ABSTRACT
Emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) encompass a broad category of disorders that affect students and school communities. These disorders may be described using general terms (e.g. anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior) or they may be narrowly defined in diagnostic terms in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of psychiatric disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-V; American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013)). However, it is worth noting that general definitions as well as a specific EBD diagnosis is contextual in that observed behaviors depend on many individual and environmental factors. For example, a child displaying disruptive behaviors during reading instruction (e.g., talking out of turn, hitting other students) may display these behaviors for a range of reasons. On one hand, the child may lack appropriate social skills to ask for help. On the other, the child might be negatively influenced by his or her peers, have not had appropriate instruction, be experiencing a mental health problem, or be impacted by any number of other factors. Whatever the case, the great majority of educators-not just special educators-will have students with EBDs in their classes and will be expected to help address the academic and social-emotional needs of these youth.
