Casual Foactors

Caitlin McKinney

Grand Canyon University: SPE-357

March 26, 2016

        When dealing with younger children the most common disorders found among them are emotional and behavioral disorders. Most of these cases have not been correctly diagnosed because the behaviors that they show are consistent with the child’s development. Because of this factor the parents and teachers do not notice the development of the disorder itself in the child.  There are many casual factors that contribute to EBD and those are biological factors and those are family, school and culture factors. In this paper it will go over each factor and how to identify each one in a child with EBD.

        The first factor we will go over is the family factor; this has several different things that genetically make up a child from their parents. This usually consists of a child born from a parent or family member that has a history of the disorder, and that would give the child a higher risk of developing the disorder as well. Another biological factor is a chemical imbalance that when certain chemicals are not inline within the child then they will develop the disorder as well.  If the child has a chemical imbalance one of the minerals they look for is lower levels of potassium and zinc.  Another thing about family factors is that before the child is exposed to school they do not know all of the things they should not do.  So all of the exposure they have at home will affect how they are going to behave. If a child behaves negatively then that will cause stress and home for the parents and then that causes the parents to become dysfunctional. So the influences of the home life of a child with EBD should not be underestimated at all.  The next factor we will talk about is the social factors.  Social factors would be if the child spent the majority of their time at home or at school.  If a child has negative, inappropriate behaviors for their age (temper tantrums that are longer than they should be, depression, or physical violence) in preschool or at home then the child will show all of those behaviors in elementary school and as they get older as well if they are not diagnosed properly and receive the care they need.  Social rejection is also connected to behavioral issues that lead to disciplinary actions that turn into negative effects on children with EBD.

        The next factor we will talk about is the cultural factors. Cultural influences are also known as social interactions that will have and affect on how children behave.  Being exposed to a variety of attitudes, expectations, and prejudice children can adapt and imitate both positive and negative behaviors they see every day.  Teachers need to make sure we do not have any cultural bias in our class and when we are assessing students. Acknowledging the cultural differences when we are interacting with students with EBD.  Students with a different cultural background need to understand different things and we as teachers have to make sure they understand that. The next factor is the biological factor.  This factor may be able to account for casual explanations where psychological things fall short.  Children are born with a certain biological or psychological disposition and both are related to educational and social influences. Research shows that antisocial children tend to come from homes where the parents use harsh punishment, spend little to no time with the child, the child is neglected, and shows little or no love or affection towards the child and towards their good behaviors. If a child is in this situation all through his or her life then that child will more than likely repeat the same thing when they become a parent as well, so these are learned behaviors.

        Teachers need to make sure they understand each factor and how it will impact each student in their room.  Some students will be affected by the family and cultural factors and others may only be affected by one factor or even all of them, either way no matter what factors the students are dealing with. We as teacher need to make sure we understand them and know what to do to help the student if they are having a hard time.  Students with chemical imbalances are usually affected by serotonin and dopamine to help level out things.  The chemicals imbalance a child may have will lower all different other levels and the child will need to see their doctor to make sure the right medication is provided and which one will need to be adjusted to be helpful. Sometimes children with EBD will have different things that will happen to them in school or at home and they will not do things that trigger them of that memory. So if a student has had a severe punishment in the past and they are scared someone may hit them like that again they may act out or scream if someone gets near them that they think is going to do the same thing. This will also cause the child not to trust an adult the way they should.  Children are always going to trust us until we scare them by doing something to them or harm them, then they are not going to trust us the way they should. Teachers need to make sure the students like this are not getting abused or something else may be happening to them, acting like this may just be the disorder but we can never know for sure until we ask questions and investigate what we see.  So no matter what factors the students have in our rooms we have to make sure other things are not factors as well as the ones listed above. If we think other things are going on we need to make sure we document it and take the correct actions to make sure the child is taken out of that and is safely away from it at all cost.