Who are the children with emotional and behavioral disorders?   Children with these disorders are characterized primarily by behavior that falls significantly beyond the norms of their cultural and age group on two dimensions: externalizing and internalizing.  Both patterns of abnormal behavior have adverse effects on children’s academic achievement and social relationships. Rhode et. al.,(1998)

            How can we describe the externalizing behaviors of children? The most common behavior pattern of children with emotional and behavioral disorders consists of antisocial, or externalizing behaviors.  In the classroom interaction and discussion are being disrupted because of children’s externalizing behaviors, these behaviors have adverse effects on children’s economic achievement and social relationships.

            As teachers, you may have noticed the following behaviors of the students:

• Getting of their seats every now and then.  With no urgent and important reasons they always display this behavior.
• They yell, talk out, and curse. Do you have talkative and shouting students with no reasons at all?
• They disturb peer. Sometimes they grab their things, they push them or they tease classmates.
• They hit or fight. Most of the time, their parents have invitation from the guidance counselor.
• They ignore teachers. They do not listen to them.
• Most of the times they complain.  For the smallest thing they noticed, they complain.
• They argue excessively.  They want to debate with the teacher most of the time.
• They steal. From the things in the classroom, things of classmates and valuables of teachers.
• They lie. When confronted to a wrong thing done, they will never tell the truth.
• They destroy property.
• They do not comply with proper direction. They always want to be different.
• They do not complete assignments.

            Can we still help these students to be treated out of their problems?  Many believe that most children who exhibit deviant behavioral patterns will grow out of them with time and become normally functioning adults. Although this optimistic outcome holds true for many children who exhibit problems such as withdrawal fears and speech improvements , Rutley ( 1976).  Research indicates that it is not so for children who display consistent patterns of aggressive, coercive antisocial, and/or delinquent behavior Patterson, et al.,(1991).  The stability of aggressive behavior over a decade is equal to the stability of intelligence Kazdin  (1987).

            A pattern of antisocial behavior early in a child’s development is the best single predictor of delinquency in adolescence.  Children who enter adolescence with a history of aggressive behavior stand a very good chance of dropping out of school, being arrested, abusing drugs and alcohol, having marginalized adult lives and dying young.   Lipply and Derzon (1998).

           

           

           Behaviors are not just the results of spoiling a child, bad parenting, lack of discipline, neglect, a learning disability, ADHD, conduct disorder, anxiety, depression, shyness, a need for attention, power, revenge or a feeling of inadequacy.

            Teachers and parents must be the prime factors in making the pupils learn, since they learn by being exposed to the situation. If we analyze all of these, we can say that parents, teachers, peers should be responsible in helping these children by being responsible to these type of students.

By: Cheryl E. Posas | Teacher III | Bataan National High School | City of Balanga, Bataan