educational strategies for children with emotional and behavioral ...

especially prone to being punished for rule
breaking, even though they sometimes lack the
skills necessary to follow the rules. If, for
example, the classroom rule is to “listen when
others are talking,” then some students will need
to be taught the skills necessary for listening.
From the beginning of their educational
experience, students should know the
consequences of breaking rules; and the
consequences must be fair and consistently
enforced. Typically, students with emotional
disturbance and behavioral problems have
difficulty understanding the consequences of
their behavior. If a student breaks a rule, then, it
is wise to ask that student to explain the
consequence of his or her actions.
The following points may be considered when
developing classroom rules:
Rules need to be stated in clear and explicit
behavioral terms, as it is difficult to abide by
rules that must be interpreted. For instance,
what does it mean to be “responsible” or to
be “nice”? Children, especially younger
children, need concrete terms and examples
they can understand, such as raising a
hand to speak.
Rules must be concise in order for students
to remember them. Reminders also may be
posted in the learning area; and
Students, themselves, might be
encouraged to suggest rules to help create
a sense of ownership and accountability,
although good research shows that this is
not essential to good classroom management.
Although educators can prevent many
minor behavioral infractions by ensuring that
rules are clearly stated, fairly enforced, and
completely understood, there are often
additional issues posed by students with serious
behavioral problems. These are students who,
after all, may have difficulty following even the
most clearly stated and fairly enforced rules. For
a teacher or paraprofessional to be fair and
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consistent then, he or she must know whether or
not the student has the necessary skills to
comply with the rules.
The next section of this chapter discusses
ways educators can support students’
appropriate behavior. When all good faith
efforts and best-practice procedures do not
produce desired results, however, it may be time
to enlist the support of the school psychologist,
behavior specialist, the IEP team, special
educator, and/or other support personnel. It
may be that the IEP team needs to be
reconvened to modify the existing behavior
intervention plan or academic objectives.
Depending on the effect of the behavior on
the safety and learning opportunities for the
student and for other students in the classroom,
the IEP team should consider a change of
placement if concerted, documented efforts to
modify serious behavior problems prove to be
unsuccessful.
IV. SCHEDULING THE DAY
For students with emotional disturbance or
behavioral problems, several considerations
might be useful when scheduling activities
throughout the day. For instance, a time for
students to get calmed down while in a state of
transition to a more structured activity can be
built into the day’s schedule. Also, since many
students who have behavioral challenges find it
difficult to maintain attention for long periods
of physically inactive work time, it can be helpful
to break large tasks into several smaller tasks
with short breaks between them.
V. ESTABLISHING ROUTINES AND
PROCEDURES
Establishing routines for how things are
done and teaching those routines can help
students stay on target in a classroom. For
example, it is important to implement consistent
routines for those times when students have to
make a transition from one lesson to another, or
for times when they have to get and put away