When working with students who have emotional or behavioral disorders in the classroom, you have to be careful not to be the spark to the EBD student’s tinder. This isn’t something I’m great at, but I’ve learned a few things to de-escalate behavior and redirect.

• Lower your voice. When I’m agitated, my voice becomes shrill. I don’t hear it, but students and bats do. Lowering my voice gives me and my students the illusion that I’m calm.
• Recognize the source. The student might be uncomfortable with his competency in your class. Pre-arrange for the student to answer a question about the homework in front of the whole class. Double-check with the student before class to make sure that he understands the homework question and has the correct answer.
• Slow down. Sometimes students with EBD or other learning disabilities need less stimulation. Slow down your delivery, chunk up the material, and offer students enough think time after questions.
• Give yourself think time. This one’s really for me. Don’t say the first thing that pops into your head when a student makes a heated comment. The goal is to de-escalate the conflict, not one-up the student.
• Watch for the warning signs. Try to recognize what triggers a student’s outbursts. If you see a student becoming agitated, intervene with a quiet word or change the lesson’s pacing.
• Pre-arrange a signal. Sometimes the EBD student recognizes that her behavior is becoming unmanageable. You and the student can develop a pre-arranged hand signal that lets you know she’s taking the rest room pass for a cool-down.
• Engage students. This one’s pretty obvious, but when students are engaged in the lesson, they don’t disrupt as much. Work frequent engagement activities into your lesson so that your EBD students don’t disrupt out of boredom.
• Talk one-on-one. Try to talk to the EBD student alone and not in front of the entire class. If it’s practical to pull the student aside or into the hall without calling attention to it, do so. However, if you’re in a whole-class situation, give the class something to do, approach the student’s desk, squat down to her level, and have a conversation in a quiet voice.
• Acknowledge the student’s concern. You might not be able to address the EBD student’s problem right at the moment, but you can acknowledge her concern. Write it down and make a point of getting back to her during class. Make sure that she understands that her concerns and comfort level are important to you and that you intend to follow up on them.
• Give students a choice. Maybe a written assignment always causes Ian to create a classroom disruption because he struggles to concentrate enough to finish a sentence. Offer students choices in the way that they show they know the concepts.
• Build a relationship with your EBD students. These kids might not be fabulous at parallel structure or parallelograms, but they might be a terror on the dirt bike course. Find out what they love to do and show an interest.
• Don’t ask why. The EBD student probably doesn’t know why she did something or else can’t put it into words. It’s an exercise in frustration. Stick to the what and how questions instead. What are you supposed to be doing? What can I do to help you? How can you fix this?
• It’s not you. Really. A wise guidance counselor told me that it’s not my fault that my EBD students reached a boiling point. After a few years, I decided to believe him and I became a calmer teacher.
• Coach, don’t nag or lecture. Guilty, guilty, guilty. I try very hard to take the coaching-support view. I try to say, “That’s not quite right. Try again.” I try not to say, “Remember last time this happened? You went to the office, didn’t you? That’s where you’re headed again if you don’t stop…”

This isn’t a complete list of what works well to de-escalate an EBD student. It’s a start, though. Do you have something to add? Please write about what works for you and your students in the Comments section or e-mail Diane Trim.

Special Education law is increasingly layered with details, caveats and other complications that often result in schools and parents, neither being legal council, being caught in interpretation. Yet despite its cumbersome details, school districts and parents are after the same goal; to educate all children, regardless of disability.

And thus, the federal mandate (Public Law 102-119), known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was born. This mandate states that all disabled children will receive a free appropriate public education by the school district and the district must provide all related services at no cost to the child or his/her parents.

It is our opinion that in order to best work with parents of special education children, it is best to understand them first.

For the sake of organization, we categorized them into groups. By doing so, perhaps you can more easily think about how to work with them, as educating their child is a team effort. It is important to note that we are in no case saying that any of these parents are not good parents. As we would do for our child?

