Fagerstrom,+Danielle-+Emotional+Disturbance

I grew up in Lodi, CA. Yes, the one from the famed CCR song, which you can listen to here if you've never heard it. I went to a small country school K-6 on a year-round schedule. Middle and High School was a blur of theatre productions and choir performances. I graduated this past June with my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. And am now in the full time MAT program in the 1/2 cohort. I would love to stay in the Rogue Valley, if I can get a job, otherwise I think I'll end up in Portland. I love to read and sing karaoke on the occasional Saturday night off.

I think my hardest time academically was in fifth grade and our class was learning addition and subtraction of fractions. First of all, it was a hard concept to begin with, but then on top of it I was missing a lot of school because of some medical issues I was having. And that just made it seem like an impossible subject for me to master. It took a couple of weeks sitting at the kitchen table with my parents, but I finally got it figured out, and now I am really confident with fractions. This definitely taught me about perseverance with tough academic subjects and even with difficult personality students. You can't give up on them, you just have to keep trying different strategies until you find the one that clicks.

I hope to gain from this course some good strategies for introducing and working on disability etiquette with students. I think because it was never something I was ever really taught, I don't feel confident dealing with it in the classroom.

** Emotional Disturbance ** I chose this topic because of a student I encountered this year in my placement. He seemed like a nice capable student, but when faced with a task he didn’t like or think he could accomplish he would just shut down and refuse to do anything. He would even burst into tears when he was frustrated, but he couldn’t tell you why he was upset. At this point he was not on an IEP, but was receiving interventions in reading. We pursued his referral to special education and he was diagnosed ED and also OHI for ADHD. I wanted to learn more about how I could accommodate this student in the regular education classroom in addition to working with the special education department on his IEP goals. Top 5 Things I learned: ** My Resources ** 1. []
 * Why I chose this topic: **
 * 1) Students with EBD need structure in their day so that they know what the expectations are and how to follow the rules.
 * 2) Emotional/Behavioral Disturbance is more of an umbrella for many psychiatric and emotional disorders such as OCD, schizophrenia, and even eating disorders
 * 3) It is best to be non-confrontational with students with EBD, you don’t want to elevate their reaction or behavior
 * 4) Prepare your non-EBD students for outbursts or situations that may occur in the classroom.
 * 5) Have an action plan for when a student becomes out of control or disruptive. Plan for a safe place for them to go or a signal to the office or crisis team so that everyone in your classroom can be safe.

This is a great Video that explains fairness means sometimes some students have different rules. It also has a comprehensive example of a safety plan put in place by the teacher to keep all of her students safe. Rating: 4/5

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This is a non-confrontational, non-verbal behavior management system called the ‘stop-light system’. Where in a student has a red, yellow, and green magnets on the board that correspond to their level of on-task behavior. After the first warning the sign goes to yellow if they return to work it is changed to green if they do not it goes to red and there is some sort of consequence in place or action plan that is to be followed by the teacher/staff. Rating: 3/5

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This is a great website that gives a definition of all of the disorders covered under Emotional/Behavioral Disturbance. It also gives definitions of each disorder and certain triggers to look for. A beginning place to look when you are curious about this SPED distinction. Rating: 4/5 4. []

This is a resource specifically for classroom teachers on inclusion materials for day-to-day routines. This is a bibliography of all kinds of books and manuals and videos that can be used to integrate students with emotional disturbance into the regular education classroom. Rating: 4/5
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This is an article that has been re-printed with permission from the author. This is a great article that combats many myths about students with EBD from many different viewpoints and perspectives. There is also an action plan for integration of students with EBD; triggers to watch out for and plans that the school should have. It also puts an emphasis on teacher training and knowledge, which I think is extremely important when dealing with the safety of your students. Rating: 5/5


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This is an AMAZING curriculum for working with all kinds of diverse learners. It is geared toward social studies, but the strategies and aids could be generalized for any subject. Worksheets are created using kid-like graphics and drawing that makes is easy to relate to and work with, a great resource Rating: 5/5

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This is a great slideshare presentation geared toward parents and the questions they may have when their child is diagnosed EBD. The answers are short and sweet, get right to the point. Rating: 5/5

8. A great article can be found here: []

Which contains a list of different strategies pertaining to the areas of Inattention, Anxiety, Socialization, Compulsive Disorders, and Testing/Assignments. I would rate this a 4 out of 5. The resources are great, but I wish it was in a more readable format like a list of chart that could be easily accessed. Rating: 4/5 9. [] This is a decision-making guide for creating classroom rules with a student who has EBD. It has thorough examples and written out scenarios. An awesome resource for the beginning of the year to get things started on the right foot. Rating 4/5

= ** CBL Project ** = For my community based learning project I attended the IEP meeting of one of my students. This was specifically an eligibility meeting to assess whether or not this student was severe enough to require special education services. There were ten adults present: the special education teacher, reading specialist, principal, both of the parents, school psychologist, child-development specialist, math teacher, my CT, and myself. ‘Kelly’, the student was not present. The special education teacher began the meeting by setting some time limits for the meeting we had an hour to complete this process so that it didn’t get drawn out. She then recapped for us the purpose of the meeting and what the process would be. We then went around the table and each professional shared the information they had about Kelly and what it showed. The reading specialist shared that Kelly was working on reading fluency and even with the intense interventions she was receiving she wasn’t making any marked progress. The same in math, she was diligent about turning in homework, but she just wasn’t learning on pace with the rest of the class. The school psychologist shared the various inventories that she did with Kelly and they also showed that she was a little below mean in cognitive processes. She also shared an inventory that was given to both my CT and Kelly’s parents. It showed that both at school and at home Kelly had a lot of anxiety. The child development specialist explored that with her further and found that she thought things were going too fast in school and that was hard for her. My CT and I shared our thoughts about how Kelly interacted in the classroom. She was so hardworking and responsible, but her academics still were struggling. Finally, Kelly’s parents talked about their struggles at home trying to complete homework and the worries they had about Kelly’s anxiety about making things perfect. Kelly is a very methodical student who worries about things being ‘right’. Next in the process we took into account all of the data and concluded that Kelly was definitely being impacted and needed an IEP. She was classified with a specific learning disability in reading and math. We then went through the process of signing all of the paperwork and checking all of the right boxes. Everyone agreed and we started to work out the accommodations and services would be. Kelly needed to be given more time when answering questions in class, and she would also be receiving intense math and reading instruction daily as a pullout. This was a really great process for me not only was I able to observe and learn about the process, but I was able to participate and help to advocate for this student and their needs. I really appreciated that we focused on all of the things that Kelly was excelling in as well as where she was struggling because it gave us a whole picture of her abilities. I learned a lot about the signing of the paperwork, there is very specific wording that has to go into the IEP in order for it to qualify and the special education teacher went over that for the parents. I think I’m at the point where I don’t know what I don’t know yet. I know a lot about the process of IEP’s, but I think my questions lie more in the practical application of those services in the general education classroom. When I taught my work sample there weren’t many accommodations that I was making allowances for, so I don’t know how it would work when I’m teaching full time with all of the subjects.