Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

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Most youth and adolescents with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) are noticed by the people around them. It's much easier to identify disordered behaviors than it is to define and classify their types and causes. Children with EBD experience a significant number of academic, behavioral, and interpersonal challenges that can adversely affect not only themselves, but teachers, peers, parents, and others who are involved with the child is some capacity (Gresham, Hunter, Corwin, & Fischer, 2013). Although it is easy to recognize aggressive or withdrawn behaviors exhibited by students with EBD, it is difficult to identify the types and causes of their problems, especially from an observation only perspective. The causes for these problems are essentially unknown, but are thought to involve thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. The purpose of this paper is to answer relevant questions regarding the causes of EBD that are often of biological or family origin. The first series of five questions addressed in this paper are associated with biological causes; the second set of five questions will incorporate family/environmental causes for EBD.
The first question of this examination of biological factors causing EBD is as follows: Why do biological factors have such a great appeal as explanations of deviant behavior? Biological factors have special appeal because all behavior involves biochemical, neurological activity. Behaviors and emotions are influenced by genetic, neurological, or biochemical factors, or a combination of these. Kauffman and Landrum (2013) explain that advances in genetics, physiology, and medical technologies such as imaging, and medications make the suggestion of a biological basis for EBD seem reasonable. Furthe...

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...ficulties in an RTI model. Exceptionality, 21(1), 19-33.
DOI: 10.1080/09362835.2013.750115
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