1
Recommendations for students with ED
Recommendations for General Education Teacher working with Students with Emotional
Disturbance
James Dirks
University of St. Thomas
EDUC 5345 Evidence-Based Practices for Students with Mild Disabilities
Dr. Kanisha Porter
2/17/2015
2
Recommendations for students with ED
“Aaron, please read the text at the top on page 34” the 4th grade Science teacher asks. Aaron
ignores request and continues to talk to a fellow classmate. “Aaron, I said, PLEASE read the
page 34”, the teacher is more vocal in his request and stands in front of Aaron. Aaron continues
to ignore the teacher’s request as he only is paying attention to the female student he is talking
with, which seems to more important to Aaron at the time. The teacher in a louder and more
threatening tone says, “Aaron, if you do not stop talking to Chelsea and start reading, you will be
talking to Mr. Langley (Assistant Principal) instead of Chelsea!!” Aaron jumps up from his seat,
throws the book across the room, and tells the teacher, “I will read when I am [bleeping] well
and ready to, and right now…I am not ready to. Tell Mr. Langley he can kiss my [bleep], I am
done with this place!!!” The science teacher is shocked to hear this from Aaron, as it is only
Aaron’s second day in this school. Aaron then walks out of the class and heads to the nearest exit
of the school. He passes a student which sees Aaron’s anger and the male student asks Aaron
what’s wrong. Aaron does not think twice and hits the kid in the face and then proceeds on his
way off campus and all the way home.
Clearly, the science teacher might have approached Aaron differently if the teacher read
the Aaron’s behavior support plan and spoke to Aaron’s homeroom teacher first. Aaron is
currently being provided a free appropriate public education in his least restrictive environment
in a Behavior Support Class. Aaron has been through three schools already this school year (it’s
only January). He was recently diagnosed as a student with an Emotional Disturbance and started
receiving services in Special Education in this new school due to his past school not having the
appropriate placement. Academically, he has always struggled in reading and does not to read
aloud from text in class.
3
Recommendations for students with ED
The past two paragraphs are based on a true story of a student I used to know, at a prior
school I once worked for, a few years ago. If you have worked with a student with an emotional
disturbance, this scenario probably sounds very believable and familiar. When compared to other
students with disabilities, those with an emotional and behavioral disturbance, move from school
to school more often and are “four times more likely to have been suspended or expelled from
school” (Friend, 2014, pg. 212). Aaron, prior to arriving to the Behavior Support Class, has been
in two different schools. He was expelled from one of them due a physical altercation with
another student. His mom was a bus driver for a school district and had very long and odd hours.
His father was not in the picture, which very much affected Aaron as he took the reasoning for
his father’s absence personally. Understandably, he had a lot of hate toward male teachers due to
his home situation. It was a struggle for many male teachers to work with him. When he received
directives by males, it was met with hostility and/or ignored.
IDEA classifies and defines emotional and behavioral disorders under the Emotional
Disturbance category (Friend, pg. 213). To meet eligibility under emotional disturbance, one
must “exhibit one of more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a
marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Friend, pg. 223): 1)
unable to learn which is not explainable due to intelligence, health, or sensory factors, 2) unable
to build and have positive relationships with other over a long period of time, 3) inappropriate
affect and behavior in normal situations 4) consistently depressed 5) personal problems (school
included) often affects physical well-being or development of fears.
Now the we know what emotional disturbance can look like in a real life situation, as
well as, the federal definition; I will provide you with few strategies that are been peer-reviewed
and researched for effectiveness in working with students with emotional disturbance within a
4
Recommendations for students with ED
general education setting. Of the research I reviewed, all three articles describe a similar
challenge. All of them have mentioned there has not been very much research conducted to
support students with emotional disturbance within their academic needs. One can discover a lot
of research-based strategies to support, this population of special needs students, with behavioral
interventions and behavioral accommodations. Many students with emotional disturbance also
have a need for academic interventions and supports in reading (Meadan, H., & Mason, L. H.
2007). This story of Aaron, describes a student with a possible self-esteem issue in read aloud
activities. My hope, in the next few pages, is to provide some strategies to enable general
education teachers to be equipped with strategies which can be implemented when working with
students with emotional disturbance.
The first strategy to discuss is supporting the emotional and behavioral needs of a student
with emotional disturbance. Although, I argue for the majority of research is on supporting the
behavior in children with emotional disturbance, there is a very important reason for this. In my
opinion, behavior management of students with behavioral challenges is most important to
ensure appropriate classroom management to support quality of instructional time. Lerner &
Johns (2015) provide several strategies in supporting and modifying behavior. Two strategies
which have been time tested and implemented in several schools across the country, whether
intentional or unintentional, are the functional behavioral assessment and positive behavioral
supports (Lerner & Johns, 2015, pg. 166-168). These strategies, when paired together, do an
excellent job in targeting behaviors, understanding why the behavior is occurring, as well as
development of consequences and reinforces. In the case of Aaron, there was a functional
behavior assessment and behavior support plan conducted and documented in the ARD file.
