The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines an Emotional Behavioral Disturbance as a condition that shows multiple characteristics for a prolonged period of time that negatively affects academic performance. These characteristics can be inability to learn, inability to build and maintain relationships, inappropriate behavior under normal situations, consistent negative moods, and the development of physical symptoms or fears brought on by personal or school problems (U.S Department of Education, 2004). The DSM-IV defines Emotional Behavioral Disturbances as “Conduct Disorders.” The characteristics that define Conduct Disorder include repetitive abnormal societal rules that are violated, aggression towards people and animals,
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The most commonly diagnosed emotional behavioral disability is externalizing behaviors. Males outnumber females five to one. There are roughly 6-10 percent of students that show signs of serious and persistent emotional and behavioral problems. However, only less than one percent of the population are identified (Hallahan, et. Al., 2014). One factor that can cause the underrepresentation of individuals with behavioral disorders is individuals that show minor symptoms of the disability. If teachers are not perceptive to the minor symptoms, the students can continue to go through school undiagnosed. This can cause for more severe symptoms to transpire as the individual grows older. Because behavior can change on a daily basis, some children can be unidentified because the severity of their behavioral disability might not be prevalent yet (Forness, 2005). Another cause of under-identification is uninformed teachers on how to differentiate between normal age and maturity equivalent behaviors versus emotional behavioral disorders. For example, if a first grader is being “goofy” or throwing temper tantrums, can the teacher determine that the reason for his behavior is because he is a first grader or because he has an emotional behavior disability? Many teachers cannot differentiate the difference in younger children. Therefore, many children will go years through school without being diagnosed. Emotional behavioral disabilities students can also go undiagnosed because they are diagnosed under a different disability category. There is a strong comorbid relationship between disabilities like Learning Disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and
The most commonly diagnosed emotional behavioral disability is externalizing behaviors. Males outnumber females five to one. There are roughly 6-10 percent of students that show signs of serious and persistent emotional and behavioral problems. However, only less than one percent of the population are identified (Hallahan, et. Al., 2014). One factor that can cause the underrepresentation of individuals with behavioral disorders is individuals that show minor symptoms of the disability. If teachers are not perceptive to the minor symptoms, the students can continue to go through school undiagnosed. This can cause for more severe symptoms to transpire as the individual grows older. Because behavior can change on a daily basis, some children can be unidentified because the severity of their behavioral disability might not be prevalent yet (Forness, 2005). Another cause of under-identification is uninformed teachers on how to differentiate between normal age and maturity equivalent behaviors versus emotional behavioral disorders. For example, if a first grader is being “goofy” or throwing temper tantrums, can the teacher determine that the reason for his behavior is because he is a first grader or because he has an emotional behavior disability? Many teachers cannot differentiate the difference in younger children. Therefore, many children will go years through school without being diagnosed. Emotional behavioral disabilities students can also go undiagnosed because they are diagnosed under a different disability category. There is a strong comorbid relationship between disabilities like Learning Disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and