Emotional Behaviour Problems

Emotional Behaviour Problems

Many children in today’s world experience some form of emotional behavior. In some cases these emotions are not adequetly dealt with well by the child. How do teachers, the government, and parents deal with children who have behavior problems ranging from moderate, to severe? The answer is to follow. This paper will discuss five different articles which define what a behavior problem is, classroom management strategies for students and teachers, and the education environments that are best for children with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders. (EBD) Topics also included, community support, teacher perceptions of what is being done, and parent’s perspectives on the services provided for their youths with EBD. I will also address the things that surprised me about this system and the things I found that might be helpful or affect my teaching strategies in the future.

The first article I read from Behavioral Disorders Journal was “Classroom Management Strategies: Are they setting events for coercion?” This article addressed some common methods teachers are using to force all students to participate in classroom activities. The authors, Richard E. Shaus, Phillip L. Gunter, and Susan L. Jack, described the coercion methods that many teachers use to convince students to work. The purpose of this article was to investigate how students react to teachers who used reciprocal or coercive methods to teach. The authors found that, “ teachers are more likely to attend to . . . inappropriate behavior . . . than they are to use positive verbal attention for appropriate behavior . . .” Coercive interactions occur as a student uses attempts to gain a reaction or outcome by displaying an assertive attitude. A reciprocal interaction is usually a positive exchange between two parties. One person’s positive act induces the other person to have a positive response.

Students who use escape or avoidance behavior probably are not encountering positive reciprocal behavior. In a regular classroom it would seem that teachers are more likely to use coercive behavior to calm down an out-of-control classroom. This study showed that, although verbal reprimands decrease a child’s inappropriate behavior, it does not stop the disruptive attitude. Placement of students can have a large effect on a disruptive student’s behavior. Establi...

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...articles, a common thread is seen. All are attempting, to some degree, to improve the nature of services provided for children with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders. All the articles recognized and addressed the fact that, some children genuinely have emotional problems. And that these problems can affect their day to day lives. As a future teacher, I felt that these papers helped my understanding of things that could improve my teaching strategies. Not only would it provide me with skills for handling EBD students, but also every student I may encounter. Any extra help a teacher can provide to any student is beneficial. With this new found information, I would hope that I could provide the attention and resources needed to make a child and their parents feel comfortable. A few things that stuck in my mind about these articles were: one on one contact with both the child and parents, giving the child some self management skills as well as responsibilities, in order to help them deal with their emotions, also avoiding use of confrontation, or aggressive behavior to obtain results from any child. From these readings I hope that I will be a more compassionate and attentive teacher.