Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties In Middle Childhood

Identification, Assessment And Intervention In School

Maurice Chazan, Alice F. Laing, Diane Davies

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135398651
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Looking In Depth At The Main Issues Of Emotional And Behavioural difficulties of 7-11 year olds, this book draws on recent study material and projects to suggest practical ways of dealing with such difficulties in schools, and to give a clearer understanding of the problems posed by children with EBDs. Key topics covered include educating children with Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties Ebds In Mainstream And Special schools, disruptive behaviour and bullying, withdrawal, anxiety and depression, identification and assessment and how schools, parents and others can help.

Chapter 1
Introduction

Scope of Book

In recent years, increased attention has been given by both schools and researchers to emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBDs) in children. This has been particularly the case with EBDs occurring during middle childhood (here taken as the period roughly between 7+ and 11+ years), previously relatively neglected as a focus for action and research as compared with the under-5s and adolescents. Consequently, a considerable literature now exists on many aspects of EBDs in middle childhood which is of practical relevance to teachers and parents but is scattered widely in a variety of publications.

The nature of EBDs in middle childhood will be discussed in chapter 2. The term ‘emotional and behavioural difficulties’ has largely replaced ‘maladjustment’ in Britain, and is roughly equivalent to ‘behaviour disorder’ as used in the USA. Here, the focus is put on those EBDs presented in school which are serious enough to cause concern to parents and teachers, and which may take the form of ‘externalized’ behaviour (for example, aggressiveness, disruptiveness, bullying) or ‘internalized’ behaviour (for example, timidity, inhibition, withdrawal), or indeed a mixture of both outgoing and introverted behaviour. The usage of the term ‘EBDs’ in this book is very much in line with the definition of the ‘behavioural problem’ child put forward by Woody (1969) in relation to behaviour shown within the school, i.e. ‘the child who cannot or will not adjust to the socially acceptable norms for behaviour and consequently disrupts his own academic progress, the learning efforts of his classmates, and interpersonal relations’ (p. 19).

This book aims to highlight the main findings of studies relating to the identification, assessment and treatment of EBDs in middle childhood, in the context of the school. It is hoped that the content of the book will be of interest to parents as well as school staffs, as parents need to be closely involved in EBDs arising in school at all stages. EBDs in school cannot be fully understood without insight into the child’s family background, even if the home is not a factor in the causation of problems of behaviour. However, limitations of space prevent children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties at home from being fully considered in this book. In the main, EBDs will be discussed in the context of the educational system in England and Wales, but reference will be made to other countries, especially the USA.

This introductory chapter will briefly discuss the organization of educational provision for 7-11+ year-olds; the main features of normal emotional and social growth in this age group; developments in the education and treatment of children with EBDs over the years; and the effects of the 1988 Education Reform Act and subsequent legislation on the way in which pupils with EBDs are dealt with. The rest of the book will be divided into four parts.

In Part I, the book will explore the extent to which children aged 7-11+ years present EBDs in school, the nature of these difficulties, and the factors affecting estimates of prevalence. It will consider how EBDs can be identified and appropriately assessed.

In Part II, after an examination of the role of schools in the prevention of, and intervention in, EBDs and the ways in which teachers cope with behaviour problems in the classroom, a variety of possible approaches to intervention will be looked at, in particular behaviour modification strategies, social skills training, group work and problem-solving techniques. Working with parents and others will also be discussed.

Part III will consider the integration of pupils presenting EBDs in the mainstream school system as well as the contribution of special classes, units and schools to the education of these pupils. Part IV will deal with some specific problems that may arise in middle childhood, such as school refusal, disruptive behaviour, bullying, and anxiety/inhibition. The concluding chapter will summarize the issues raised in the book, and look forward to future developments in preventing and treating EBDs. Throughout the book, the evaluation of different approaches to prevention and intervention will be underlined, and general principles will be illustrated by a range of case studies.

Educational Provision for 7 to 11+-Year-Olds

In Europe and the USA many pupils aged 7-11+ form a somewhat separate sub-division within a school that caters for children from the ages of 5, 6 or 7 years up to 11, 12, 13 or even later. In Europe the primary school tends to span the years 6-12, with a linked pre-school system, though in Scandinavia the entry age is 7 and the schools cover most or all of compulsory education (Galton and Blyth, 1989). In the USA most children attend elementary school between 6 and 12, after a non-compulsory year in a kindergarten, but in some school districts the elementary school extends its coverage up to 13 or 14. Grades 4 to 6 (ages 9-11+) form an ‘intermediate’ sub-division within the elementary school (Gutek, 1988).

In England and Wales, some pupils within the 7-11+ age-range are to be found in junior schools, or middle schools, but most are in junior departments, after two or three years in infant schools or departments and possibly about two years before that in nursery schools/classes or playgroups. A junior school is separate from the infant school, which caters for pupils aged 5-7 years (some enter at 4+), while a junior department is a part of a primary school which includes children from 5-11+ years.

