. Schultz, and Mark D. Weist (University of South Carolina). Introduction BIMAS-2 The BIMAS-2 (McDougal et al., 2011) is a robust universal behavior screener and progress monitoring tool. Five norm-referenced scales are derived on the Stan

In Februrary 2025, Abby Miller led a poster presentation at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists in Seattle, WA. The data for this project came from the Early Supports for Student Success Study, described here . Co-authors included Kelly Lojinger, Brandon K. Schultz, and Mark D. Weist. Introduction •English Language Learners (ELL) have higher levels of anxiety and depression, and poorer perceptions of school climate, when compared to their

In December 2024, we presented the results of a confirmatory factor analysis of the Social Emotional Health Survey-Primary (SEHS-P). Contributors included Kaitlynn M. Carter, Alexander M. Schoemann, Allison Dembowski (pictured above), Brandon K. Schultz, and Mark Weist (University of South Carolina). Introduction The Social Emotional Health Survey-Primary (SEHS-P) was based on the Positive Experiences at School Scale (PEAS; Furlong et al., 2013). The PEAS is designed to mea

We were asked to contribute to a local news story written by students in ECU's jorunalism program. The article can be found here:...

In April 2024, Abby Miller and Kelly Lojinger delivered a poster presentation at the Research and Creative Activities Week at ECU and the Southeastern School Behavioral Health Conference in Myrtle Beach, SC. The data used for that presentation were from a study of the Interconnected System Framework ( ESSS Study ) funded by research grants to East Carolina University and the University of South Carolina (co-PI, Mark Weist) from the Institute of Education Sciences ( R324A21017

In April 2024, Kelly Lojinger and Abby Miller delivered a poster presentation at the Research and Creative Activities Conference at ECU and the Southeastern School Behavioral Health Conference in Myrtle Beach, SC. The data used for that presentation were from a study of ATHEMOS the Game  funded by research grants to East Carolina University and Ohio University (co-PI, Steven W. Evans) from the Institute of Education Sciences (R324A180219). INTRODUCTION Teachers receive limite

In September 2023, we provided a demo at the 2023 Ed Games Expo in Washington, DC, hosted by the Department of Education, Institute of...

In May 2023, Jen Donelan (right) and Kaitlynn Carter (left) delivered a poster presentation at the annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science in Washington, DC. The archived data used for that presentation were from a study of the Challenging Horizons Program funded by research grants to Ohio University and Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH082864, R01MH082865). The analyses were partly supported by a

In April 2023, I presented a poster on videogame addiction among adolescents with ADHD at the Southeastern School Behavioral Health...

A brief overview of ATHEMOS and its intervention materials has been posted to support teacher mentors in that study. That video can be...

Our local television news channel, WITN, covered the new IES-funded study of the Early Supports for Student Success program. The story...

Our local television news channel, WNCT, covered the new IES-funded study examining the Early Supports for Successful Students program. ...

Our new school mental health project, the Early Supports for Successful Students (ESSS), has been funded by the US Department of...

Dr. Schultz appeared on the podcast Game Jawns to discuss ADHD games. Click here to hear the discussion. The discussion explores games...