Language Skills of Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

This column highlights the importance of language and communication skills in students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Evidence continues to point to language impairments as a co-occurring area of concern in students with EBD. This complex association is described along with recommendations for supporting students with EBD who may have documented or undocumented language impairments. The goal of this column is to promote discussion and collaborative efforts to develop solutions for best supporting outcomes of students with EBD.

The Use of the Concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) Sequence to Improve Mathematical Outcomes for Elementary Students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders

The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) sequence is an explicit methodology for teaching mathematics that has been shown to have positive effects for students with EBD. This teaching sequence fosters conceptual understanding and mathematical thinking. This article describes how a teacher used explicit CRA instruction with two elementary students with EBD. Its aims are to describe and provide rationale for CRA instruction. We will describe lesson activities, methods, materials, and procedures. Finally, we will offer suggestions for implementation.

Using the Self-Advocacy Strategy to Support Middle School Students With EBD

Self-advocacy skills enable active student involvement in the Individualized Education Program planning process. However, some students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) lack appropriate self-advocacy skills and may require specific instruction in how to prepare for and participate in their own IEP. Special educators may have limited knowledge and skills to foster the self-advocacy skills of students with EBD. Therefore, this article focuses on a research-based strategy, the Self-Advocacy Strategy (SAS), that can be used by educators to effectively promote students’ self-advocacy skills. Research support and a detailed overview and guidelines on how educators can implement the SAS in their classrooms are included.

Using Guided Practice for Students With EBD Within Explicit Instruction

Guided practice within explicit instruction has been shown to be an effective method for teaching academic and behavioral skills to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The support provided through guided practice allows students to acquire new skills confidently and successfully. This article provides practitioners of students with and at risk for EBD steps for incorporating guided practice into their instructional routine.

Practice Strategies and Considerations to Promote Maintenance and Generalization

Performing newly acquired skills over time (i.e., maintenance) and across settings and stimuli (i.e., generalization) is central to what students need to accomplish in preparation for life beyond the classroom. Students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), need opportunities to practice for the purposes of maintaining and generalizing skills. With practice, students develop the ability to perform skills adequately under appropriate conditions. This article details ways to teach and get students with EBD to practice generalization and maintenance of newly acquired skills.

Social Skills Practice Strategy Opportunities for Students With EBD

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are likely to require interventions to help them navigate the social demands of the school environment. Several meta-analyses of social skills interventions have been conducted, which have provided guidance and demonstrated the effectiveness of social skills training for students with EBD. This article details a framework for teaching and practicing social skills interventions. Included in it are descriptions of several social skills strategies and ways in which the teaching of them can be individualized to meet the needs of students with EBD.

Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders as Tutors

Teachers implementing tutoring programs in which their students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) serve as cross-age tutors (CAT-EBD) for younger students in need of additional instruction have reported improvements in academic, social-emotional, and behavioral skills for both tutees and tutors. This practitioner-lead article features firsthand experiences and insights from a special educator implementing such a program. In addition to identifying the perceived strengths, challenges, and overall outcomes of a CAT-EBD program, the experiences within the case study highlight connections and recommendations for effective planning, training, supervising, and supporting of students with EBD as tutors. Practical strategies are provided in support of the challenges identified in implementing and sustaining a CAT-EBD program.

Conducting Meaningful Transition Interviews to Benefit Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) benefit from person-centered transition planning. However, there are few practical guidelines for conducting individualized transition assessments that include interviews with this population. This article describes multiple strategies that special educators can implement to conduct interviews, develop rapport, and encourage students with EBD to take a leadership role in the transition process. Materials are provided for selecting appropriate interview topics, monitoring the use of strategies, and developing effective questions.

Training, Supervising, and Supporting Students With Emotional–Behavioral Disorders as Cross-Age Tutors

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are frequently on the receiving end of intervention models (e.g., social skills training) in which targeted skills are modeled and practiced in unnatural arrangements (i.e., teacher-lead). Special educators consistently report a need for effective interventions and instructional arrangements that promote social-behavioral skills of students with EBD in natural learning environments (i.e., with peers). When students with EBD are provided the opportunity to serve in the role of tutor (i.e., on the instructional delivery end of the model), increases in academic and behavioral skills have been found for both tutors and tutees. This article provides an overview of effective procedures and considerations for training, supervising, and supporting students with EBD as cross-age tutors.

Working Conditions and Special Educators’ Reading Instruction for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Working conditions may be an important lever to support special educators’ reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Thus, we explored how working conditions relate to the quality of special educators’ reading instruction in upper-elementary, self-contained classes for students with EBD. Using mixed methods to examine video observations of reading instruction and varied data sources on working conditions, we found that special educators who provided stronger instruction had a partner coleading their program, and consistent paraprofessionals, with time and support for training. Partners and paraprofessionals, together, protected special educators’ instruction time. Other conditions (i.e., material resources, role differentiation, role conceptions, planning time) emerged as potentially important, but evidence was less robust. Results indicate partners and paraprofessionals may be important forms of collegial support. These findings have important implications for improving the quality of instruction in self-contained settings for students with EBD.