Students are often placed in alternative education schools or settings (AES) for behavioral issues that cannot be effectively supported in a general education setting. A large portion of students educated in AES have a diagnosed emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD). An AES teacher is required to provide students with the most effective behavior…

Most students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have challenging classroom behaviors and poor postschool outcomes. Self-determination promotes positive classroom behavior and successful postschool outcomes. By incorporating choice-making, an element of self-determination, teachers across grade levels can address behavioral issues and…

TikTok has gained in popularity across teachers. One TikTok trend related to classroom management is called "Secret Student." Secret Student aims to improve classroom behavior by rewarding an anonymous, randomly chosen student. In this article, I describe common practices and variations of the Secret Student intervention as well as…

Psychotropic medications are increasingly being prescribed to school-age youth to address a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. In this article, we first provide an overview of these medications, their potential effects and side effects, and variables impacting their use. Prevalence of polypharmacy and rates of current and lifetime…

Riding the school bus can be an especially challenging time of the school day for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs). Behavior contingency contracts are an effective, evidence-based intervention that can be used to support students in less structured settings. In rural school settings, where long bus routes are common,…

Students identified with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often display a variety of challenging behaviors that can significantly affect both their learning and the dynamics of the student-teacher relationship. Addressing these challenges necessitates the development of authentic, meaningful connections between teachers and students,…

Many of the youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) who are served within alternative education settings experience behavioral challenges including displaying behaviors of concern while having difficulty demonstrating the expected behaviors. Through the low-intensity behavioral strategy of precorrection, staff in alternative education…

Sometimes, despite the most perfectly delivered writing lesson implemented with fidelity, students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) do not make the progress expected by teachers or themselves. In these instances, teachers may individualize and differentiate for students with EBD not making adequate progress by purposefully…

Early adolescents entering middle school are at a pivotal developmental phase as they become less dependent on parents/guardians and seek greater autonomy while encountering a complexity of social demands requiring them to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve academic and social success. Yet, students who receive services…

Alcohol consumption has profound effects on behavior, such as impaired judgment, addiction or even death. It is estimated that alcohol contributes to around three million deaths worldwide, 13.5% of them in young people with ages between 20 and 39 years. Consequently, it is necessary to raise awareness among college and high school students of the…

Recent decades have been marked by a wave drug treatment research in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This work has resulted in improved ability to treat commonly occurring behavioral challenges associated with ASD including most prominently irritability marked by aggression, self-injurious behavior, and severe tantrums. While treatment of…

Performing newly acquired skills over time (i.e., maintenance) and across settings and stimuli (i.e., generalization) is central to what students need to accomplish in preparation for life beyond the classroom. Students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), need opportunities to practice for the purposes of maintaining…

School teachers devote time to facilitate learning as well as behavior management to produce an environment of positive learning. For the typically-developing youth, most behavioral management interventions are successful to deter problematic behaviors and conduct compliance. However, for youth who have conduct disorder, the usual behavioral…

Students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) struggle to acquire and develop writing skills. To support their students' unique needs, it is important for teachers to monitor student writing progress to make instructional decisions based on data. In this article we describe methods for progress monitoring focused on…

New science demonstrates how students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders experience trauma at higher rates than their peers. When providing writing instruction to these students, it is imperative that the approaches used be viewed through a trauma-informed lens. This article describes steps teachers can take to view writing…