Emotional and Behavioral Disability (EBD)

The U.S. Federal definition of an Emotional Behavioral Disorder is,

“A child exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics to a marked degree for a long duration of time that adversely affects their education:

1.Difficulty to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

2.Difficulty to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

3.Inappropriate types of behavior (acting out against self or others) or feelings (express's the need to harm self or others, low self-worth, etc.) under normal circumstances.

            4.A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

 5.A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.”

Book: Characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders of Children and Youth

Emotional and behavioral disorders are often exhibited as internalized behaviors and externalized behaviors. These behaviors become noticeable when the behaviors have become more prominent over the emotional disturbance. As defined by the IDEA, emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia but does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

As stated above, EBDs are often shown through internalized and externalized behaviors. Internalized behavior patterns consist of anxiety, depression, and lack of motivation.  Students who internalize are often withdrawn from family, friends, and school. A child who internalizes their problems often has a loss of interest in activities including social engagements and work. Students who internalize may be on the Autism spectrum, have a panic disorder, or develop Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Teachers of children who are exhibited internalized behaviors should monitor medications for side effects and behavioral fluctuations, assist with behavioral treatments in the classroom, and reinforce cognitive behavioral interventions related to classroom.

Externalized behavior patterns consist of aggression, disruption, and acting out. Children who externalize are often truant in school and act out their emotions instead of holding them in. Their behaviors may include fighting, bullying, cursing, and other forms of violence. Students who externalize their behavior are sometimes labeled as having a conduct disorder or have ADHD.

EBDs can be further broken down into different dimensions of the disability. Conduct disorders are an externalized behavior and are shown through disobedience, irritability, and rebellion. Personality disorders can be both an internalized or externalized pattern. People exhibiting a personality disorder often are withdrawn, anxious, or manic. Lastly, socialized delinquency is a further dimension of EBD. It is often shown through involvement in gangs and other delinquent children.

http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/cs/children_and_youth

         

To help students with EDBs succeed in school multidisciplinary educational teams (teachers, administrators, special educators) and parents, must design programs to meet the individual behavioral and academic needs of the student. Students with EBDs can range in the amount of inclusion they receive during a school day. Some students may be placed in institutional programs; some may spend all or part of their day in a special education exclusion classroom. And some may only need support and scaffolding to be successful in and inclusion classroom.

 

Of the students diagnsed with and EBD, here is the breakdown of specific disorders.

  For students with EBDs, success is often found in structured classrooms that provide rules and routines. Students respond well to positive reinforcement like: rewards, stickers, and token economies. These can all be directly measured and provide a monitoring of the behavioral change. In order for students to develop control over their behavior, teachers should model, discuss, and rehearse positive behaviors with the student. This creates a good example for the student while being able to mentally process its positive outcomes. Music therapy, art, relaxation techniques and exercise are all great ways for a student with an EBD to develop self-control, self-understanding, and higher self-esteem.

There are different educational recommendations to help students with EBDs succeed in school. Strategies used for students with EBD should be based on changing the behavior itself. The system is often centered on discouraging the unwanted behavior and rewarding/encouraging the desired behavior. The first step in setting up a strategy is to specifically identify the behavior which needs to be changed, and then create a baseline of the observed behavior. Next, the teacher and student should develop short and long term goals for the targeted behavior. In the plan create a reward system to be used. Such as: give student a check mark for every 15 minutes behavior is appropriate. When the student receives 8 checks they may have 10 minutes of computer time. Once the plan has been implemented, reevaluate the plan for effectiveness. Lastly, make modifications in the behavior plan to reinforce the desired outcome.

 

Informatin from: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education with funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under OERI contract. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or the Department of Education.