2. Emotional and behavioral disorders in the classroom. (n.d.). Education Corner© Online Education, Colleges & K12 Education Guide. https://www.educationcorner.com/behavioral-disorders-in-the-classroom.html

3. Emotional disturbance. (n.d.). Home. https://dphhs.mt.gov/schoolhealth/chronichealth/developmentaldisabilities/emotionaldisturbance

4. For parents. (n.d.). Emotional Disturbance. https://elementaryemotionaldisturbance.weebly.com/for-parents.html

5. For teachers. (n.d.). Emotional Disturbance. https://elementaryemotionaldisturbance.weebly.com/for-teachers.html

6. (n.d.) Riverside County SELPA. https://www.rcselpa.org/uploads/files/files/Assessment,%20Identification%20&%20Educational%20Planning%20for%20Students%20wED.pdf

7. Tips for handling emotional behavior disorder in classrooms | Resilient educator. (2018, May 30). ResilientEducator.com. https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/5-tips-for-handling-ebd-kids-emotional-behavior-disorder-in-an-inclusive-classroom/

(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

(C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

Aggression or self-injurious behavior (acting out, fighting);

Withdrawal (not interacting socially with others, excessive fear or anxiety);

Immaturity (inappropriate crying, temper tantrums, poor coping skills); and

Learning difficulties (academically performing below grade level).

Your EBD students (as well as some of your more focused students) will most likely struggle if you impose a long list of complicated rules and demands. Try to keep your classroom guidelines broad and simple—no more than 3 to 5 main rules. Let students know about them on the first day of class, and post them in the classroom as well. An example list might be:

Along with simple and clear rules, there should be simple and clear teaching activities. Using activities that don’t have complicated directions allow students with EBD to follow along and interact with the rest of the class. Some activity examples are:

By including clear activities in your classroom, your students will engage and interact with the lesson plan, ensuring that they learn alongside other students.

While you will, at times, have to discipline children for improper behavior, remember that rewarding positive behavior is ultimately far more effective in the long run. Many students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorder tend to take any discipline as a personal attack, and because of this, they often learn very little from it.

Try to celebrate the successes of these students more than you reprimand or punish their mistakes. When they receive positive feedback and rewards, they start to see that there is a positive benefit to good behavior. They will then start to see you as more of an ally than an adversary, and this will in turn motivate them to want to behave and do well in your classroom.

A lot of EBD kids lack the emotional balance and maturity needed to remain focused and on-task for long periods. Instead of reprimanding these students for their lapses, build in short rest periods or mini-breaks into the school day.

Take time to periodically stop teaching and allow students to catch up if need be. Give them time to finish their assignment, and allow those who have finished to stretch, get out of their seats, and move around a bit. This will allow them to burn off any excess energy that might have built up from sitting still for a long period of time. (And it’s good time for you to stretch, too!)

Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders also often don’t respond very well to situations that appear unfair to them. This can trigger a cascade of negative emotions and acting-out behavior.

To ensure that you are treating all of your students in a consistently fair manner, don’t bend your established rules for any student. Enforce the expected consequences every time, with every student. Allowing exceptions opens you up to accusations of being unfair.

Unfortunately, Emotional and Behavioral Disorder students tend to have had a lot of negative experiences in school. Therefore they often lack the desire or motivation to try to succeed.

To avoid disruptive or off-task behaviors, take some extra steps to motivate these students. Offer them incentives for academic successes, large and small. Celebrate their hard work, and praise their good efforts consistently. This can go a long way in giving these students the motivation to excel in your class.

While having EBD kids in your classroom can at first seem daunting, these are proven ways to help cultivate and keep a harmonious spirit of learning. More good news: many of these strategies for success can help your non-EBD students as well.

Determining a child’s eligibility for special education and related services begins with a full and individual evaluation of the child. Under IDEA, this evaluation is provided free of charge in public schools.