Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD)

Key Terms: Emotion

• Emotion is defined as the inner feeling of a person.
• Emotions can manifest as positive or negative reactions
• Emotions can be hard to identify in individuals
• Joy, envy, shyness, worry and frustration are all emotions

Key Terms: Behaviour

• Overt and covert reactions/responses by human beings to internal or external stimuli.
• Overt reactions/expressions are seen, heard, or felt.
• Covert reactions/expressions are unseen, unheard or unfelt.
• A stimulus directly influences a person's actions.
• Fighting, fleeing, crying and dancing are examples of overt expressions.
• Thinking, wishing and daydreaming are examples of covert expressions.

Emotions vs. Behaviours

• Emotions are internal feelings.
• Behaviours are the outward expression of internal feelings.

Identification of Emotional and Behavioural Disorders (EBD)

• Contextual or prevailing situations are key to identification
• Frequency and duration of actions must be persistent and long term
• Magnitude/intensity and the severity of the condition is important
• Topography/ physical shape or form of the behaviour
• Age of the individual, for example tantrums in children can occur at a certain age

Emotional Disorder Defined

• It is socially and culturally subjective.
• It can occur alongside other conditions.
• It goes against what society deems normal.
• It hinders an individual's ability to socialize.

Behavioural Disorder Defined

• Behavioural disorder can be clinically proven.
• The aggressive or disruptive behaviour must persist for over six months and impact academic performance.
• Behaviour disorders go further than mischief or rebellion.

General Characteristics: Externalizing Disorders (Conduct Disorders)

• It is displayed outwardly to others.
• May result in physical danger to others.
• Examples of overt, aggressive and disruptive behaviours are stealing, lying, fire setting and vandalizing.

Conduct Disorder (CD)

• Easily angered, annoyed, or irritated.
• Includes frequent temper tantrums
• Arguing with adults often.
• Can involve being aggressive to animals and other people, for example, sexual abuse.
• In some cases criminal behaviour can occur

Inattention

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can cause inattention.
• Inattention specifically is difficulty concentrating, forgetting instructions and moving from one task to another without completion.
• Impulsivity includes talking over others
• Overactivity includes constant restlessness and fidgeting

Temper Disorders

• Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) causes extreme irritability, also anger and outbursts.
• Intermittent explosive disorder includes rage and increased energy, can also include palpitations

Characteristics

• Delusions are false beliefs not based in reality.
• Hallucinations involve seeing or hearing things that do not exist.
• Disorganized thinking is ineffective communication, or unrelated answers to questions.
• Speech may include putting words or sounds together in a meaningless way, sometimes known as word salad.

Other Characteristics

• Disruptiveness, interrupts or disturbs
• Disobedient or defiant
• Negativism or refusing directions
• Destructiveness of own/other's school property
• Denies mistakes
• Dominates others, bullies, threatens
• Hyperactivity
• Untrustworthy, dishonest, lies
• Profanity, abusive language
• Quarrelsome, argues
• Inattentive
• Steals, Teases

General Characteristics: Internalizing Disorders (Emotional Disorders)

• It is hidden by the child from others around them.
• It may cause physical harm to themselves.
• Characterized by anxiety and depression.

Emotional Disorders: Withdrawal

• It is typical of anxious and depressed children.
• Includes; feeling anxious, fearful and tense.
• Shy and timid behaviour
• Withdrawn, seclusive and friendless.
• Can include feeling depressed, sad and disturbed.
• Hypersensitivity, or easily hurt
• Self-conscious and easily embarrassed

Emotional Disorders: Immaturity

• Behaviours suggest the individual acts younger than their age.
• It includes a short attention span and poor concentration.
• Can include daydreaming
• Can be clumsy or have poor coordination
• Can be preoccupied, absent minded and/ or passive
• Lacks perseverance, fails to finish things
• Preference for younger play mates

Emotional Disorders: Mood Disorders

• Involves extreme mood switches.
• Major depressive disorder is depression lasting about 2 weeks.
• Can include bipolar disorders
• Dysthymic disorder causes a chronically depressed mood.

