Zachery Westdyke

EDUC 425
Professor Nottis
Paper #2
For almost all children, emotional and behavioral problems can be expected at least at
some point throughout adolescence. Typical adolescent behavior can only be pinpointed to a
certain extent, considering it is typical for behaviors to vary. Often, the most common
characteristic of any behavior becoming atypical is if that behavior is in any way damaging to the
child or others, if it falls considerably outside of what is normally seen, and/or if it is persistent
(Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2006, p. 105). More specifically, students with an emotional or
behavioral disorder are categorized as having an emotional disturbance, and is defined by the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as such:
The term means a condition exhibiting one or more of the
following characteristics over a long period of time and to a
marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance
including:

An inability to learn that 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; or
A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
associated with personal or school problems.

The term includes children who are schizophrenic. The term does
not include children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is
determined that they are emotionally disturbed (Vaughn et al.,
2006, p. 105)
Thus, emotional and behavioral disorders extend far beyond academic performance, and impact
nearly every aspect of an adolescents life.
Despite this, however, they are not always easy to detect. Emotional and behavioral
disorder symptoms are broken down into externalizing and internalizing behaviors.
Externalizing behaviors are much easier to detect, and include things like aggression, hitting,
lack of attention, and impulsivity. Internalizing behaviors, on the other hand, can be much less
noticeable in children, and include things like shyness, withdrawal, depression, and anxiety.
Knowing which kinds of behaviors a child is experiencing can be helpful for better
understanding how to help them and to create a treatment plan for them. Among these two
categories of emotional and behavioral disorders are seven major subtypes: conduct disorder,
hyperactivity and attention problems, socialized aggression, pervasive developmental disorder,
immaturity, depression, and anxiety-withdrawal (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 106).
Conduct disorders are most commonly associated with aggressive behaviors, including
hitting, fighting, throwing, temper tantrums, teasing, acting defiant or disobedient, destroying
property, bullying, being physically cruel to others or animals, stealing with the victim present,
lying, conning, deceiving, and serious rule violations (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 107). It is no
surprise, then, that students with conduct disorders are relatively easy to identify when compared
to students with subtypes that are much more internalizing. Additionally, many of the
characteristic of conduct disorders involve more than just the student at focus (e.g. fighting,

bullying, teasing, stealing); this can make handling adolescents with this type of disorder rather
difficult. Despite the aggressive and often disobedient behaviors, children with conduct
disorders are usually at a normal level of intelligence, but tend to exhibit low academic
achievement inside and outside of the classroom (Vaughn et al., 2006, p.107).
To further distinguish between adolescents with conduct disorders, Loerber et al. (1993)
examined the several developmental pathways of children with conduct disorders. They
identified three main pathways: overt behavior, covert behavior, and disobedience. Overt
behaviors include aggression, coercion, bullying, the manipulation of others, and escalated
interactions with teachers, parents, and peers. Covert behaviors include stealing, lying, burglary,
and the use of drugs and alcohol. Finally, disobedience involves behaviors like noncompliance,
defiant behavior, and resistance to adult influence. It should also be noted that these three
pathways are by no means exclusive, and children may very well follow more than one pathway
throughout and beyond their adolescence (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 108). Indeed, these are
behaviors representative of many of the boys at the alternative education program. In particular,
I have seen mostly covert behaviors and some disobedience in regards to students with conduct
disorder symptoms. Several students have records of theft, drug possession and use, and
excessive confrontation towards teachers, peers, and parents.
A second subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is hyperactivity. Students with
hyperactivity tend to be tense, unable to relax, and overly talkative; have difficulty being quiet;
and run or climb excessively (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 108). It is important to note that
hyperactivity does not necessarily refer to students who cant sit still for long periods of time;
indeed, most students find it difficult to sit still for hours at a time. A child with hyperactivity,
however, will exhibit much more severe symptoms. Additionally, children with hyperactivity

