Definition: The Nature of the Problem

1
DefinitionThe Nature of the Problem

• What is an emotional or behavioral disorder?

2
Terminology

• Emotionally disturbed.
• Behaviorally disordered.
• Emotional or behavioral disorders.

3
Developmental Norms versus Sociocultural
Expectations

• Universally recognized.
• Muteness, serious self-injury, eating feces, and
  murder.
• Sociocultural expectations.
• Academic achievement, aggression, sexual
  behavior, and language patterns.

4
Behavior Shaped by Social Context

• Interactions
• Transaction
• Behavior is formed by the childs social
  interaction and transaction
• (modeling, reinforcement, extinction, and
  punishment).
• Example when dealing with a child with temper
  tantrums, one
• needs to consider the appropriate expectations,
  demands and
• reactions of his/her teachers, peers, and
  parents.

5
Types of Disorders and Causes

• Examples of disordered emotions and behavior.
• Environmental conditions under which disturbed
  children grow are varied
• some disturbed children grow in conducive to
  normal development
• conditions whereas others grow in adverse
  conditions.
• Because there are a great number of possible
  causal factors of disabilities, it
• is very difficult to determine these causes for
  the individual child.
• Externalizing
• Allen, a 13-year-old, was described as a
  discipline problem. Examples of his misbehavior
  include
• He justified calling one of his classmates a
  name by saying that she was making him mad
• He justified telling his teacher to shut up and
  calling him stupid, by explaining that an
  assignment was Stupid.

6
Types of Disorders and Causes

• Internalizing
• Schizophrenia
• Elizabeth has schizophrenia Since she was in
  kindergarten she
• avoided doing work. Although she was in the top
  reading group in first
• grade, she was in the bottom reading group in
  third grade. In fourth
• grade she was taking Ritalin and thought she was
  doing better until
• she got really sick and spent 2 months in the
  hospital. She started
• taking Mellaril and feels that she is doing much
  better because of the
• medicine and the support she gets from her family
  and some
• teachers.

7
Problems of Definition

• We judge a behavior as normal or abnormal through
  our subjective
• cultural norms, rules, and expectations.
  Therefore, defining
• emotional or behavioral disorders is difficult.
• Examples of these difficulties Differences in
  conceptual models,
• differing purposes of definition, the
  complexities of measuring
• emotions and behavior, the range and variability
  of normal and
• deviant behavior, the relationship among
  emotional or behavioral
• disorders and other exceptionalities, the
  transience of many
• problems during human development, and the
  disadvantages
• inherent in labeling deviance.

8
Problems of Definition

• Differences in Conceptual Models
• Psychodynamic
• Biological
• Sociological
• Behavioral
• Ecological
• Psychoeducational
• Educational
• Phenomenological

9
Problems of Definition

• Differing Purposes of Definitions
• Courts
• Clinics
• Families
• Schools
• States definitions of EBD differ. Therefore, a
  child might be considered normal in one state
  but disturbed in another.

10
Problems of Definition

• Difficulties in Measuring Emotions and Behavior
• Psychometric tests
• Behavioral frequencies

11
Problems of Definition

• Range and Variability of Normal and Deviant
  Behavior
• Intensity
• Rate

12
Problems of Definition

• Relationships Among Emotional or Behavioral
  Disorders and Other Exceptionalities
• Mental retardation
• Learning disabilities
• Communication disorders
• Transience of Many Emotional and Behavioral
  Problems

13
Problems of Definition

• Disadvantages in Labeling Deviance
• We cannot talk about things, including
  disabilities, without using labels (language) to
  describe them. (Kauffman, 2004)

14
Problems of Definition

• Importance of the Definition
• Medical Legislative
• The Current Federal Definition
• Derivation
• In Bowers 1981 definition, there is some
  ambiguity in defining the inability to learn
  is it inability to learn social behavior or only
  academic skills? How long does it last? How can
  we determine that inability to learn is
  irrelevant to intellectual or health factors?
  Are health and mental factors separable? What are
  satisfactory interpersonal relationships with
  peers? What is inappropriate behavior? What are
  normal conditions? When is unhappiness pervasive?
• Status
• IDEA. Did the definition of IDEA resolve the
  ambiguity in Bowers definition? What is the
  problem of including schizophrenia in the
  definition?

15
Perspective on Definition

• A useful definition for educators is one that
  focuses on the students behavior at school
  settings. Therefore, teachers should be viewed as
  the most important individuals in the process of
  decision making and defining disturbed children.

16
Emerging Definition National Mental Health and
Special Education Coalition

• The term emotional or behavioral disorder means a
  disability characterized by behavioral or
  emotional responses in school programs so
  different from appropriate age, cultural, or
  ethnic norms that they adversely affect
  educational performance, including academic,
  social, vocational, or personal skills and which
• (a) is more than a temporary, expected response
  to stressful events in the environment
• (b) is consistently exhibited in two different
  settings, at least one of which is
  school- related and
• (c) persists despite individualized
  interventions within the education program,
  unless, in the judgment of the team, the childs
  or youths history indicates that such
  interventions would not be effective.
• Emotional or behavioral disorders can co-exist
  with other disabilities.
• This category may include children or youth with
  schizophrenic disorders, affective disorders,
  anxiety disorders, or other sustained
  disturbances or conduct or adjustment when they
  adversely affect educational performance in
  accordance with section I.
• (Forness Knitzer, 1992, p. 13)