Emotional Disorders: Anxiety Disorders

• Involves extreme anxiety over events and thoughts
• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) causes worry about homework, tests and making mistakes.
• Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) causes feeling anxious about being away from a parent or home in general
• Social anxiety disorder (Social phobia) causes someone not to like being the center of attention, they will also avoid raising their hand in class
• Selective mutism (SM) is an extreme form of social phobia that causes someone to be afraid to talk in public

Emotional Disorders: Stress/ Distress Related Disorders

• Dysphoria causes profound state of unease and dissatisfaction with life.
• May feel their bodies do not reflect their gender.
• Can include depression, anxiety and agitation

Emotional Disorders: Eating Disorders in Children

• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder means limited food based on appearance, smell, taste, texture, or negative experience.
• Leads to lack of nutrition or damage to health
• Pica is craving non-food persistently, such as ice, clay, paint, soil, or paper.
• Anorexia nervosa means being nervous about gaining weight with a strong desire to be thin.
• Includes food restriction and distorted body shape.

Emotional Disorders: Obsessions and Compulsions

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes unwanted thoughts, feelings, and fears.
• Obsessions are fears that people with OCD can't stop thinking about.
• They may realize that their thoughts are non-sensical, but still feel anxious about certain things such as death or something being clean or dirty
• Compulsions (rituals) are behaviours that help to overcome obsessions.
• Can include washing and cleaning, or often erasing, re-writing, re-doing, or re-reading

Emotional Disorders: Psychological Disorders

• Childhood schizophrenia/psychosis combines hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking and behaviour.
• This impairs the ability to function.
• Can include withdrawal from friends and family
• A drop in performance at school
• Trouble sleeping
• Irritability or depressed mood
• Lack of motivation
• Strange behaviour

Emotional Disorders: Tourette Syndrome

• Tourette syndrome is a disorder involving repetitive movements/ unwanted sounds (tics) that cannot be controlled easily.
• You might repeatedly blink your eyes, shrug your shoulders, or blurt out unusual sounds or offensive words.
• Affects the brain and nerves causing people to make repeated movements and vocal tics, which are uncontrollable

Warning Signs

• Excessive attachments
• Children harming or threatening themselves, other people or pets
• Uncontrollable crying at the thought of being left with another person
• Frequent tantrums and arguments
• Unwillingness to go to school
• Early sexual activity
• Early smoking, drinking or drug use
• Consistent hostility towards authority figures

Causes of Disorders

• Biological factors
• Pathological family relationships
• Undesirable experiences at school
• Negative cultural influences

Causes of Disorders: Biological

• Genetics
• Neurological/brain disorders
• Temperaments
• Personality

Causes of Disorders: Pathological Family Relationships

• Broken homes
• Divorce
• Chaotic homes/relationships
• Parenting styles

Causes of Disorders: Undesirable School Factors

• Poor school and classroom conditions
• Lack of adequate resources
• Poor sitting arrangement
• Poor ventilation or overcrowding
• Lack of materials
• Misappropriation and misuse of funds

Causes of Disorders: Teacher Factors

• Inappropriate student-teacher relationships
• Favouritism
• Inadequate attention to child’s learning needs
• Unhealthy teacher lifestyles
• Unhealthy punishment
• Lack of accountability

Causes of Disorders: Negative Cultural Influences

• Changing standards for sexual conduct
• The level of violence in the media
• The use of terror as a means of coercion
• Access to drugs

Behaviour Analysis

• This helps to identify the source of behaviour.
• A-Antecedent: An event occurring before the behaviour.
• B-Behaviour: The response or event that can be seen or heard.
• C-Consequence: What a child earns as a result of misbehaviour.

Management Strategies

• It is important to use reward systems.
• Reinforcement promotes a desired behaviour.
• Punishment extinguishes a negative behaviour.
• Tactical ignoring
• Time-out engages a child in a boring task until they calm down.
• Teaching social skills

Other Strategies

• Establish classroom rules with pupils.
• Avoid threats, arguing and ridiculing students.
• Avoid flaunting authority.
• Use non verbal signals to indicate inappropriate behaviour
• Move close to the child who is misbehaving without talking.