Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders example essay topic

Historical Foundations: Servicing adolescents with EBD has changed significantly since the 1700's when exorcisms and corporal punishment were the normally prescribed solutions. There were, however, medical and psychiatric pioneers that began developing more philanthropic methods of assessing and educating those with socially non-acceptable behavioral and emotional characteristics. "Moral treatment", an approach influenced by Phillipe Pinel, emphasized treating those labeled as "deranged" and "regressed" with dignity and kindness to elicit improvement in behavior. Those that followed and developed Pinel's revolutionary methods of behavioral and emotional interventions, such as Jean Marc Gaspar d Itard and Benjamin Rush laid the framework for contemporary educational practices for students with EBD.

Dr. Rush's philosophy clearly encouraged respectful, loving relationships between adult and child. He even hinted at legislative action to protect children with EBD from cruel punishments while advocating for disciplinary improvements in the school environment. Even though many of the accepted causes of emotional and behavioral disorders of the 1700's and 1800's were often incredulous, including masturbation, bad whiskey, and laziness, other theories by Parkinson in 1807 and West in 1848 focused more on environmental factors, specifically inconsistent child rearing practices. In addition to environmental causes of EBD, the ideas of social evolution and eugenics lead to the belief that genetically inherited behavior flaws were responsible for certain deviant behaviors. Selective breeding was thought to be an appropriate intervention to avoid or eliminate unwanted behavioral traits. The middle part of the 19th century saw relatively modern teaching strategies used for students with severe EBD.

Although individualized educational programs, self-advocacy skills, and positive reinforcement were taught by many instructors, the instruction was done in institutional settings classified for "idiots. Movements to care for the delinquent, aggressive, and disobedient students also intensified with the establishment of reformatories, houses of refuge, and other institutional child care facilities. The first attempt to require the public school system to intervene came with the mandatory attendance laws in the latter half of the 1800's. As much as this law was intended to improve the education of students, it created problems that did not previously exist. Prior to the mandated attendance laws, students with emotional and behavior disorders did not disrupt the learning environment of other students, primarily for the reason that they dropped out when school became unmanageable. Educators now had to learn how to teach to a much more diverse population not only including those with emotional and behavioral disorders but students with limited English and truancy issues.

It was clear that educators were in need of intervention strategies and new teaching techniques to accommodate these new learners. Ellen Keys predicted that the 20th century would be the "century of the child". The early 1900's, characterized by the mental hygiene movement, focused on the detection and prevention of juvenile delinquency. Dr. William Healy and his wife Augusta, with the expertise of others', began a systematic study of repeat juvenile offenders.

As the cause and effects of juvenile delinquency was being explored, Alfred Binet developed a standardized intelligence scale to compare student performance and predict individual success in school. As doctors and psychologists concern for the mental and physical health of children, state legislatures echoed this feeling in education laws, including nation wide attendance laws by 1918, and the ability for schools to receive additional funding for the increase in cost of educating exceptional students. Improvements in the education of students with disabilities were visibly noticeable until the Depression and WWII began to divert funding from various special education programs. However, some important programs for EBD students were initiated and successful during these bleak years. Dr. Laur etta Bender was able to staff Bellevue Hospital in New York, a hospital for children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, with teachers, which became an effective training environment. Following WWII, the 1940's and 1950's experienced heightened interest in educating and learning about students with EBD.

New York created its "600" schools established specifically for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, books written by Strauss and Lehtinen, revealed new theories of how brain injuries may be associated with certain emotional problems. Carl Fenichel founded the first private day school for seriously emotionally disturbed children during this era. Legal Basis: The 1960's provided legal groundwork, PL 88-164, that established funding to prepare educators to effectively teach students with EBD. The ecological approach of the 1960's called for interventions that penetrated not only the student but the students' family, community, and school. The teaching rather than treating model began surfacing in the Re-ED programs developed in Tennessee and North Carolina in the early 1960's. This program was modeled after the writings and influence of Hobbs and Rhodes, and calls for attention to be placed on the student's total social system rather than solely what is going on inside of the student's mind.

Perhaps the most empowering legislative victory for students with EBD occurred in the 1970's with the passing of PL 94-142 (now IDEA), which guaranteed a free and appropriate education for all students, including those with serious emotional disturbances. Some students that exhibited emotional and behavioral disorders were excluded from receiving special services because of the way the law was written. It provided specialized instruction for only those that were "seriously emotionally disturbed" and left out those that were "only" socially maladjusted. Full inclusion and its effects on teachers and students is still a major controversy. The question of, Is there a point when full integration of students with EBD actually becomes counterproductive? This, of course, is an issue when teachers all ill-prepared to instruct students with EBD, and the community and schools are unwilling to fully support all students according to the law.

It is clear that our approach to providing a free and appropriate education to all students is becoming much more sophisticated and less restrictive on students than the days of exorcisms and abandoning youth with behavioral problems. Today, educators and families are adept recognizing and assessing students that require special services. With the reauthorization of IDEA in the 1990's students with EBD are not only legally required to have a Individualized education plan written while they are attending grades k-12, but may also have transition goals written for their post-secondary plans. Contemporary Issues: Modern issues that special educators grapple with today are the increasing numbers of minorities identified requiring EBD services, especially African-Americans; the effects poverty, environment, and family can have on students and their ability to acquire the appropriate resources and services necessary for their children. Children with EBD also battle the right to be educated in mainstreamed classes in schools that have not embraced the philosophy of full inclusion.

Differentiated education may always be controversial; fortunately lawmakers, communities, schools, and educators see the increasing necessity to legally provide a free and appropriate education to a population of students that require and deserve an education that will help develop their skills to be prepared and contributing members of society.