An emotional or behavioral disorder can be defined as a situation where the child's behavioral or emotional responses are very different from those generally accepted from children of his/her age. Nuclear medicine has shown that the way the information is received and processed by the brain is different for children with emotional or behavioral disorders. Generally, children with emotional or behavioral disorders can be categorized into two groups, those who are continuously frightening other children and those who are being frightened by other neighborhood children.
Identify emotional or behavioral problems is not easy as identifying difficulties related to physical disabilities. When looking at emotional and behavioral disorders one must take into consideration the cultural background, social relationships, educational progress, classroom behavior and much more. Usually, children with emotional or behavioral disorders are very unlikely to experience success in school. The earlier a child is diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorder the better it is for the family and the child.
Common Characteristics.
First of all, one must point out that there are different type of emotional and behavioral disorders such as: Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Selective Mutism, Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder and many more. Although each disorder has its own characteristics, one can still mention some characteristics that apply for emotional and behavioral disorders in general.
As defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), students with seriously emotional disturbance will exhibit one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time.
- An inability to learn, which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
- An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.
- Inappropriate types of behavior or feeling under normal circumstances.
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal school problems.
As I already mentioned in the previous section, the earlier the family discovers that their child has emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) the better it is. Obviously, it is impossible to identify EBD in infants by taking in consideration the above characteristics. Consequently, one should look for the following characteristics that may indicate that a child has EBD.
- The child is unresponsive to the environment such as: s/he does not look for objects, does not show emotions, does not respond to environmental changes such as sound and light, etc.
- The child is over-responsive such as: easily upset, cries, etc.
- Weight loss or inadequate weight gain that is not explainable by a physical problem.
- Children who become engrossed in self-stimulating behavior to the exclusion of normal activities
- The child is self-abusive such as: head banging, biting, hitting.
- The child has problems to form affectionate relationships with care providers such as baby-sitters or relatives.
As the child get older, it becomes easier to diagnose EBD. Usually, the most common characteristics identified in children with EBD are that they have academic difficulties, they are not able to maintain appropriate social relationships with others, and they have serious behavioral problems such as: dangerously aggressive towards others and self-destructive. Other characteristics a teacher should pay attention for are:
- A general persistent mood of unhappiness or depression.
- Evidence of extreme anxiety or fear.
- Attention-getting behavior.
- Low self-esteem.
- Limited problem solving skills.
- Rebellious towards authority figures.
- Low attention span.
- Very disruptive to others.
- Easily confused.
Obviously, there are many characteristics to which one should pay attention but it is impossible to mention them all. Note, that emotional and behavioral disorders can be caused by the following 5 factors: Biological Factors, Environmental Factors, Family, School and Society. It is important to try and discover which is factor is causing this disorder because it would be more easy to deal with the problem.
Dealing with Students with EBD.
One of the biggest challenges in today’s classroom is dealing with children with emotional and behavioral problems. By being very disruptive, these students can become a problem for the classroom dynamics. This is very challenging for the teachers, especially when they lack appropriate training. The teacher should be very patient and observant in order to be able to identify and understand the student’s learning needs. As a result, the teacher will be able to design an appropriate educational problem.
When having students with EBD attending “normal” schools, the following points should be taking into consideration. First, we must make sure that the school does not apply certain policies such as: students being expelled from school because of inappropriate behavior. These types of policies are unfair towards students with EBD who tend to be very rebellious towards authority figures. Also, teachers should not focus more attention on techniques designed to control the student’s behavior. They should focus their attention on the student’s educational needs.
Students with EBD have serious challenges in controlling themselves and require a great deal of patience, structure, and reinforcement so that they can do better. Teachers with students with EBD in their classroom should seriously consider the following instructional Strategies.
Provide short, manageable tasks.
Set short-term expectations.
Repeat directions frequently.
Be willing to modify classroom expectations and homework problems.
Request students to demonstrate verbally their understanding of the directions.
Materials should be presented for all learning styles; e.g., auditory, visual.
Provide mini-breaks between lessons.
Provide positive reinforcement.
Individualize work assignments.
Structure classroom environment.
Do not place hands on students.
Keep a sense of humor and use it.
Solve problems privately not publicly.
When disciplining the student address the specific behavior and avoid any indication you dislike the student personally.
Be firm, fair, and flexible.
Involve parents.
After, taking a look at the above strategies one will immediately realize that by putting these strategies into practice one will make life easier for both the student and the teacher.
Conclusion
In general, one can say that emotional and behavioral problems need to be taken very seriously. As prospective teachers we need to be familiar with the above characteristics since it is very likely that we will be teaching students with emotional and behavioral problems. Most importantly, we need to make sure that we focus on the students’ educational needs rather than on correcting inappropriate behavior. As teachers we must remember that our first concern is the students’ educational growth.
Researching this topic has helped me to become familiar with the characteristics of EBD. Presently, I am working as a supply teacher and one of my students has behavioral problems. Consequently, I hope that by applying what I have learned during this assignment will help me to better accommodate this particular student’s needs.
Bibliography.
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