'Kasserian ingera?' [Are the children well?]: Resilience and the sociocultural environment

My purpose for this exploratory, descriptive study is to illustrate the role of one's sociocultural environment within the process of resilience for youths of color identified with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED). SED is an educational disability that affects academic and social learning for students. Resilience is viewed as a dynamic process or exchange between the environment and the individual resulting in successful outcomes despite overwhelming and chronic adversity.; Youths of color with SED who are able to succeed in the face of constant challenges are identified as educationally resilient. Specifically, these youths are defined by their ability to advance successfully from self-contained classrooms or schools to a more mainstream setting while demonstrating academic and emotional progress. I focus on understanding the efforts or contributions of the ecosystems surrounding these youths which help them to succeed. In particular, I am interested in the ecosystem's response to the unique cultural attributes of youths of color with SED. Therefore, an ecosystems perspective and focus group design are utilized to capture the specific behaviors, protocols and practices within the sociocultural environment of these youths.; Masters' and doctoral level clinicians with direct experience in working with these youths and their families/caregivers comprised a pilot and three focus groups. I led each group through a semi-structured interview guide that included eight primary questions. Responses were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using the analytic induction method. This technique involves systematically comparing participants' responses to discover key themes.; Results indicate that, from a clinician's perspective, the ecosystems surrounding these educationally resilient youths of color are culturally responsive. Findings also suggest that culturally responsive systems not only acknowledge explicitly stated values and beliefs but also address systematic issues such as discrimination. Implications include a recommendation for program administrators to understand their organizational culture and how it impacts their ability to be culturally responsive to these youths and their families/caregivers. In addition, an implication for future research is the benefit of involving families/caregivers in the process of contributing to the literature on what can foster educational resilience and how it is defined.