Educational Psychology

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skills, I might add, that are beneficial for everyone to learn, disabled or not. (I discuss group work more thoroughly
in Chapter 9, “Facilitating complex thinking”)

Behavioral disorders.......................................................................................................................................

Behavioral disorders are a diverse group of conditions in which a student chronically performs highly
inappropriate behaviors. A student with this condition might seek attention, for example, by acting out disruptively
in class. Other students with the condition might behave aggressively, be distractible and overly active, seem
anxious or withdrawn, or seem disconnected from everyday reality. As with learning disabilities, the sheer range of
signs and symptoms defies concise description. But the problematic behaviors do have several general features in
common (Kauffman, 2005; Hallahan & Kauffman, 2006):

• they tend to be extreme


• they persist for extended periods of time


• they tend to be socially unacceptable (e.g. unwanted sexual advances or vandalism against school property)


• they affect school work


• they have no other obvious explanation (e.g. a health problem or temporary disruption in the family)
  The variety among behavioral disorders means that estimates of their frequency also tend to vary among states,
  cities, and provinces. It also means that in some cases, a student with a behavioral disorder may be classified as
  having a different condition, such as ADHD or a learning disability. In other cases, a behavioral problem shown in
  one school setting may seem serious enough to be labeled as a behavioral disorder, even though a similar problem
  occurring in another school may be perceived as serious, but not serious enough to deserve the label. In any case,
  available statistics suggest that only about one to two per cent of students, or perhaps less, have true behavioral
  disorders—a figure that is only about one half or one third of the frequency for intellectual disabilities (Kauffman,
  2005). Because of the potentially disruptive effects of behavioral disorders, however, students with this condition
  are of special concern to teachers. Just one student who is highly aggressive or disruptive can interfere with the
  functioning of an entire class, and challenge even the best teacher’s management skills and patience.

Strategies for teaching students with behavioral disorders

The most common challenges of teaching students with behavioral disorders have to do with classroom
management—a topic discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 7 (“Classroom management”). Three important ideas
discussed there, however, also deserve special emphasis here: (1) identifying circumstances that trigger
inappropriate behaviors, (2) teaching of interpersonal skills explicitly, and (3) disciplining a student fairly.

Identifying circumstances that trigger inappropriate behaviors

Dealing with a disruption is more effective if you can identify the specific circumstances or event that triggers it,
rather than focusing on the personality of the student doing the disrupting. A wide variety of factors can trigger
inappropriate behavior (Heineman, Dunlap, & Kincaid, 2005):

• physiological effects—including illness, fatigue, hunger, or side-effects from medications


• physical features of the classroom—such as the classroom being too warm or too cold, the chairs being
  exceptionally uncomfortable for sitting, or seating patterns that interfere with hearing or seeing

Educational Psychology 99 A Global Text