Running head: WORKING WITH EBD STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM 1

Working With emotional behavior disorders Students in the Classroom

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Working with students with emotional behavior disorders (EBD) in the classroom

Introduction

The emotional behavior disorder is a broad term which can be used to describe some

disorders such as the Manic-Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, and Oppositional-

Defiant Disorder among others. These disorders can also be classified under emotional

disturbance (Egger, & Angold, 2006). The skills a teacher should use as a means of

intervention should strive to help the behavior and emotional disorders especially those who

exhibit these specific characteristics. These characteristics are the have an inability to learn,

inability to maintain interpersonal relationships between him/her teacher or peers. They have

developed behaviors considered inappropriate by what many consider normal conditions;

they have a constantly depressed and unhappy. Lastly, they have a tendency to develop school

related fear. The interventions detailed later in the document seek to help the learners with

emotional behavior disorders deal with these problems.

A Description of the Intervention

The intervention a teacher can use to help a learner dealing with the disorder concerns

being aware of the learners medical situation. It is essential that the teacher gets in touch

with the behaviors and feelings of the learner. One of the things teachers need to understand

is that dealing with such a person is a challenge. One of the main reasons which make the

intervention challenging concerns the fact that the emotional behavior disorder cannot be

treated medically (Lane, 2004). Despite the fact that a learner in school might be receiving

medical intervention, the disorder is always present. However, many of the learners do not

normally inform teachers of their conditions especially citing the fact that medical

information is often confidential. Understanding that these students might be unable to meet
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the behavioral and academic expectations, the teacher can strive to provide special education

intervention as opposed to punishing them for low performance.

A Review of the Current Literature on the Intervention

The main intervention which a teacher needs to implement if s/he has to help students

suffering from the emotional behavior disorder entails providing special education to them.

However, this is for the privilege but if one is to ensure that they are catered for without

revealing their condition (Coleman, & Vaughn, 2000). Some of the measures a teacher can

make to ensure that they are comfortable in the classroom include;

One is to ensure that the classroom activities and rules are not only clear but also

simple. The students who have been diagnosed with any form of emotional behavior disorder

are likely to struggle and have problems if the rules are long and complicated. It is

recommended that a teacher ensures that the classroom rules and guidelines are summarized

into three to five main points. It is essential that the students have a look at it during the first

day in class (Coleman, & Vaughn, 2000). Furthermore, the teacher should recommend that it

is pinned in the class so that the learners are familiar with them. A teacher can summarize the

rules simply by writing; be on time, be polite, try your best and respect one another. In

addition to the simple rules, it is essential that a teacher outlines the class activities in a clear

and simple manner. Doing so will ensure that the learners suffering from the emotional

behavior disorder can easily follow and interact with his/her colleagues. Keeping the class

activities simple entails writing something like; clickers, choral responding, responsive cards

or guided notes. Making the class activities simple will ensure that the learners with the

emotional behavior disorder interact with the lesson plan established by the teacher.

The teacher should also strive to reward positive behaviors from the students suffering

from emotional behavior disorder. In as much as punishing negative and undesirable

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behaviors can be effective; a rewarding positive behavior is even more effective. When one

considers the fact that the learners suffering from the emotional behavior disorder have a

tendency to take any form of punishment as a personal attack. However, developing a

rewards system can bring about positive feedback from the student suffering from emotional

behavior disorder (Rock, Fessler, & Church, 1997). It is these act that will ensure that they

look at the reward as a positive effect of good behavior. As a result, they are likely to embrace

good behavior which will make them behave well and increase their academic performance.

The teacher should also strive to ensure that there are several mini-breaks in between

lessons. Learners who have been diagnosed with the emotional behavior disorder should be

allowed to have these mini breaks since they lack the emotional maturity and balance to help

them focus for long periods of time. Teachers should avoid reprimanding these learners but

should strive to ensure that they have an adequate number of breaks within the school day.

Taking the time to ensure that the learners catch up, stretch out, finish their assignments and

move a bit is essential in allowing them to burn excess energy which might have built up

after long periods of sitting down.

The teachers should also strive to ensure that all the learners including those with the

emotional behavior disorder receive fair treatment. One of the challenges with the learners

dealing with emotional behavior disorder concerns the response they have in unfair

conditions. Treating learners with the emotional behavior disorder unfairly can result in the

ejection of negative emotion and undesirable behaviors (Coleman, & Vaughn, 2000). If they

are not treated fairly as their colleagues, they are likely to change their behaviors. In an

attempt to ensure that the teacher is treating every student fairly, the teacher needs to ensure

that they do not bend the rules in any one case.

Evaluation
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The development of simple rules and routines is very effective in making sure that the

learners understand the conduct they are to make the life of the learners suffering from

emotional behavior disorder easier. It has been found that keeping the rules clear and simple

is effective. However, the wordings of the rules can be even more effective, for instance, the

rules worded as respect others and yourself has been found to be more effective that do not

hurt anyone. It is also important to understand that breaking these rules comes with

consequences which need to be outlined clearly at the beginning of the school year. It is

essential that teachers ensure that all the students are familiar with the corresponding

punishment (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002). Doing so will ensure that the student

understands the consequences of undesirable behavior. Furthermore, the reactions of the

teacher can also have a negative impact on the behavior of a learner associated with the

emotional behavior disorder. A teacher should never react emotionally to a student who has

broken any rule but should strive to understand the cause of the problem.

Establishing a special setting for learners suffering from emotional behavior disorder

can help them deal with the issues that come with the disorder. Teaching them in the same

classroom with the other learners can do more harm than good. Doing so will ensure that they

develop positive and adaptive behavior. Some of the ideas that have proved to be effective

include the establishment of a token economy. The token economy entails earning points for

good behavior (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002). To make the technique even more effective,

positive behaviors should be rewarded more constantly. Another technique concerns the

development of a classroom behavior chart. The chart should detail the graphs showing the

behavior progress of every student. With every positive behavior, the chart of a student

should be inclined to go upwards. On the other hand, any unwanted behaviors should indicate

a downward trend in the graph.

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Conclusion

To sum up, the paper has provided information on some of the recommendations for a

teacher dealing with learners suffering from the emotional behavior disorder. In as much as it

might sound simple, teaching learners suffering from one of the disorders under the umbrella

term emotional behavior disorder is a challenging endeavor (Bower, 1982). It is essential

that the teacher first determines who have the condition and who does not. S/he should

consider then devise ways in which one can strive to make sure that no one is affected by the

school activities. One of the main intervention techniques that teachers should watch out for

concerns the idea of punishment and reward. A reward system is more effective than the

punishment system especially when one is dealing the learners diagnosed with the emotional

behavior disorder.
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References

Bower, E. M. (1982). Defining emotional disturbance public policy and research. Psychology

in the Schools, 19(1), 55-60.

Coleman, M., & Vaughn, S. (2000). Reading interventions for students with

emotional/behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 93-104.

Egger, H. L., & Angold, A. (2006). Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool

children: presentation, nosology, and epidemiology. Journal of Child Psychology and

Psychiatry, 47(34), 313-337.

Kern, L., Bambara, L., & Fogt, J. (2002). Class-wide curricular modification to improve the

behavior of students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders,

317-326.

Lane, K. L. (2004). Academic instruction and tutoring interventions for students with

emotional/behavioral disorders: 1990 to present. Handbook of research in emotional

and behavioral disorders, 462-486.

Rock, E. E., Fessler, M. A., & Church, R. P. (1997). The concomitance of learning disabilities

and emotional/behavioral disorders: A conceptual model. Journal of Learning

Disabilities, 30(3), 245-263.

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