Thursday, March 21, 2013

Emotionally Disturbed

Brenner, Gregory J., Nelson, J. Ron, Neill, Stern and Stage, Scott A., (2006). Interrelationships Among Language Skills, Externalizing Behavior, and Academic Fluency and their Impact on the Academic Skills of Students with ED. Journal of Emotional and Behavior Disorders, 14, (4), 209-214.

The researchers claim students with emotional disturbance are more likely to have deficits at the academic level than their peers. According to their work, the researchers show a link between children with emotional disturbance and language problems. Furthermore, the researchers have shown that externalized behaviors are directly related to academic achievement, but internalized behaviors are not. The researchers admit the study under represents the minority classes, and the sample of students assessed was relatively small. From their studies the researchers suggest that intervention strategies that focus on developing language for students with emotional disturbance. However, it should be noted that the above-mentioned intervention only addresses the students’ language difficulties, and does not suggest an intervention strategy to address the students’ externalized behavior.

Gresham, Frank M., (2005). Response to Intervention: An Alternative Means of Identifying Students as Emotionally Disturbed Education and Treatment of Children, 28, (4), 328-344.

Gresham states that children with emotional disturbance can be disruptive in the classroom. Unfortunately these students are often underserved in the school setting, which is often the result of the inability to properly identify students with emotional disturbance. Once emotional disturbance is suspected, issues often can be addressed during the response to intervention process. During RTI the following factors must be taking in consideration: severity of behavior, chronicity of behavior, generalizability of behavior change, treatment strength, treatment integrity, and treatment effectiveness. The RTI model requires that the changes in behavior must be reliable changes, which are to be measured by the absolute change index, reliable change index, percent nonoverlapping data points, percent change from baseline, and effect size estimates. These changes should address the social impact the behavior has on everyday life of the student. The researcher concludes if the behaviors do not adequately change, the student should be considered for special education services.

Levinson, Edward M., and Rudy, Heide L.. (2008). Best Practices in the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Emotional Disturbances: A Primer for Counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 86, (4) 494-504.

The researchers suggest the rules and regulations set up by the American School Counselor Association and No Child Left Behind has changed the role of school counselors without providing them with proper standards, guidelines, and training to work with children with emotional disturbances. The researchers suggest because the school-based counselors are only part of a multidisciplinary team needed to meet the mental health needs of students with emotional disturbance, the school-based counselors should work closely with the parents and community-based counselors. This is important because of the academic impact of emotional disturbance on students. Because of the lack of standards for identifying students with emotional disturbance, the researchers suggest a variety of assessments to be implemented by the counselor, such as empirically based assessments, standardized rating scales, interviews, direct observations, and functional behavior analysis. With the aid of the other members in the multidisciplinary team and the assessments, counselors will be more apt to provide appropriate services for the student with emotional disturbance.

Page, Patricia and Regan, Kelley (2008). “Character” Building: Using Literature to Connect with Youth. Reclaiming Children and Youth: The Journal of Strength-based Interventions, 16, (4), 37-43.

The researchers suggest literature can be used to help with the emotional, academic, and social skill development of students with emotional disturbance. The use of literature to help students obtain the coping skills needed when dealing difficult emotions can be an effective intervention strategy. The researchers suggest bibliotherapy should be used in conjunction with other positive behavioral programs. The Circle of Courage Model is suggested to be beneficial in the development of children with emotional difficulties. This model gives the students a sense of belonging, independence, generosity, and mastery. The researchers conclude the use of literature in this model allows students to align their own experiences with other human experiences. In this manner, the literature can be used as a powerful tool to help heal students with emotional problems and can provide positive experiences to the students’ lives.

Silver, Rawley, (2008). Identifying Children and Adolescents at Risk for Depression and/or Aggression. Online Submission.

The aggressive behavior of children with major depression plagues many schools throughout the United States. The researcher has proposed from six research studies that a stimulus-drawing assessment can help identify at risk students. In the first study there was a correlation between depression and negative responses on the Draw a Story task. The second study, which focused on incarcerated adolescents, showed that the respondents’ reactions to the drawings might not agree with the therapists’ findings. The third study found that both males and females responded similarly in their drawings. The fourth study showed that students who scored one point in Self Image and Emotional content were depressed. The fifth study showed little cultural differences between delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. The final study showed that art therapy does help with the emotional behavior of children with emotional problems. All six studies seem to show that stimulus drawing assessments can be used to determine students who are at risk for emotional disturbance.

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