Following the Education Act of 1964, which made it possible for local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales to transfer pupils to secondary education at ages other than 11+, patterns of school reorganization emerged such as first schools catering for 5-8 or 9-year-olds and middle schools covering the years 8 or 9 to 12 or 13. The development of middle schools was primarily a consequence of political and economic pressures and helped to alleviate the problems associated with the shortage of buildings brought about by the move to comprehensive secondary education and the raising of the school leaving age to 16. However, middle schools were also intended to keep pupils free for a longer period from the pressures of class instruction and external examinations that affected secondary schools (Taylor and Garson, 1982; Sharp and Dunford, 1990). Middle schools flourished in some areas of the country during the 1970s, but now occupy only a minority position in the educational system of England and Wales.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, British primary schools tended to encourage a child-centred approach, emphasizing individual and group work rather than rote learning and whole-class instruction. American educationists became enthusiastic about this approach during this period. However, more recently in both Britain and the USA the pendulum has swung back, with a call for a return to an emphasis on the basic subjects and ‘traditional’ rather than ‘progressive’ teaching methods (Gutek, 1988; Alexander, 1992). The debate continues.

Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood

The period from about 5 years of age until puberty has tended to be seen as relatively free from emotional upheaval. This view has been largely the result of the influence of Sigmund Freud, who considered middle childhood to be a ‘latency’ or rest period, when the sexual and aggressive impulses are in a subdued state, and of less significance for the formation of personality than earlier or later periods. As Sula Wolff (1973) puts it, during latency the erotic longings of early childhood, its jealousies and its fears, become hidden until the psychological and social changes of puberty bring them to life again.

Erik Erikson (1950), too, perceived children as less prone to aggression during the latency period. However, Erikson considered middle childhood to be a most decisive stage socially, when children could develop a sense of inadequacy and inferiority if they failed to acquire appropriate skills or to achieve status among their contemporaries. Erikson also recognized that school life played a crucial role in children’s emotional and social growth: it had its own goals and limits, achievements and disappointments, and involved doing things beside, and with, others.

Later work has confirmed that middle childhood is a time of significant growth in many spheres — physical, cognitive, emotional and social. New capacities emerge, and there is a gradual consolidation and extension of abilities. During this period, children achieve a greater self-regulation and a deeper understanding of others. Indeed, development in middle childhood appears to have considerable significance for behaviour patterns and adjustment later on; for example, behaviour problems become more resistant to change as the child gets older (Collins, 1984; Levine and Satz, 1984).

In attempting to understand EBDs in the context of normal development, it is useful to think in terms of the specific developmental tasks or challenges faced by children at particular stages of their growth (Havighurst, 1972). A developmental task is seen by Havighurst as midway between an individual need and a societal demand, and the concept assumes an active learner interacting with an active social environment. Successful achievement of age-appropriate tasks leads to happiness and success with later tasks; failure is likely to lead to adjustment problems, disapproval by society and difficulty in the future.

The main developmental tasks faced by children in middle childhood may be listed as follows:

• (i) the achieving of increased personal independence and self-reliance
  The child needs an increasing detachment from the parents (or other caretakers), especially perhaps from the mother, without losing the feeling of security derived from the knowledge that the responsible adults are always available to give affection, support and comfort when necessary. EBDs are likely to arise if this feeling of security is absent, or if child-parent relationships are over-intense.
  
  
• (ii) the acquisition and consolidation of physical skills
  During middle childhood, children make progress in physical strength and motor skills. Smoothness, accuracy and coordination all develop in skills such as running, catching, throwing, jumping, swimming and riding as well as in fine motor skills such as writing and drawing (Mussen et al._y 1992). The child who is clumsy, or who fails to stand up to the increasingly robust physical activities characteristic of the age group, may well be subject to social derision. The child’s stage of physical maturation will greatly influence potential skills, and it needs to be recognized that some children (especially girls) will have entered puberty by the age of 11+. Whether or not a boy or girl has entered puberty influences not only self-image but the way the child is perceived and treated by his/her family, teachers and peers; late-developing boys may be particularly at risk in regard to emotional and behavioural difficulties (Gross, 1984).
  
  
• (iii) the achievement of success in the basic school subjects
  The child needs satisfaction from reasonable progress in school work, especially from the ability to read adequately. A link has been found between failure in school, particularly in reading, and behaviour difficulties. School life becomes more demanding as the child grows older, and some 7 and 8-year-olds may not easily adjust to the new pressures on them. Parents and teachers become increasingly concerned at failure to make adequate progress in the basic subjects, and this concern is likely to communicate itself to the child and lead to frustration, loss of self-esteem and problem behaviour. If a pupil enters classes for 7-year-olds already showing some emotional disturbance, this may well interfere with his/her scholastic learning. Whether EBDs are primary or secondary factors in learning failure, the interaction between emotional disturbance and learning blockage tends to increase both behavioural and learning difficulties (Chazan, 1985; Croll and Moses, 1985).
  
