Students with emotional and behavioral disorders

1. Students with Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders
Characteristics
By: Amy Dunlop-Johnson

2. Behavior and Emotional
Characteristics
Negative behaviors of students with
emotional and behavior disorders occur
more often, with more intensity, and for a
longer time from those of other students.
Internalizing behaviors – are those
characterized as withdrawn or directed
inward.
Externalizing behaviors – are those
characterized as directed toward others.

3. Emotional Characteristics
Some students may feel anger or depression.
Often when students feel such anger, they display it through
the externalizing behaviors of aggression (e.g., hitting,
spitting, fighting).
Depression – Is a mental illness that goes beyond having an
occasional bad day or being sad about a life event.
The treatment for students who are depressed usually
includes some type of counseling or psychotherapy,
medication, and home and school interventions.
Sadly, when children’s depression is untreated it can lead to
suicide, the sixth-leading cause of death among children
ages five to fourteen and the third-leading cause of death
among young adults ages fifteen to twenty-four.

4. Social Characteristics
Students with emotional and behavior
disorders experience significant challenges
in establishing and maintaining social
relationships with peers and adults.
This holds true for both boys and girls, and
also for both African-American and
Caucasian students.
Professionals generally agree that lack of
social skills is one of the primary reasons
that students are identified as having
emotional and behavior disorders.

5. Cognitive and Academic
Characteristics
They have the lowest grade-point averages and
highest dropout rates of students in any disability
category.
If a student’s cognitive ability is below a certain
level – usually an IQ of about 70 – he/she will be
considered to have an intellectual disability and
any behavior problems he/she displays will be
thought of as secondary to or caused by his/her
primary disability.
There is no clear answer as to whether emotional
and behavior disorders cause academic problems,
or if students’ chronic and significant academic
problems cause emotional and behavior disorders.

6. Emotional and Behavior Disorders
and Co-morbidity
Many students who are identified as
having an emotional or behavior
disorder have co-morbid, or additional
disabilities.
For school professionals, recognizing
co-morbid disorders is essential so
that all the needed interventions can
be implemented to help the student
succeed.

7. Emotional and Behavior Disorders
and Co-morbidity
Many students who are identified as
having an emotional or behavior
disorder have co-morbid, or additional
disabilities.
For school professionals, recognizing
co-morbid disorders is essential so
that all the needed interventions can
be implemented to help the student
succeed.