1. Emotional Disturbance
by
Ellen Tschopp

2. What is Emotional Disturbance?
• The IDEA defines emotional disturbance as
“a condition exhibiting one or more of the
following characteristics over a long period
of time and to a marked degree”

3. • An inability to learn which cannot be explained by
intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory
interpersonal relationships with peers and
teachers.
• Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under
normal circumstances.
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
depression.
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
associated with personal or school problems.

4. The IDEA definition addresses:
• Chronicity (“over a long period of time”)
• Severity (“to a marked degree”)
• Difficulty in school (“adversely effects
educational performance”)

5. Council for Children with Behavioral
Disorders new definition (2000)
• Applies to “emotional or behavioral
responses in school programs so different
from appropriate age, cultural, or ethnic
norms that the responses adversely affect
educational performance, including
academic, social, vocational or personal
skills”

6. • more than temporary, expected response to
stressful events, consistently exhibited in
two different settings, unresponsive to
direct intervention in general education.
• “Includes such disability that co-exist with
other disabilities”
• Includes schizophrenic disorder, affective
disorder and anxiety disorder

7. Characteristics:
2 Dimensions
• Externalizing
– generally
noncompliant
behavior.
– does not follow
directions within a
reasonable amount of
time.
– Arguing, tantrums,
fighting, rule breaking,
disruptive, yells out,
gets out of seat,
destroys property, lies,
steals

8. Characteristic #2
• Internalizing
– Very little social
interaction
– Seldom plays with
other children
– Extremely fearful
without reason
– Complains of being
sick
– bouts of depression

9. Types of anxiety, mood and other
emotional disorders
• Generalized anxiety • Post-traumatic stress
disorder disorder
• Phobias • Selective mutism
• Obsessive/compulsive • Depression
disorder (OCD) • Bipolar disorder
• Anorexia Nervosa • Schizophrenia
• Bulimia Nervosa • Tourette syndrome

10. Academic Achievement
• Perform one or more years below grade
level
• Exhibit significant deficiencies in reading
and math as well as study skills
• Deficits remain stable or gets worse as they
grow older
• Have a high level of drop out rate from high
school

11. Intelligence
• Score in low learner or mild intellectual
disabilities range
• The average student actively attends to the
teacher and work 85% of the time
• Students with EBD are on task only 60% of
the time

12. Prevalence
• Estimates of how
many children have
EBD varies based on
studies
• Different criteria are
used to decide what
constitutes EBD in
children

13. Causes:
Biological Factors
• Brain disorders – abnormal brain
development or brain injury
• Genetics – the disorder with the highest link
to genetics is schizophrenia
• Temperament – a persons behavioral style
or typical way of responding to situations

14. Age groups of students with EBD
served by IDEA

15. Environmental Factors
• Home – Their relationship with parents
during early years is critical to behavior
• School – Usually identified with EBD in
school. School can be a contributing factor
• Community – gang membership, drug and
alcohol use, deviant behavior are part of
anti-social behavior

16. Identification and Assessment
1. Identify who might need help
2. Who really does need help?
3. What kind of help is needed?
4. Is the help benefiting the student?

17. Screening Tests
• Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
• Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale
(BERS)
• Systematic Screening for Behavioral
Disorders (SSBD)

18. Functional Behavioral
Assessment (FBA)
• The process of gathering information to
understand why a student is engaging in
challenging behavior
It is usually to get positive reinforcement for
the behavior (attention), or to avoid or
escape something (doing work)

19. FBA leads to a BIP
Behavioral Intervention Plan is the design of
appropriate and effective steps to stop the
undesired behavior.
It is part of the student’s IEP for all students
who have disabilities with behavioral issues
Involves teachers, parents, psychologists, and
counselors who know the child well

20. Educational Approaches
• Academic Skills – Systematic instruction in
reading, writing, and arithmetic, are as
important to students with EBD as are
general ed. students.
• Slightly lower amount take science, and
even less take a foreign language

21. • Social Skills – EBD students have
difficulty in social situations. They must
have explicit instruction on how to:
2. Control temper in conflict situations with
peers and teachers
3. Follow/comply with directions
4. Attend to teacher instruction
5. Easily transition from one task to another

22. Evidence Based Instructional
Practices
• Teacher praise
• High rates of opportunities to respond
during instruction
• Clear instructional strategies
• Positive behavior support including school
wide, individual, and self-management
plans

23. Positive Behavioral Supports
• Teach student self management skills
• Teacher praise
• Proactive, positive classroom management
• Peer mediation and support
• Focus on alterable variables (environment)

24. Challenges for EBD Students
• Ensuring that all students with EBD
receives special education
• Early detection and prevention
• Advances in how educators apply tools that
are available
• Improving success rates

25. Sources
Behavioral Disorders/Emotional Distrubances. Council for Exceptional
Children. http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm
Heward, William L. Exceptional Children: An introduction to Special
Education. New Jersey: Pearson, 2009. 213-253
Marzano, Robert J. & Jana S. The Keys to the Classroom. Educational
Leadership. 2003
RTI for Emotional/Behavioral Disorders Shows Promise. Council for
Exceptional Children. http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm
Sayeski, Kristin L. & Brown, Monica R. Developing a Classroom
Management Plan Using a Tiered Approach. Council for Exceptional
Children, Teaching Exceptional Children. (2011) V. 44, 8-17
Canter, Lee. Assertive Discipline: More than Names on the Board and
Marbles in a Jar. http://campus.dyc.edu/~drwaltz/FoundLearn Theary/
FLT_readings/Cantor.htm