  
• (iv) the development of psychological understanding
  As cognitive ability matures during this period, children become increasingly aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of others significant in their lives, especially parents and teachers. They become better able to understand the complexity of emotions and to have insight into what others are feeling (Smith and Cowie, 1991). They come to know, too, that the emotional state of one person is influenced by the emotional state of another (Harris, 1989).
  Failure in psychological understanding may lead to behavioural difficulties. Dodge (1986), for example, has suggested that some children may be highly aggressive because they tend to misinterpret the behaviour of others and mistakenly attribute hostile intentions to their peers (see also Shaffer, 1989). But psychological understanding may bring about problems of adjustment, in that the awareness of the reality of their situation may be painful for some children. When relationships at home are fragile, facing up to the real world may lead a child into emotional and behavioural disturbance.
  Prior to middle childhood, children’s self-esteem rests largely on identification with their parents. Now they are forced to begin evaluating themselves much more on the basis of their own skills and personal attributes. Their expectancies and judgments become more realistic, though the distinction between ability and effort is not clearly distinguished until about 10 to 13 years (Mussen et al, 1992). Their self-judgments are also determined by their experience of success and failure. Competence is self-rewarding; a lack of competence leads to feelings of helplessness. In the terms of attribution theory (Weiner, 1974), those who experience success in the early years come to believe that this success is determined mainly by their own efforts and ability: they are encouraged to further achievements. Individuals whose early experiences are repeatedly unfulfilling and frustrating are likely to think that success is the result of chance or factors outside their control, and to give up trying (see also Brooks, 1984).
  
  
• (v) learning how to interact with peers
  In middle childhood, a child’s peer group grows in size and influence. From about 6 to 9 years, groups or gangs are informal, with few fixed rules; thereafter groups become more highly structured. The child becomes anxious to be liked by his/her peers, and the values and attitudes of the peer group help to shape the developing personality of the individual. Children increasingly compare themselves with others in making judgments about their own performance (Mussen et al., 1992).
  Friendships are important in ensuring positive interaction with agemates, as well as in the acquisition of social skills. Children with friends tend to be more socially competent than those who are without them, and better adjusted emotionally (Hartup, 1992). Acceptance by peers depends greatly on what children can offer in the way of talents and skills. Children who are popular and have high social status in middle childhood are usually helpful, friendly and skilful at following the accepted rules in their interaction with peers (Coie et al, 1990; Dunn and McGuire, 1992). Prowess in physical action and the ability to stand up for oneself may also be important factors, and aggressive behaviour can form a basis for social cohesion and friendship in both boys and girls, as in the case of many small gangs. Generally, however, aggressive encounters between individuals decrease from about 8 years on, being replaced by the use of verbal methods to assert dominance. During middle childhood, children come to evaluate dominance relationships and learn not to challenge them too often (Fishbein, 1984).
  Children who fail to adapt to the values, standards and demands of the peer group are likely to become isolated or rejected by others. Dunn and McGuire (1992) suggest that there are several developmental routes to being disliked by peers, and that children can be rejected for a variety of reasons. However, whatever the reason for rejection, children tend to withdraw from attempts to be a part of a group once it is clear that they are not liked by the group; such withdrawal may lead to further rejection. Unpopular children tend to be less effective at entering groups than popular children (see also Putallaz and Wasserman, 1990). In middle childhood, it would seem that it is the combination of either aggressiveness or submissiveness with low levels of prosocial behaviour that is associated with rejection by peers. Middle childhood is likely to be a bad time for children who are solitary, social failures, or have disabilities; also for those who dislike sport, lack courage or are hypersensitive.
  Acceptance by peers is also influenced by the child’s conformity or otherwise to recognized sex-typed behaviours. Sex role development begins long before the age of 7, but awareness of the differences between boys and girls sharpens considerably during middle childhood. By 8 or 9, the sexes tend to segregate themselves in play, and there are pressures from parents and teachers to conform to sex-appropriate norms of appearance, clothing and behaviour. Boys and girls who appear different in any way are likely to encounter hostility or ridicule and to be excluded from the group, and behaving in ways considered to be inappropriate for one’s sex may well arouse these reactions (Strommen et al, 1977; Delamont, 1980; Burns, 1982).
  
  
• (vi) conforming to social rulesIn addition to having to adjust to the norms of the peer group, 7-11+ year-olds have to meet the demands made on them by parents, teachers and other adults to conform to certain rules and standards of behaviour — demands that become heavier as the child grows older. An inability or unwillingness to respond to such demands usually results in conflict between child and adults which may lead to aggressive acts on the part of the child or else withdrawal behaviour. It is important that adults should make sure that the demands which they make on individual children are appropriate in the particular case, and that the reasons for making demands are clearly understood. Adults do not always recognize that conforming to social rules is a matter of learning, which sometimes takes a considerable period of time.

Developments in the Education and Treatment of Children with EBDs

Over the past sixty years...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Authors’ Note
• Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction
• Part I Discovering and Understanding Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBDs) in Middle Childhood
• Part II Helping Children with EBDs
• Part III Educating Children with EBDs
• Part IV Specific Behavioural Difficulties
• References
• Index of Case Studies of Children
• Index