How Do You Help A Child With An Emotional Disability?
Children who have emotional or behavioral disabilities (ED or BD) exhibit unusually withdrawn or aggressive behaviors. The key to helping children with ED is to pinpoint the behavior you want to change and create new behavior goals for the child. Identify the behavior you want to change. Keep a written record of the behaviors the child exhibits during social and independent play and academic activity. For example: “I want A to play without hitting other children,” “I want B to remain quiet during a test,” “I want C to stay seated during a lesson.” Once you describe the child’s behavior in terms of observable actions, you will be able to monitor and mediate the behavior. Create a new behavior to replace the behavior you want to change. If the child is aggressive toward others while working in a group you may want the child to take turns or talk in a quiet tone of voice while in a group. Remember to create an alternative behavior that is directly observable. Establish rewards and/or cons
