educational strategies for children with emotional and behavioral ...

Letters from the Presidents of the American Federation of Teachers and the
National Education Association
Letter from Sandra Feldman of the
American Federation of Teachers
Dear Educator:
I am pleased to endorse this handbook for
working with students with emotional and
behavioral difficulties. It represents a great
deal of intense collaborative work by
members and staff from both the AFT and
the NEA, the Office of Special Education
Programs and many others. Clearly, the
decision of the Office of Special Education
Programs to ask for the input and
involvement of so many people in the
trenches as they developed the handbook
was well worth the effort.
We all know that students who have
emotional and behavioral difficulties are
capable of contributing in important ways to
the community and the society. We also
know that helping them reach the potential
can be very difficult and frustrating.
However, we now have available many
strategies shown to be effective through
rigorous research — that teachers,
paraprofessionals, and other service
providers can use to help these students
learn new and positive ways to function in
school and in the community.
You as educators — teachers, paraprofessionals,
and service providers —are crucial
in assisting these students so they can
succeed. This handbook is intended to
provide additional support to you as you
provide support to students. It contains
both general strategies and specialized
approaches, and it answers questions often
asked by classroom practitioners who deal
every day with students' learning and
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Letter from Bob Chase of the National
Education Association
Dear Educator:
As public school teachers, it is our most
fundamental belief — and primary
motivation — that each and every child is
capable of learning and deserves the very
best education we can provide. But we also
believe, deeply, that no one student,
however troubled, has the right to disrupt
the learning of other students.
A student with emotional and behavioral
problems is one of the greatest challenges a
teacher faces. Teachers who are ill prepared
to teach the emotionally disturbed and
disruptive child often find themselves
befuddled. They either devote too much
time and attention to that one student, at
the expense of all the other students in
their classroom — or they fail to prevent the
troubled student from constantly disrupting
their classroom. In either case, the
education of all students suffers. We know
that education can only flourish in an
atmosphere of order and respect for all
students.
We could of course turn back the clock and
seek to banish every troubled student from
the regular classroom. Such a swift and
simple action would certainly be applauded
by some. But under the law, public school
educators do not have that option, nor do
we want it.
Teachers and paraprofessionals want to
make a difference in the lives of their
students — indeed, that’s why we went into
education in the first place. Given adequate
behavioral needs. I hope that you will not
only read this book, but keep it within reach