Edu 206a - Emotionally and Behaviorally Challenged Students

Devin Skelton        

November 18, 2015

EDU 206A

Dr. Carpenter

Diversity Report

Emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students is a wide spread problem throughout the United States.  With there being so much emphasis on common core, and students trying to relatively learn the same material, there should be an extra emphasis put on students with emotional and behavioral problems.  While for educators it can sometimes be frustrating having to teach students with different problems, it is these same students that are failed by the system because they weren’t given the proper amount of attention.  The problem with emotional and behavioral problem students, is that while there has been wide spread problems over the course of many years, there are still students who fall through the cracks and aren’t given the same amount of opportunities as those with less setbacks.  During the process of this report, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that something has to be done in terms of helping these students identify their problems and helping them find a solution.  With emotions and behavior being a problem with students, it’s very unlike a disease or disability, in that with emotional and behavioral problems, you can possibly find a solution or a guide that helps the student reach further potential.  While emotional and behavioral disturbances can affect the way a child acts and learns in a school environment, it’s important for an educator to surface the child’s problem so there can be a solution found that gives the child a better chance at succeeding in the classroom.  Throughout this paper, I will discuss how an educator goes about gaining an understanding on a particular student with an emotional or behavioral problem in the classroom.  In doing this I will provide insight that previous educators have experienced in making it easier for them and the students to deal with their issue.  With becoming more knowledgeable about emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students during the process of this project, I will eventually insert common recommendations that I found from previous educators.  Having an emotionally or behaviorally disturbed student in the classroom doesn’t make them any more or less normal than another.  Understanding their obstacles and knowing how to deal with their obstacles is what can increase the probability of them overcoming their obstacles to be successful.

        During an educator’s life in the classroom, they will interact with students who have so many more problems than what appear.  With there being so much diversity between students these days, it’s easy for a student to “slip through a crack” and never be given the same opportunities as everybody else.  For example, if there is a child with an emotional or behavioral problem and the teacher doesn’t recognize it, there is a good chance that they will have trouble learning the material as well as others.  One of the problems that also raises concern is that the students with these problems are at higher risk of disturbing the rest of the class.  While cure’s for emotional and behavioral students are usually limited, there are ways for teachers to help students become less problematic and more equal in terms of a classroom as a whole.  One of the most influential child psychologists, Bruno Bettelheim, wrote the book, “Love Is Not Enough” where he suggested several ways to make it easier for a child with emotional or behavior problems to interact in a classroom.  Bettelheim believes that seriously disturbed behavior by a student stems from their past experiences.  Diversity in a classroom doesn’t necessarily come in the form of interest, race, and gender.  One of the most common diversities in the classroom comes from past events that a particular student had to go through.  This is true when looking at emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students; a lot of their diversity comes from what they endured in the past.  There was actually a study done titled, “Students Identified as Seriously Emotionally Disturbed in School-Based Day Treatment: Cognitive, Psychiatric, and Special Education Characteristics.”  This study was done by two Professors and a Doctor.  While the outcome of the study isn’t necessarily important in this case, how they went about studying emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students is what makes this study important.  The first thing that took place in this study was finding out background information on the students and their home life.  Learning about every part of these particular students’ life is crucial in that you can gain a better understanding of why they act in the manner that they do.  

        When students have problems with their emotions or behavior, it is very common that they are seeking something from the teacher or students that have not been given to them in the past.  Usually, one would suggest that the attention students are seeking is something that can be prevented by action at home, but this is not always the case.  Bettelheim begins his book by saying, “There is no such thing as a typical child… (Betelheim, pg. 25)” This is really important when understanding a classroom environment and how students are reacting during their time at school.  If a teacher suggest that there is a “typical” child, then there will be a wide spread problem in the classroom when it comes to styles of learning.  One of the things that emotional and behavioral students have problem with is that they are the furthest thing from being a “typical” student.  Individualism is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to classroom styles, especially with students who have such problems as emotional and behavioral issues.  In Bettelheim’s book he opens up with a child who has a severe case of behavioral problems.  First off, the girl approaches Bettelheim as if she were a dog.  Though this is a simple way of figuring out the girl has an issue, Bettelheim did what all educators should do with possible problematic children, he reached out to the child in order to study what is going on with her further and got to truly know her.  This relates to how an educator should act when studying one of their students, because they should first find out who the student truly is.  Going into depth on the study of their student is important, because they can learn about their past, weaknesses, and strengths to develop a plan that extends the potential of their emotionally or behaviorally disturbed student.