Ewing,+Hope,+Emotional+Distrurbance



** Introduction **

This is a picture of me in Africa on safari. I have a huge passon for elephants! Along with my passion for elephants, I also have a passion for helping people with exceptionalities. Which ever career I end up in, I hope to be able to work with people who have exceptionalities. I hope to help these people find their strengths and use them to help compensate with the areas that they struggle with.

**About Me**: My name is Hope Ewing. I am currently a junior at Southern Oregon University majoring in psychology and minoring in special education. I grew up in Ashland and am excited to move away once I am done with my undergraduate degree.

**Career and education goals:** After graduating from Southern Oregon University with a B.S. in psychology and a minor in special education, I plan on getting some real world work experience before deciding on what masters degree I would like to obtain. Some of my career interests include working with students in special education, especially those who have psychological needs, working with adults with disabilities, working with youth in residential treatment, and creating or modifying programs that support individuals with special needs.

**What brings me joy:** What brings me the most joy is knowing that I have made a difference in someone’s life, especially in areas of others lives that they struggle with. Helping people in any way helps make my life feel full.

**My greatest fear about teaching:** My greatest fear about teaching is not meeting the needs of students that I will work with. I also fear that my personal learning disability will get in the way of helping students.

**Difficultly with learning : **Throughout all of my time spent in school, I have had an extremely difficult time with math and science courses. When I began college at Rogue Community College, I was placed into Math 60. It took me three tries before I passed this class. I felt like a failure, but I knew that each time I took the class I was getting higher scores. This experience was very humbling for me and I learned more life lessons from it than math facts. These life lessons include the importance of not being afraid to ask for help and about the importance of advocating for myself. I hope to use this experience to help my future students understand that they are not alone in their struggles and how important and useful perseverance is.


 * W ** **hat I hope to gain from this course:** Throughout this course, I hope to learn more about special education. I hope that this class will allow me to learn more about the edict of special education and strategies for students with and without exceptionalities for in and outside of the classroom.

** My Topic ** I picked the topic of emotional disturbance for two main reasons. The first reason is because I am majoring in psychology and minoring in special education. I have a large interest and passion for psychology and education. My hope is that I can incorporate both of these fields in my future career. Because there is a large psychological portion to the topic of emotional disturbance, this topic allowed me to explore the simulates and differences of emotional disturbance in both psychology and special education. The second reason is that in my future career, I hope to be able to work with students who have emotional disturbances. I feel that I could help these students, although because of my personal nature I am not to sure about working with students who have conduct disorder or oppositional defiance disorder. I have been interested in the topic of emotional disturbance for quite some time and am glad that I was able to learn more about and gain insight into this complex exceptionality.

** Top Five Things I Learned ** 1. I learned that it can be very difficult for a student to qualify for an IEP under the category of emotionally disturbed (ED.) In the majority of cases, problem behaviors must be observed and documented for six months! Parents become frustrated because of the length of the process and because the student may qualify for a 504 plan instead of the desired IEP. This is less likely to happen if the student has other co- occurring learning differences. Pasted below is a copy of the requirements that need to be met for a student to meet the criteria of ED: 2. I was surprised to learn that many students with ED are academically behind by about two years in all subjects. This often creates more stress and anxiety for the student, which can cause the student to fall even further behind.

3. I learned that it is very important to remember that their is a person behind the disorder. Students with ED who act out may be labeled as "the problem child" or the child who dosen't care, but it is important to remember that what teachers, staff, and students say to and about a child with ED dramatically affects them. While it is extremely important to teach these children to become responsible for their actions, it is also important to remember that their is a reason for their actions that they may not be able to control. I have found that it is helpful to look at the conditions that plague students with ED as a medical condition than a choice.

4. I was glad to see that there are many ways to help students with ED in school. There are many behavior modification ideas that teachers can easily implement for the student, but can also be used for the whole class. When these systems are implemented for the whole class problem behaviors that the rest of the students have often reduce. This also allows the student with ED to feel less isolated.

5. During this project, I was able to learn the differences between the education world of emotional disturbance and the psychology world of emotional disturbance. Although these two do somewhat overlap, it was hard for me to learn how they are different and how they are the same. The most frustrating part is the language. This can be difficult because many students with ED are seen by mental health professionals as well as school specialists. I feel that it would be beneficial for states to consider adapting definitions that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-TR (DSM-IV-TR) provides. ** Top Resource ** 5/5 Stars. This is an amazing site with TONS of information regarding emotional disturbance (and other exceptionalities) in many areas such as assessment, accommodations, definitions, classroom management techniques and much more! Besides providing a ton of information of emotional disturbance, this website also has a large amount of information on other learning differences. The website is laid out in an easy to access format, which saves time when you are looking for information about one particular part of an exceptionality.

[|Amazing Emotional Disturbance Link]

** Other Resources **

1. 5/5 Stars. This is a video that will pull at your heart. It is about conduct disorder which is a common diagnosis for students who have an emotional disturbance. I feel that this video helps to remind us that there is a person behind the disorder and their behaviors are not always their choice. Although it is very important to help students with emotional disturbances learn to take responsibility for their behaviors, it is equally as important to remember that until we help them understand their behaviors many of their behaviors are not their fault.

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2. 4/5 Stars. This is a powerpoint that was created for parents who have a child with a possible emotional disturbance. I found this powerpoint very helpful in explaining emotional disturbance in an easy to undersand and non-threatening format. I would recommend this powerpoint not only for parents, but for teachers and other school staff who have not had experience with a student who has emotional disturbance.

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3. 4/5 Stars. This is a great document containing suggested accommodations, modifications, and variations for students with emotional disturbance. I would recommend this for both special education and general education teachers. Some of these strategies might even be used during the pre- referral process.



4. 4/5 Stars. This is a link to the Oregon Department of Education website. This specific link provides information on the eligibility process of emotional disturbance in the state of Oregon. Although this is important information for educators, I do wish it had links for recommended intervention strategies, interventions, modifications and accommodations.

[|Oregon Department of Education- Emotional Disturbance Qualifications]

5. 4/5 stars. This video provides a look into a general education teachers experience with a child in her classroom with emotional disturbance. Although this video provides good insight, it seems that the experiences she had are mild compared to other stories I have herd.

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6. 4/5 Stars. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a relatively new idea that looks at how the school can change for the students and minimizes high-stake testing. Strategies for RTI depend on the subject, and in this case behaviors of the students. Although RTI is new, I feel that it will be proven to be effective. This website provides an overview and some strategies for a RTI of emotional disturbance.

[|Emotional Disturbance and RTI]

7. 4/5 Stars. This is a great handout that provides an overview of emotional disturbance. Besides an overview of emotional disturbance, this handout briefly describes different psychological disorders that may be seen in students with emotional disorder, common eligibility factors, and a list of additional resources. This handout would be beneficial for anyone who works with or knows a student with emotional disturbance.



8. 3.5/5 Stars. This a video that explains what Emotional Disturbance is. The video provides a nice overview of emotional disturbance, but is a bit hard to listen to because the character voices are robotic.

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