Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Twomey / As the documented number of students demonstrating significant emotional and behavioral challenges continues to increase, teachers often encounter difficulties in meeting the needs of these students in their classrooms. With Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA) mandates requiring the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), schools are challenged to include these students in the regular education classroom while ensuring a safe learning environment for students and staff. This qualitative case study focused on affecting teacher attitude toward the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders in a suburban elementary school. The initiative incorporated a professional development series as well as the implementation of administrative, organizational and cultural supports aimed at building teacher capacity. As part of this study, the principal analyzed how school culture changed as the school sought to become more inclusive. The researcher, who was also the principal of the school, studied the attitudes and experiences of ten teachers who volunteered to be a part of this project. Data were collected and triangulated through interviews, journal entries, questionnaires, observations, field notes, a survey, and document analysis. The findings of this study indicate that efforts to affect teacher attitude must be comprehensive. Relying only on professional development opportunities does not necessarily ensure that teachers will generalize their newly acquired skills back to the classroom. Teachers require collaboration opportunities with special educators embedded within their school day. They also need the administrative, organizational, and cultural supports that sustain successful inclusion. These supports include: active modeling and assistance from the principal, accessibility to assistants, supportive scheduling, implementation of common language regarding behavior, and the identification of core values which affirm a commitment to inclusion. Implications for practice include the importance of: fostering communication and collaboration between and among special and regular educators, promoting professional development opportunities based on current adult learning theories, and utilizing journals to help teachers think more deeply about their interactions with students as well as their teaching practices. Limitations of this study include the researcher's role as school principal and participant, small sample size, and relatively short study duration. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Thesis (M.A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Refer to the document

This study explored the relationship between attachment quality and school connectedness in a high school sample of adolescents. Although there is a literature related to adolescent attachment quality and its effects on adjustment and development, relatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between parent and peer attachment and school connectedness. Further, these attachments and connections have yet to be examined among general and special education populations. Attachment quality has been correlated with identity development, self-esteem, competence, and psychopathology and has been investigated as a mediator in the relation between risk and resilience. School connectedness centers around the theory that when adolescents perceive consistent personal power, attention, and praise, they develop a sense of attachment to their school environment. Further, school connectedness, attachment to family, and positive peer bonds, respectively, have been viewed as protective factors, i.e., preventing adolescents from engaging in health risk behaviors (i.e., violence, risky sexual behavior, drug use, and dropping out of school) (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). The present study included 157 students, aged 15 to 18 years who participated in a longitudinal study (The Longitudinal Study of Co-morbid Disorders in Children and Adolescence). Using quantitative methodologies, analyses examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, risk status and parent attachment, peer attachment, and school connectedness. Measures included self-report questionnaires of attachment quality and school connectedness in adolescence. Several major findings from the present investigation include: (1) higher ratings of attachment to parents were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (2) higher ratings of attachment to peers were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (3) students at risk reported less school connectedness than not at risk students; and (4) the effects of peer attachment on school connectedness were moderated by risk group.

Social disjunction is one of main problems discussed at national level and mentioned in various programs, as well as in debates on poverty and unemployment. Most painfully it affects children, since they are not able to control or influence circumstances determining social disjunction. Behavioral disorders in children who experienced social disjunction were taken as an object for this study. A hypothesis to say that social disjunction and behavioral disorders are closely related and interacting phenomena proved to be true. Persons who suffer various social difficulties such as low living, poor lodgment, broken social relations and ties, non-participation in political life of society etc. very often have behavioral disorders. The object of this study - behavioral disorders in children who experienced social disjunction - was secured by reviewing scientific, pedagogical, psychological and other literature from the point of view of the problem under discussion. Causes and structure of social disjunction were discussed; phenomenon of social disjunction, as well as behavior typical to children who experienced social disjunction was analyzed. Afterwards the recommendations were presented for work with children who experienced social disjunction. After analysis of conceptions of social disjunction and comparison of them with those of poverty, one can maintain that the latter emphasize more prominently the shortage of material resources, meanwhile the conception of social disjunction... [to full text]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2010. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The goal of the dissertation was giving a view of behavioural disturbances that secondary school teachers may encounter. The essay then closely concentrates on truancy problems that teachers encounter very often. The theoretical part shows the difference between problem and defective behaviour and consequently common effects in certain development phases of a child contrary to behaviour that must be classified as defective. I will also state the classification of defective behaviour used by specialists in various fields. Following chapters will focus on explanation of truancy terms, its causation and possible arrangements to prevent skipping mandatory education. The practical part is created by interviews with secondary school teachers who encountered truants in their common practice. The goal is the analysis of the level of teachers' view on the problems. At the same time, I will try to reveal the teachers' approach to solving truancy, treating truants and their families.

This study analyzes the relationship between scores from a measure of student engagement and scores from a measure that screens students for being at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in sixth grade students. Screening instruments are used in schools to improve identification of students at risk for behavioral difficulties. Measures of engagement assess students' levels of psychological and cognitive engagement in school. Students in this study completed the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI), an instrument used for measuring student engagement. Teachers completed the Student Risk Screening Scale-Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) for their students, which screens for risk of EBD. Results indicate there was not a significant relationship between SEI scores and SRSS-IE scores. However, there were significant correlations between the SEI scores of psychological and cognitive engagement (r = .709, p < .01). Additionally, the relationship between the internalizing and externalizing scores of the SRSS-IE were also significant (r = .291, p < .05). Implications, limitations, and ideas for further research are explored.

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Researchers have noted the lack of research to guide reading practice for students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Although comprehensive syntheses have identified promising practices and areas for future research, none have evaluated the rigor of studies according to quality indicators. The current study evaluated the extant single-case reading intervention research for this student population according to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards. Thirty studies met article selection criteria, 20 (66.6%) of which had at least one dependent variable that did not meet design standards. Study findings suggest a need for researchers to employ stronger designs and place a greater emphasis on investigating the effects of reading instructional practices in inclusive settings. Overall, two reading interventions were identified as potentially promising: cognitive mapping and a listening while reading accommodation. Furthermore, findings suggest that it may be advantageous to embed behavioral strategies within reading interventions. Study limitations include the exclusive use of single-case design studies and a reliance on visual analysis to determine intervention effectiveness.

Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) in the United States are often underserved by the education system, which contributes to their academic difficulties and poor student outcomes. Research on Positive-to-Negative (PN) response ratios suggest that maintaining a high ratio helps decrease inappropriate behaviors and improve academic outcomes for students with EBD. The current study investigates the effects of a high PN ratio on the behavior of an educator of students with EBD by utilizing a tracking app to help meet a target PN ratio. One preservice special education teacher working as a paraeducator was recruited to participate in the study. The paraeducator was asked to meet PN ratio goals of 2:1, 5:1, and 10:1. Visual analysis of the data collected throughout the study indicated that each successively higher PN ratio was met by the paraeducator suggesting that access to the tracking app was functionally related to the paraeducator's ability increase her PN ratio goals. This is consistent with previous research suggesting that self-monitoring is an effective procedure to increase the use of praise and it extends access to effective interventions by adding real-time, app-based monitoring to the list of effective supports for educators. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed alongside the potential implications for practice suggested by these findings.