Molly Atkinson 2/20/2017

Final Paper Emotional Disturbances

Emotional Disturbance is an umbrella term that we use for a number of different mental
disorders. These range from anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, eating
disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder or psychotic disorders. Emotional Disturbance is one of
the categories of disability specified in IDEA. This means that a child with an emotional
disturbance may be eligible for special education and related services in school. Emotional
Disturbance is defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as a condition
exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a degree
that adversely affects a childs educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be
explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (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. Schizophrenia is also included under the term emotional disturbance but does
not apply to children who are maladjusted, unless it is determined that they in fact have an
emotional disturbance.
Generally, students who are thought to have, or have been diagnosed with, an emotional
disturbance typically experience significant behavior, social-emotional, and academic difficulties
in many different settings. They also have serious, long-term, learning deficits that cannot be
linked to any other disability categories like mental retardation, learning disabilities,
hearing/vision problems, or traumatic brain injury. There is no known actual cause or causes of
emotional disturbance, although several factors such as heredity, brain disorder, diet, stress, and
family functioning have been suggested and researched.
There are many characteristics and behaviors seen in children with emotional
disturbances that are not typically seen in children. Some of these include, hyperactivity, or
having a short attention span; aggression, acting out and fighting; withdrawal, not interacting
socially with others, excessive fear or anxiety; immaturity, inappropriate crying, temper
tantrums, poor coping skills; and learning difficulties or performing below their academic grade
level. Children with the most serious emotional disturbances may exhibit distorted thinking,
excessive anxiety, bizarre motor acts, and abnormal mood swings.
Family
Molly Atkinson 2/20/2017
Final Paper Emotional Disturbances

Each parent or family member responds to a childs delay or disability in his or her own
unique way, requiring an individualized approach to each family. A family-based perspective
should be apparent in all aspects of early childhood services. Professionals should recognize that
the family is the constant in the childs life and support should be focused around the child and
the family. There are many services out there that can help assist families with children with
emotional disturbances. One is Anxiety Disorders of America (adaa.org), and another would be
the National Association of Special Education Teachers (nasat.org). Theres no reason that
families and children shouldnt be getting the intervention they need because there are resources
available for all families, even low income families.

Curriculum
Curriculum for young children with or without disabilities focuses on the whole child and
their needs and abilities. Curriculum is defined as everything that a child should learn in an early
childhood setting. Early education providers that work with children with emotional disturbances
really need to know how to work with these children because proper classroom guidance can be
used to teach essential skills such as problem-solving, conflict resolution, and basic social skills
if teaching is intentional. Incorporating a worry log may help some of these issues. If a child is
having a bad day or a moment of emotional distress, the worry log can be pulled out for the
child to write down, draw, or say how theyre feeling. This can help because children often need
an outlet for their anger and in children with emotional disturbances that might come out in
aggression if its not channeled correctly.

Learning Environment
There are many ways to adapt a classroom for children with educational needs that are
different from the typically progressing student. In a classroom with an emotionally disturbed
student I would make sure that there was a quiet corner or safe place for the child to go and
collect their thoughts in times of outrage or any other overwhelming emotions. I would also
make sure that if the child with emotional disturbances has been known to hit, that I would sit
them far enough away that theyre not close enough to hit a friend but close enough that theyre
still included. Emotion charts might be put up on the walls to help better explain how a child is
feeling if the child cant express the words themselves.
Molly Atkinson 2/20/2017
Final Paper Emotional Disturbances

Instructional Strategies
I believe that an inclusive setting is necessary for children with emotional disturbances.
These children typically have a hard time interacting with their peers as it is. Including them
gives them that extra push towards socializing that they need. If they werent included then there
would be much less socializing and an even slower rate of developing. Teacher-mediated
describes teacher-directed explicit interventions designed to promote social interaction by
teaching a specific skill or skill set. Teacher-mediated strategies include arranging the
environment, promoting acceptance, providing prompts and praise, and accepting differential
types of participation. I believe that this is the best strategy to use when working with children
with emotional disturbances.

Assessment
Traditional assessment practices arent going to work with young children with emotional
disturbances because a test isnt going to show you how the child thinks and feels. I think that
when working with children with emotional disturbances it would be wise to use a
multidimensional approach during assessment, This would be where the assessment information
is collected in a number of child and family domains. Part of the definition of emotional
disturbances is that they happen in variety of places at different times, so it only makes sense to
assess the child multiple times in multiple settings, recording different information and
interactions at a time to see, maybe, what possibly affects the child and makes them act out.

Transition Plan
Change brings with it the potential of stress due to the disruption of patterns of behavior
and fearfulness of new situations and environments. One of the primary objectives of transition
planning is to enable the child to be as successful as possible in future environments. Before
transitioning can begin, you must know that a child can meet the requirements of where theyre
being transitioned to. This will make it easier for the child because then theyre not in over their
head in a new environment. Also, making sure the family is involved is important. The family
can help make the transition easier on the child if theyre aware of whats going on. Using the
family for help when transitioning a child can make things so much easier because like I said
before, the family is the one main constant in a childs life.
Molly Atkinson 2/20/2017
Final Paper Emotional Disturbances

Personal Reflection
When I started this assignment, I knew quite a bit about emotional disturbances in
general. Ive always been very interested by schizophrenia, for no particular reason other than to
be interested in it. I came from the psychology program, so Ive seen a lot of this, and written
about a lot of this. Ive never researched childhood emotional disturbance disorders, (mostly
because theyre not diagnosed until later in life) so I learned a lot about that.

WORKS CITED

Gage, N. A. (2013). Characteristics of Students with Emotional Disturbance Manifesting

Internalizing Behaviors: A Latent Class Analysis. Education and Treatment of Children, 36(4),
127-145.

Gargiulo, R.M., and Kilgo, J.L. (2013) An Introduction to Young Children with Special Needs:
Birth Through Age Eight. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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Final Paper Emotional Disturbances

Guillot Miller, L., & Rainey, J. S. (2006) Students with Emotional Disturbances: How Can School
Counselors Serve? 1-40.