Laura’s Response to Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders
I chose an
article titled, Evaluation of a Mentoring Program for Elementary School
Students at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders by Paul Caldarella,
Michael B. Adams, Shauna B. Valentine, and K. Richard Young from Brigham Young
University. The focus of this article was to evaluate a school-based mentoring
program with adults and elementary students at risk for emotional and
behavioral disorders. Through the research provided by the team, this mentoring
program associated with improvements in students’ self-esteem, attitudes about
school and peer-to-parental relationships. The research also suggested that
academic achievement along with some behavioral improvements had taken place.
More
research has shown that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD)
experience less academic instruction and are frequently removed from class
compared to students with other disabilities. Academic failure for students
with EBD is primarily due to lack of content knowledge, task incompletion and
skill deficiency. In order to combat EBD with at risk students the school-based
approached used was Positive Behavior Support (PBS). The fundamentals to PBS is
a practical approach that uses preventative teaching strategies.
PBS is a three tiered model designed
to address individual needs. According to the PBS model tier one is targeted at
80 percent of students which best respond to universal or primary level
interventions reinforcing behavioral expectations of the school community. The
secondary level interventions target specific service and support to 15 percent
of the population. This 15 percent is most commonly labeled at risk. While the
remaining 5 percent is in the third tier. These students require highly focused
assessment and interventions mostly including the population of students with
educational disabilities.
While the purpose of the article was
to evaluate and describe this particular school-based mentoring program the
evaluation focused on the impact of social competence, antisocial behaviors,
academics and attendance. The results of the evaluation supported mentoring as
a secondary level PBS intervention for potential at risk students with EBD. The
positive feedback surveyed from parents and teachers expressed that
participation in the program helped improve social competence, decreased
antisocial behavior and improvement academically. The research also showed the
positive effects of the program like homework completion and a change in the
attitudes toward school among at risk students for EBD.
In conclusion, the article was
informative and the results from research provided was very positive. It was
enlightening to read about the positive turn-a-round for the at risk students
that participated within the study. Although, the results suggest school-based
mentoring as a strategy for improving potential outcomes for at risk students
with EBD, this is only one case study and results may vary.
References
Caldarella, P., Adams, M. B., Valentine, S. B., & Young,
K. R. (2009). Evaluation of a mentoring program for elementary school students
at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. New Horizons In Education,
57(1), 1-16.
