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Monday, March 9, 2015

SPRING BREAK IS HERE!!!!!!

YAY!!  Only problem is it rained all day :(  which forced me to do some homework.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

The Emotionally Disturbed Child...What does it mean?




The text-book definition tells us that "Emotional Disturbance" is a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance: 

         A.  An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health                       factors; 

         B.  An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships
              with peers and teachers;
         C.  Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
         D.  A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
         E.  A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with
              personal or school problems. The term includes schizophrenia. The term
              does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is
              determined that they have an emotional disturbance (ED). 

This is great information.....but what does it really mean??

It means a lot of things...

Mostly that something is missing from the child's life, somethings from infancy or early childhood.  They have unfulfilled basic needs and have developed negative ways to get those needs fulfilled.  These are their "copying skills". Unfortunatley, these negative coping skills manifest as defiance, fighting, cussing and name calling, acting out for attention, arguing, lying, stealing...


Meet Bobby in the following video.



Students' four basic needs are INCLUSION, to be "in" or part of the group, CONTROL, to be able to make decisions in their daily lives, AFFECTION, to know there are people that there are people who like them and they can like back, and COMPETENCY, to be seen as able to do things in school.  When these needs are all put together they form a sense of belonging or community.














Tuesday, December 30, 2014

About Me

Well...to start, this is an assignment through my alternative certification agency. Second, I have tried blogging before with little success.  My last entry was 2009.

This is a requirement so here goes.

I have a degree in Social Work and my LBSW, for what it's worth.  Just over a year ago I decided to get out of Mental Health, after 7 years, and try something new.  I did a lot of thinking about the field of teaching and my own strengths and weaknesses.  After much deliberation and studying I took my content exams.  I passed.  Then I attended the the summer session for certification. Everything was going well and I felt great.

Fast forward to now.  No one said it would be easy, infact they all said, 'the first year is the toughest, the first year is the worst!'  So far this fall, teaching a Special Education Class for Emotionally Disturbed students, has been the toughest job I have ever had.  Parenthood is/was nothing compaired to teacherhood.