also tend to have other difficulties like depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, and attention
problems. A common diagnosis for children with hyperactivity is attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). It is essentially a combination of hyperactivity and attention problems. An
array of drugs are used to help treat ADHD symptoms, including stimulants, non-stimulants, and
even antidepressants (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 108). I bring this up to briefly mention my
experience with one of the teenagers at the program who started a treatment plan for his ADHD
during my time there so I was able to see the change in his behavior. Though I am unaware of
which medication he was prescribed, I immediately noticed a change in his impulsive behavior.
Unfortunately, the medication seemed to bring him in the completely opposite direction, to
where he seemed to have very little emotion and motivation. Perhaps it is not the best choice of
medication for him, or perhaps the dosage is too strong; either way, I found it to be a noteworthy
observation from my experience regarding hyperactivity.
A third subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is socialized aggression. This
subtype is used to describe adolescents who routinely engage in antisocial behavior (Vaughn et
al., 2006, p. 108). In a school setting, this involves truancy, skipping classes, harassing other
students, and damaging property. While many of these characteristics are reminiscent of conduct
disorders, socialized aggression usually involves other people. Therefore, it is common to see
adolescents with socialized aggression to engage in group behavior, or behaviors [that] are
displayed in the presence of other group members (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 108). Among
children with socialized aggression, Lancelotta and Vaughn (1989) identified five subtypes of
aggression, including provoked physical aggression, unprovoked physical aggression, verbal
aggression, outburst aggression, and indirect aggression. Some of these types of aggression are

more accepted by children than others. For example, provoked aggression is considered a much
more reasonable act of aggression by children than indirect or outburst aggression.
In my experience at the alternative education program, I have noticed mostly a
combination of unprovoked physical aggression and verbal aggression; if I could make another
subtype, I would probably call it unprovoked verbal aggression. One thing I noticed about this
type of aggression, though, is that it does not seem to be entirely unprovoked. That is, a cause
for their anger can usually be found, but it rarely has to do with the student they take their anger
out on. In most cases, it seems to be that the students were angered earlier in the day by a
teacher, parent, or other adult, and this aggression then stays with them to the after-school
program where they can sometimes be aggressive towards their peers. Fortunately, they are
usually quick to understand the misdirection of their aggression once it is made aware to them.
A fourth subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is pervasive developmental
disorder. Within this subtype exists several diagnoses, including autistic disorder, Retts
syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Aspergers syndrome. Generally speaking,
children with a pervasive developmental disorder exhibit marked delays in multiple areas of
development: social interaction skills, communication skills, and stereotypical behavior,
interests, and activities (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 91). While some children may have limited
vocabularies and others accelerated ones, deficits in language use (in general) are often seen in
children with the disorder (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 92). Even though there has recently been a
dramatic increase in the prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders, there are currently no
students in the alternative education program diagnosed with one.
A fifth subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is immaturity. In some ways unlike
the way the word immaturity is colloquially used, as an emotional and behavior disorder it refers

to behaviors associated with immaturity include lack of perseverance, failure to finish tasks, a
short attention span, poor concentration, and frequent daydreaming or preoccupation (Vaughn et
al., 2006, p. 109). Thus, it can almost be thought of as a more severe form of someone who we
might describe as mildly immature. As an emotional and behavioral disorder, immature students
have difficulty engaging in school, participating in groups, and using social skills. Additionally,
adolescents of this subtype tend to be overly reliant on parents or guardians (Vaughn et al., 2006,
p. 109).
Many of these behaviors are exhibited by children at the alternative education program.
Particularly, I have noticed severely short attention spans, a failure to finish tasks, and frequent
sleeping. Many students lose focus within minutes of an assignment or lecture beginning, and, in
regards to assignments, majority of the students fail to complete enough assignments to receive a
passing grade. Furthermore, these are explicitly assignments that they are given time to
complete in class (the only homework the students have are tasks they ignored in school).
Regardless of the teachers incessant pleas to get some children to keep their heads off their
desks, several students spend an hour or two a day asleep on their desks. Whether this reflects a
lack of sleep at home, a side-effect of medication, or a symptom of a behavioral disorder cannot
be said, though.
A sixth subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is one that is generally more wellknown depression. Depression involves prolonged and persistent feelings of dejection that
interfere with life functioning (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 109). Depression has only recently begun
being seen as a widespread issue in both adolescents and adults lives, but it can sometimes be
difficult to detect. Other behaviors related to and symptomatic of depression include feelings of
loneliness and apathy, low self-esteem, avoidance behaviors, lack of sleep, fear of social and

public places, loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities or hobbies, and talk of suicide
(Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 109). While I am not positive about any specific diagnoses at the
alternative education program, the behaviors typically seen in children with depression are not
very salient in any children at the program.
Finally, a seventh subtype of emotional and behavioral disorders is anxiety and
withdrawal. While the two terms are highly related, withdrawal is typically seen as a result of
anxiety. Anxiety refers to extreme worry, fearfulness, and concern (even when little reason for
those feelings exists) (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 109). Withdrawal describes students who
frequently withdraw from others and appear seclusive, preferring solitary actions (Vaughn et
al., 2006, p. 110). Indeed, anxiety and withdrawal tend to exist together: students with high
anxiety are often timid in social settings, and will react by withdrawing from group interactions.
This process often becomes cyclical, as other students may end up avoiding the students who
withdraw themselves. Anxiety also leads to apathetic school behavior, such as a lack of
volunteering and poor participation in group work. Typically, this behavior can be attributed to
low levels of confidence or low self-esteem (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 110). For the most part,
neither anxiety nor withdrawal seems to be largely prevalent at the alternative education
program.
With a variety of emotional and behavioral disorders comes a variety of potential causes.
Put simply, the potential causes of emotional and behavioral disorders are a combination of
genetic and environmental factors. In regards to environmental factors, family violence,
dysfunctional parenting, and physical and sexual abuse are among some common causes of
emotional and behavior disorders (Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 110). In regards to genetic and
hereditary explanations, pre- and postnatal drug use has been linked to the development of