1. Denial – These parents are those who are in disbelief that their child may have a disability. Disabilities come in many shapes and sizes and often are not detected immediately. Autism, as an example, is a disability that greatly varies in severity and may not be visible until the child is well into their school years.
2. Chip On Shoulder – These parents are in many ways bitter about the disability and come from a perspective of the school / district owing them something. They are commonly dissatisfied with services and the performance of their child.
3. Advocates – These parents are very well versed in the laws and work hard to continue to move the field forward. They see themselves as part of the solution and feel part of their life mission is to advocate for rights and changes.
4. Savvy – These parents, typically from wealthy school districts, who hire personal advocates or attorneys to push issues to their extreme. They often threaten districts to go to court over Due Process rights or the like, are willing to contact the media if their demands are not met and in many cases receive unprecedented services (i.e. out-of-state placement, extra equipment, extra aid support, etc.). These parents will often arrive at an IEP with a personal attorney.
5. Equality Not Equity – These parents advocate for their child to be fully mainstreamed into the regular education classroom, despite level of disability. It is common for parents of children with disabilities to want ‘normal’ activities for their children and to experience the day as ‘normal’ children do.

Districts must be aware that engaging in any legal battles require substantial resources of time and monies, the risk of negative publicity (i.e. not advocates for all students).

It should be noted that in the case where districts lose court battles, they may be ordered by the court to pay for the legal fees incurred by both the district as well as the plaintiff (i.e. parent(s)/guardian(s) for the student).

Although rights, laws and policies are intended to provide support for an individual or group of individuals, we would be remiss to complete this article without mentioning the concern of over-labeling children. It has been the observation of both authors that there is a disproportionate number of minority and second language learners that are often referred for special education services.

For a myriad of reasons, it is imperative that districts have very clear and concise parameters for all special education referrals and evaluations as the long term implications for students, should they be improperly classified are daunting.

Please take great deliberation, gather a variety of data, seek the input of a variety of staff and parents invest thoughtfulness and sensitivity on everyone’s part.

1. IDEA = Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It’s a catchy acronym and the name for the nation’s special education law. You might hear someone spell it out like I – D – E – A or you might hear someone say IDEA ’97 or IDEA 2004, which are the years in which the law changed and was authorized.
2. FAPE = Free Appropriate Public Education. This one’s pronounced fay-p. FAPE is a concept in IDEA that ensures that all students’ public education will be Free, including education and services for special needs students.

   Public education will be Appropriate, which means that a student’s education will be suited to her, specifically. It will fit that particular student’s needs, strengths, and goals. It also means that the student will receive the support she needs to be successful. In other words, Appropriate means that each special education student will have an education and services tailored to her needs.

   Public means that our public funds pay for educating these special education students. In general, this means that special education students will attend the same schools as other students do, even if their disabilities are severe. However, sometimes this means that the public funds the education of a student enrolled in a private school, too.

   The E stands for Education, which is what the IDEA law is all about. However, Education goes beyond textbooks and field trips. In terms of IDEA, Education also includes all the special education services that a child needs for her Appropriate Education.

3. IEP = Individualized Education Program. When you hear this term, people will say it by spelling it: I – E – P. The IEP is the appropriate part of FAPE, in other words, it’s the instructional plan that’s tailored to each special education students’ individual needs. The IEP contains information about the student’s disability and the special education services the student will receive. Periodically, a team of teachers and the parents meets to review the IEP and revise it, if necessary.
4. LRE = Least Restrictive Environment. IDEA requires that the public give special education students a public education in the least restrictive environment possible, which can mean different things to different students, depending on their IEPs. Often it means that the special education student receives as much of the education and services in her IEP as possible while seated alongside her nondisabled peers. This means that the special education student could be in regular education classes with either a support teacher in the classroom or pull-outs with the special education teacher during the day.
5. TA&D = Technical Assistance & Dissemination Network. This mouthful is spelled out: T – A – and – D. You don’t hear it often but NICHCY thinks it’s important. TA&D is the network of government projects that support IDEA. NICHCY is one of them, but there are 39 others. Some of these projects focus on early childhood education, others on behavioral interventions. You can visit the network here: http://www.rrfcnetwork.org/content/view/137/192/ and even download a placemat with all of the projects and contact information on it. It’s a good acronym for teachers who are searching for resources for helping families, students, and fellow staff members. And it’s a placemat, which would be great to put in the teacher’s lunch room on the tables.

You’ll notice that NICHCY didn’t make it onto its own list, but you might want to look it up on the Internet all the same. They have great resources for working with special needs students.