Teaching Strategies for Students with EBD

Teaching  students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) can be a daunting task. Trying to include social growth and academic achievement together can be a challenge  .  Typically, educational programs for students with emotional disturbances need to include attention providing emotional and behavioral support, as well as, helping them master academics. Social development also needs to be addressed along with  increasing  self awareness, self control and self esteem. Here are some effective ways we could teach  EBD students:

 Keep class rules simple and clear:  The students that are EBD, as well as, other students would definitely benefit from less rules that are simple and uncomplicated.  Try to keep no more than 3 to 5 main rules.  In my experience, the more rules and the more complicated the activities the more stressful and confusing it can be for the students.  Some general classroom rules could be: being on time, trying your best, being polite and respecting one another.

There should also be easy teaching activities that have well defined goals.  The directions themselves             need to be straightforward  and  not redundant, this allows students with  EBD to be able to follow through.  Some activities are responsive cards, clickers, choral responding(unison responding) and guided notes.  By including these types of activities, you will find your students more engaging and interacting.

Reward positive behavior:  Rewarding positive behavior is a far more effective tool than engaging in a power struggle with your students.  EBD students take any type of discipline as a personal attack, as a result, they learn very little from it.

The best thing to do is celebrate their successes more than if you would chide them.  When these students receive positive feedback they start to see the benefits of virtuous behavior.  They then start seeing you as an ally rather than a foe.

Allow for small breaks:  A lot of EBD children lack the maturity and emotional balance needed to stay on task for extended periods of time and focus.  Allow for short rest periods.  Stop teaching and allow them to process information.  Allow the ones finished to take a stretch, get out of their seats and walk around a bit before commencing again.

Treat everyone fairly:  Emotional and behavioral disorder students have a difficult time if they feel they are treated unfairly.  This can be a trigger for  a cascade of negative behavior.  The best way to tackle this is make sure the rules apply to everyone regardless!

Use motivational strategies: Students with EBD have negative school experiences ,therefore, they are not motivated to succeed in school settings.  In order to make sure they are compliant, take extra steps to motivate them.  Give them incentives for academic success.  Praise their hard work and efforts consistently.  This can encourage them to excel in the classroom.

Keep in mind these are not one size fits all strategies.  EBD students are just as varied in abilities as all other students and require a degree of specialization from one student to another.  Through trial and error one can come up with other strategies that can work with EBD learners.