This article describes a comprehensive drug abuse preventive intervention called the Early Risers "Skills for Success" Program. Early Risers is an example of an indicated prevention strategy designed to alter the developmental trajectory leading to drug use and abuse in high-risk children as indexed by the presence of early-onset aggressive behavior. An "early-starter" developmental model to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs provides the theoretical underpinnings for selection of the program's child and family intervention targets, Social development and social ecology theories provide the conceptual foundation for content of the major intervention components, CORE and FLEX, respectively. CORE is a coordinated set of standardized child-focused interventions that promote developmental competence by teaching skills pertinent to emotional regulation, prosocial peer affiliation, and school adjustment. This component is delivered within the context of child- and parent-focused education and skills training programs during summer and regular school year periods. The FLEX component is a family support, empowerment, and service-brokerage intervention that is individually tailored in response to the unique assets and needs of individual families. Access to services is organized by home-visiting family advocates who provide consultation, support, and brief interventions to assist families in solving daily hardship and stress-related problems. When more serious basic living and health problems are identified, family advocates broker specialized services with community agencies.