adolescent behavioral and emotional disorders (Sinclair, 1998). Of course, as is true with most
disorders, the causes are never concrete, and tend to be a combination of both genetic and social
factors.
At the alternative education program, however, I really only have access to the
environmental factors given that I do not know much about the hereditary information of the
children or their parents behavior during or before pregnancy. The environmental factors,
though, are very salient and seem to be the most obvious cause for the students behaviors.
About half of the current students at the program are currently living in foster care. This is not a
result of deceased parents, but rather a result of their biological parents being ruled unfit to take
care of them. In some cases, this resulted from sexual abuse, in others it was physical abuse.
Regardless, of the students in foster care, they all grew up in violent and emotionally unstable
households. Furthermore, even many of their foster care situations are unstable; only a couple of
the students feel any type of emotional connection with their foster parent(s), and several of the
students are constantly moving in and out of different households.
For the students who are still living with their parents, the environment is not much
better. Many students who live with their biological parents consistently complain about their
parents lack of caring and understanding. One student (in the process of revoking her mothers
rights to raise her) spoke about how she wanted her mother in her life, but that she needed her
mother to change before she could feel comfortable living with her. Many of these students feel
safer and more comfortable at school than they do at home. By and large, these students
emotional and behavioral disorders are a significant result of a perceived (and often existent)
lack of caring and attention from their parents.

In addition to dysfunctional households, several students are also in the process of

recovering from drug addictions. After talking with them about it, I learned that for some
students, the start of their addictions came about because of their parents drug use. For other
students, the start of their drug use came about as a result of the way their parents treated them
(e.g. drugs as a sort of escape from reality). Regardless, the students experiences with drug
addictions serve as potential factors for their emotional and behavioral disorders.
There are several ways students with emotional and behavioral disorders can be
accommodated in a school program. First and foremost, it is important to have an organized,
consistent, and structured environment. This means that the space must be clean and tidy, and
the daily schedule should be generally consistent with little surprises. Students should also have
a role in the tidiness of the classroom. Second, it is important for the teacher (and other staff
members) to show concern and empathy towards the students. Remember that disliking the
students behavior is not the same as disliking the student, who needs your respect and caring
(Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 113). Many children with emotional and behavioral disorders lack the
care and affection from their parents that is almost necessary for normal development, so it is
important that they at least get it at school. If this type of atmosphere is created, then the childs
negative or hurtful behavior can be effectively changed into more positive, self-caring behavior.
(Vaughn et al., 2006, p. 114-5).
While this type of atmosphere can be difficult to create for a child in a general education
classroom, the alternative education has the benefit of fewer students with more in common. The
alternative education program follows many of the suggestions offered by Vaughn et al. (2006),
and has the advantage of being able to include counseling and therapeutic strategies. The
children receive a life skills session once a day during school, and also have the option of

attending an after-school program focused on group therapy. Clearly, this is not usually offered
in a traditional school setting. From what I have seen so far, I think the program has been
successful in helping the children. In my few months there, I have already noticed several
changes in behavior of many of the students. Somewhat unfortunately, though, I think most of
these changes are a result of the after-school counseling sessions, rather than their experience in
the alternative school program. Thus, traditional public schools might benefit by finding a way
to incorporate group therapy sessions either into their day plan or into an after-school program
for adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders.

References

Loeber, R., Wung, P., Keenan, K., Giroux, B., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Van Kammen, W., &
Maughan, B. (1993). Developmental pathways in disruptive child behavior.
Developmental and Psychopathology, 51(1/2), 103-134.
Sinclair, E. (1998). Head start children at risk: Relationship of prenatal drug use exposure to
identification of special needs and subsequent special education kindergarten placement.
Behavioral Disorders, 23(2), 125-133.
Vaughn, S., Bos, C., & Schumm, J. S. (2006). Teaching exceptional, diverse, and at-risk students
in the general education classroom. 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.