Unfortunately, the teacher was unable to get the behavior plan copied and distributed to all
5
Recommendations for students with ED
ancillary teachers. The plan addressed antecedents when Aaron becomes upset during
opportunities to engage in classwork. The plan appropriately addressed consequences of his
behavior and provided direction for the teacher to deliver effective consequences for Aaron. The
plan also provided desired behavior and reinforcements for the desired behavior.
Killu, K., & Crundwell, R. A. (2008), provide a great list of accommodations for specific behaviors
which are associated with student which have been diagnosed with Bipolar – which meets eligibility for
services under emotional disturbance. I do not recall if Aaron was Bipolar, but this population,
according to Killu & Crundwell (2008), is on the rise and possibly underdiagnosed. In working with
students with emotional disturbance, you have to consider accommodations/interventions for
academics, for test taking and assignments, and you need to consider behavioral/social
accommodations. There is an exceptional list provided by Killu & Crundwell to accommodate students
with Bipolar disorder, but what I appreciate is the interventions for specific behaviors could be used for
a lot of different disabilities. For example, one intervention they provide to help relieve anxiety and
irritability is to give accommodation with using a picture schedule, give advance notice to changes ahead
in routine, as well as to develop a break schedule. The three accommodations are often used in students
with Autism. Picture schedules are also used for general education students, especially those in an early
childhood setting.
In giving general education teacher’s tool and strategies to support the behaviors and
emotional outbursts/tantrums for students with emotional disturbance, we enable the student to
increase their ability to access the general education curriculum. One article I reviewed,
researched strategies to increase reading skills in students with emotional disturbance. Meadan,
H., & Mason, L. H. (2007) utilized researched-based practices which enabled them to provide a case
study in their article which offers a different approach to teaching reading to students with emotional
6
Recommendations for students with ED
disturbance. Self-regulatory strategy development (SRSD) can be used as a reading intervention and has
shown success with students receiving services for emotional disturbance (Meadan & Mason, 2007).
“SRSD lessons include six instructional stages for strategy acquisition: develop preskills, discuss the
strategy, model the strategy, memorize the strategy, use guided practice, and use independent practice”
(Meadan & Mason, 2007). The authors also discuss the importance of self-rewarding when they are
reading. They also implemented a comprehension strategy called TWA or “Think before reading”, “Think
While Reading”, and “After reading”. The premise is to have the students to become engaged in the
reading before, during, and after.
The third article I research and believe will support students with emotional disturbance,
whether implemented in a general education setting or not, is from Hale, A. D., Skinner, C. H., Winn, B.
D., Oliver, R., Allin, J. D., & Molloy, C. M. (2005). Reading comprehension can be especially challenging
for students with emotional disturbance because they will often refuse to re-read a passage. Re-reading
is a strategy that can increase fluency and comprehension (Hale, et al, 2005). When working with
students that have an emotional disturbance, a better strategy to implement is listening-while-reading
(LWR). Students will silently read the selected text, while another person (adult preferred) reads aloud.
Hale et al. (2005) demonstrated an increase comprehension level among a group of struggling readers,
utilizing the LWR strategy, with emotional disturbance.
In conclusion, my suggestions to a general education teacher would be to first pray every day for
patience and understanding when working with a student with emotional disturbance. The challenges
they bless you with, are far less and for a smaller amount of time compared to their internal battle.
Second suggestion would be to provide her/him with the recommendations discussed in the last few
pages. When combined with behavioral interventions and the academic accommodations/strategies, I
think a lot of general education teachers would appreciate working with this diverse group of students.
7
Recommendations for students with ED
References
Meadan, H., & Mason, L. H. (2007). Reading Instruction for a Student with Emotional Disturbance:
Facilitating Understanding of Expository Text. Beyond Behavior, 16(2), 18-26.
Killu, K., & Crundwell, R. A. (2008). Understanding and Developing Academic and Behavioral
Interventions for Students with Bipolar Disorder. Intervention In School And Clinic, 43(4), 244251.
Lerner, J.W. & Johns, B.H. (2015). Learning disabilities and related disabilities: strategies for success (13th
ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Hale, A. D., Skinner, C. H., Winn, B. D., Oliver, R., Allin, J. D., & Molloy, C. M. (2005). An Investigation of
Listening and Listening-while-Reading Accommodations on Reading Comprehension Levels and
Rates in Students with Emotional Disorders. Psychology In The Schools, 42(1), 39-51.