Module 9 Emotional
Disturbance
Students identified with emotional or behavioral problems are among the most
challenging in the mainstream classroom. Due to their personal issues they can be disruptive to other students besides having
academic difficulties themselves.
Characteristics of students with behavior disorders generally are described
to include:
- Inability to benefit from
academic instruction not due to intellectual capacity, hearing or vision problems.
- Inability to develop and maintain
positive interpersonal relationships with peers or adults.
- Highly inappropriate responses
to environmental or social conditions.
- Wide variations in moods.
- Frequent physical complaints
or periods of tiredness that have no medical basis.
One of the complexities with this area is reflected by the terminology of how
such students are categorized. The term “behavior disorder” or “BD” tends to indicate a capacity to
change behavior voluntarily to person who does not have training in understanding mental health disorders. Teachers, who typically
have minimal training in mental health areas, are likely to see the student as making a choice to be disruptive when their
behavior may have underlying mental health origins. The BD student is seen as the out of control student who chooses to be
aggressive either physically or verbally. Students of this type at older ages are more likely than others to be involved in
the juvenile justice system.
Another term more often used recently is Emotional Disorder (ED) or Severe
Emotional Disorder (SED). These may include a wide assortment of mental health concerns including children with histories
of severe trauma, high anxiety, and pervasive developmental disorders such as Asperger Syndrome. These children have wide
ranging behaviors. SED includes students with aggressive behavior but also may include students who exhibit immature, withdrawn
behavior. It is also not unusual to see multiple diagnoses for such children including learning disorders and/or physically
handicapping conditions. Like other types of disabilities, there should be an individualized education plan (IEP) for each
SED student. Like any other student who is exceptional, proper assessment is important.
While “inclusion” and “mainstreaming” are stressed
as preferred approaches for other types of disabilities, students with BD or SED are much more likely to be removed from normal
classrooms. Behavior support within a regular classroom or within a resource room may include behavior checklists, diagnostic
testing, and direct observation. Various instructional interventions are based on commonly accepted mental health theories
such as behavior theory or humanistic theory. A typical school may have a “behavior management specialist” who
helps design specific programs for individual children and is on-call for crisis interventions.
At the high school level it is not unusual for SED students to be placed into
alternative school programs. Students at this age are more likely to be able
to hurt themselves or others because of their size; therefore there is much less tolerance of acting out behaviors within
the mainstream schools. Students with all types of mental health issues are likely to be mixed together in such alternate
programs. It is very common that students with Conduct Disorders or Oppositional Defiant Disorders to be placed in SED classes
along with students who are very quiet and withdrawn. These passive students
who may be very shy, anxious, and fearful are not as commonly referred to SED classes as they tend to be viewed as less problematic
in regular classrooms. Very structured classes are typically provided for SED students. A higher than average ratio of supervision
is provided by teachers and other adults who are empowered to restrain acting out students. SED students in alternative schools
are well known for becoming losing interest and motivation about school and dropping out. They tend to have high rates of
truancy and may become involved in illegal or dangerous activities.
There is also more likelihood that parents will be less involved with high
school students who have behavior disorders. Like other parents of other exceptional children, there is a burn-out factor
for one thing. Mental health issues start long before high school in most cases. During their younger years parents are much
more likely to be engaged in seeking resources such as counseling and medication for their children. As children get older
and continue to act in ways that are different than their peers, parents may get frustrated, disappointed, angry and/or just
give up. Part of this is an increased expectation from authority figures for accountability on parents for their child’s
behavior which the parent can no longer control. That is, “parent blaming” becomes stressful for parents. If a
child acts out aggressively or commits an illegal act, the parent is included as a guilty party. This shows a great lack of
understanding of SED issues within the educational system as mental health issues are rarely “cured.” Educators need more understanding and training to support students with SED to ensure that they progress
from school to the adult world with at least some minimal skills for dealing with daily life.
I chatted recently with a mother and her son who had been in an SED classroom for his
high school years. He earned only enough credits to complete the 11th grade.
He dropped out when he turned 18 and is now 21, unemployed and living at home. Mom says he sleeps a lot and she would
like him to move out. He has had a number of entry level jobs such as fast food, but has never held a job for more than six
months. He enjoys computer games and tinkering with his computer. He would like to work in that field sometime in the future
but he doesn’t want anything to do with ever going back to a school. He
had been placed at a self-contained school because of failure to progress academically, according to his mother. She reported
he had a number of traumatic events in early childhood including sexual assault. He was a very shy child, much smaller than
his peers and had severe learning disabilities. I asked the son what he had disliked the most about the program to make him
not like school so much. His immediate reaction was that the teachers had treated everyone “like dummies.” He
was particularly negative about the reward system. He scornfully told me that they would give them a piece of candy just for
sitting in their chairs. He stated that was treating them like babies. The mother reported that her son was afraid to go to
school and would hide to avoid going. She reported that it was common for the police to come at the beginning of the school
year with warrants to arrest juveniles there at the school who were wanted on various offenses. She tried to get her son transferred to another school because of his learning disabilities but the school
refused to do so. She said it was because her son had cursed the teachers a few times when he was frustrated. She went to a few meetings at the school but gave up after the second year.
She says she’s just glad he didn’t end up in jail or dead like some of his classmates.
Here is a great
support group for parents of children with emotional problems:
Georgia Parent
Support Network:
http://www.gpsn.org/
Federation of
Families for Mental Health:
http://www.ffcmh.org/
