ABSTRACT
There are no fixed measures to help us say whether a child‧ behaviour is abnormal, but the more extreme a child‧ behaviour is, the easier it becomes to do so. The label emotional, social and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) has become synonymous with behaviours that prevent a child from successfully engaging with the curriculum and with his or her peers. That is to say, there are certain circumstances when the child‧ behaviour is different enough from his or her peers to justify additional adult intervention. Children who experience SEBD interfere in some way with the teacher‧ teaching, their peers’ learning and their own learning. ‘SEBD’ is then more a description of a set of circumstances than a fixed diagnosis. A child‧ behaviour (for example, shouting out) may be of concern in one context – the classroom – but be perfectly normal in another – the playground.
