Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Module 3
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Module 3
Module 3 Activities
Instructions: Either make a copy of this document using Google Docs or download as a word document. Complete all activities within the copied document unless otherwise specified and upload the assignment as one single file.
Activity 1: Causal Factors – Family and Parents
- If children have one of the family/parenting risk factors, does that mean that they are destined to develop an Emotional and Behavioral Disorder? Why or why not? What might mitigate these risk factors? Please provide two examples to support your point.
Activity 2: Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement, and Punishment
After reading the textbook, watch the Operant Conditioning video posted and also read the IRIS Center – Positive Reinforcement vs Negative Reinforcement resource document posted in Brightspace. Then, answer the following three questions:
- Think of your current classroom or student(s) you work with. Identify one individual student behavior that you would like to change, and address one classwide or group-wide behavior that you would like to change. Then describe how you would address each using 1. positive reinforcement, 2. negative reinforcement, and 3. punishment. Then reflect on which you believe would be the most effective.
Individual Student Behavior (describe it):
Classwide or Group-wide Behavior (describe it):
| Individual Student Behavior | Classwide or Group-wide Behavior | |
| Describe how you would use Positive Reinforcement to change the behavior | ||
| Describe how you would use Negative Reinforcement to change the behavior | ||
| Describe how you would use Punishment to change the behavior | ||
| Which approach do you think would work best for each scenario and WHY? |
- Read the following scenario, and answer the question following the scenario: Jessica is a fourth grade student in Mr. Antwon’s classroom. She frequently disrupts math instruction in the classroom, and she seems to like to be the “class clown” and try to get all of her peers to laugh at her inappropriate behaviors during math work time. Mr. Antwon notices that Jessica never completes her math work and if she is called on to answer a question, she starts these inappropriate behaviors. Mr. Antwon has had enough of this behavior; he is unable to get through his lessons due to the constant disruptions and Jessica’s ability to get the entire class engaged in off-task behaviors. He decides that he is going to use a management strategy to decrease this behavior by using punishment. He plans to send her to the office when she displays these behaviors so that she is no longer in the classroom. He is confident that after sending her to the office during math instruction on Monday due to her disruptive behaviors, Jessica will stop disrupting the classroom on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Jessica immediately starts disrupting at the beginning of math instruction on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday her behaviors become out-of-control about 15 minutes before math instruction is supposed to begin. Mr. Antwon keeps sending her to the office for this behavior, but it does not seem to be making a difference. Why do you think Jessica’s behaviors continued? Mr. Antwon believed that his punishments would work, but could his approach be having an unintentional effect on her behavior? Explain using specific terminology and citations from the course resources.
Activity 3: Causal Factors – Schools and Teachers
After reading Chapter 7, identify three (3) ways that schools and/or teachers can unintentionally contribute to the development of EBD (there is a list of 7 ways beginning on page 136). Explain each of the three ways in 1-2 sentences each. Then analyze your current school and reflect on whether the school addresses each in a positive or negative manner. For each one, then explain how you would recommend this factor be addressed in a more productive way.
Activity 4: Skill Building and Strengths-Based Approaches
- Watch the posted video entitled “Rethinking Challenging Kids – Where There’s A Skill There’s A Way” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuoPZkFcLVs&t=320s). Summarize the main ideas of the video presentation and reflect on how this mindset can be applied to working with students with EBD? Your response should be two paragraphs. Be specific in your response and make specific references to our course content (with in-text citations).
