Abstract:

The current trend for the last several years has been to include special education students in general education classes and is referred to as inclusion. The theories and professionals that support this method speak of the benefits for the student in the general population. The most positive benefits usually identified are supportive teaching strategies with additional teachers (special educators or aides), no stigmas, and availability of differentiated instruction. While there is no argument that these benefits are worth while for most special education students it is not always the best method for a particular group of students identified as Emotionally Disabled. This paper is being presented to bring to the forefront a unique group of special education students that are often disenfranchised due to their limited numbers and unique behavioral needs. This paper will address the issues that often arise for Emotionally Disabled students when faced with the expectations of an inclusion setting that they may be unprepared for and the issues associated with but often overlooked when placing a student in an inclusion class. This paper will offer behaviors typical of emotionally disabled students, why these behaviors are affected by inclusion and how the Behavioral Learning support system can train the students to change their decision making and become better learners.

Emotional disability:
An Emotional Disability as defined by Wikipedia is “an emotional or behavioral disability that impacts a person’s ability to effectively recognize, interpret, control, and express fundamental emotions.” Classroom management in the inclusion classroom can not thoroughly handle these issues until the building blocks have been developed (learned) so that the student can help his/her self as well. The ability to develop these skills in a safe non-threatening environment where learning from mistakes can be used to build confidence is imperative. The Wikipedia definition was used due to its clear assessment of the problem and non-clinical focus.

Behavioral learning support environment:
The Behavioral Learning Support Environment (BLS) is a controlled classroom(s) setting that utilizes positive incentives, feedback, discussion, and security to enable students identified with emotional disabilities to develop skills and confidence in their decision making. While the emphasis is on educational objectives there is also an equal emphasis on the development of pro-social skills. Students time in this program varies greatly dependent upon the strength of their basic skills and needs. Due to the nature of the students who often have academic gaps this small group setting also offers opportunities to re-teach and develop basic skills that have been missed previously.

Social emotional learning:
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process by which the individual is able to develop thoughts feelings and emotions (Finkenberg, Pelton 2017). Social emotional learning has been expanded into classrooms to assist teachers with the management of behaviors. For emotionally disabled students the management and learning developed in the behavioral learning support classroom is more than a stop gap attempt to teach to the problem but provides for an “increased capacity to for resiliency and sustainable management capacity” ( Finkenberg, Pelton 2107).

Keywords:

Emotional Disability, behavior learning support environment, social emotional learning.