The Routledge International Companion to Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Ted Cole, Harry Daniels, John Visser, Ted Cole, Harry Daniels, John Visser

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136303104
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Responding to disruptive or troubled pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) remains a highly topical issue. The challenges these children present relate to wider issues of continuing political concern: the perceived declining discipline in schools; school and social exclusion; the limits to inclusion for children with special needs; increasing mental health difficulties in children; youth crime and parenting skills. It's little wonder that the 'EBD' (often known as 'BESD' or 'SEBD') category is one of the most common forms of SEN around the world.

This topical and exhaustively-researched Companion examines the difficulties of defining EBD, and the dangers of allocating this imprecise label to children. Bringing together the work of contributors from fifteen countries and across four continents, this book features the research of leading experts in the global field of EBD, who discuss and debate educators' key concerns by:

• 
  
  

• looking at the overlaps between EBD, ADHD and mental health difficulties;

• 
  
  

• outlining the types of appropriate schooling for children with EBD;

• 
  
  

• urging readers to look beyond pupils' challenging behaviour in order to understand and respond to the social, biological and psychological causation;

• 
  
  

• considering the key areas of assessment, whole-school and targeted approaches that help pupils with EBD in mainstream and in special settings;

• 
  
  

• outlining helpful work with families, the crucial contribution of effective multi-agency working and the importance of supporting and developing teachers who work with challenging pupils.

Containing contrasting views on controversial topics, this Companion's approachable style makes it an essential reference book for academics, policy makers, practitioners, educators and students who are working towards a higher degree in education.

1

Introduction

Dilemmas and scope of the Companion

Ted Cole, Harry Daniels and John Visser

---

‘Disturbing’, ‘disturbed’, ‘disruptive’, ‘deviant’, ‘challenging’, ‘troublesome’, ‘troubled’, ‘bad’, ‘sad’, ‘mad’, ‘maladjusted’, ‘mentally ill’, ‘morally defective’.

These are just some of the value-laden epithets associated over the last century with children and young people to whom, in many developed countries, that confusing term ‘EBD’ has been attached (Cole 1989, 2005; Kauffman 2001). It is often a harmful label that can shape and distort how pupils view and develop their identities and how professionals and peers see such children (see Thomas 2005; Chapter 3 and Chapter 7, this volume). The long search for a better label continues—but could prove futile (see Chapter 2, this volume). Because the letters EBD (taken here to represent ‘emotional and behavioural difficulties’¹) have wide international currency (Clough et al. 2005; Chapter 9, this volume), the term is adopted in the title of this Companion and is the ‘default’ descriptor in the chapters below. EBD is used rather than longer possibilities that might capture more of the complex aetiology of these pupils’ needs, such as ‘social, emotional and behavioural difficulties’ (SEBD—long used in Scotland), or ‘behavioural, emotional and social difficulties’ (BESD—employed in 2012 by the England government). Some contributors to this book hold strong feelings about the choice of letters and their preferences have been respected, resulting in a necessary inconsistent usage.

The editors are aware that EBD holds only limited meaning for non-educationalists, who are likely to opt for medical abbreviations such as CD (conduct disorders) or, at times, ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), or letters denoting other psychiatric diagnostic categories (see American Psychiatric Association 2000). Others may choose a loose usage of ADHD (attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder)—particularly parents, who can prefer labels, ‘which suggest an underlying medical aetiology for which no one can be blamed’ (Chapter 7, p. 63). In short, although needed as an aid to the planning and delivery of services (see Chapter 2 and Chapter 9, this volume), categorization and associated labelling remain and are likely to stay contentious issues.

In contrast, there is wide international agreement about the continuing challenge presented to educationalists by children² with EBD. This topical issue relates to wider subjects of acute political concern such as: perceived declining discipline in schools; school and wider social exclusion; the extent to which the inclusive education in ‘mainstream’ schools of those with special educational needs (SENs) should and can be taken; increasing mental health difficulties in children; parenting practice and youth crime; and poverty linking to social disadvantage.

Gable, Bullock and Wong-Lo (Chapter 19, this volume) write:

Students³ with EBD evidence behavioral, social/interpersonal, and academic problems that pose formidable challenges to school personnel … Moreover, EBD often co-occurs with learning disabilities, attention deficit-hyperactive disorders, conduct disorders, anxiety disorders, and/or depression. Not surprisingly, students with EBD are probably less successful in school than any other group of students—with or without disabilities … They receive a disproportionally greater number of office disciplinary referrals, fail more high-stakes tests, are retained, suspended, and expelled in greater numbers, and are more likely to drop out of school than students in other disability categories … Their post-schooling adjustment is abysmal—punctuated by poor job performance and troubled interpersonal relationships. Too often, the trajectory of problem behavior of children and adolescents with EBD is all too predictable—it multiplies, intensifies, and diversifies.

(Chapter 19, p. 171)

However, as Gable et al. stress, the situation is far from hopeless. Indeed this Companion offers substantial evidence to counter the pessimism which the quotation above might induce. The book’s content should encourage readers working in—or in support of—schools, to investigate and reflect on the social, emotional and sometimes biological underpinnings that give rise to a child’s difficulties, whether ‘acted out’ or internalized, to look beyond the surface behaviour, to read about useful theory and practice. A shoulder shrug or passive fatalism is not merited and educators and other professionals should reject any notion of predestination—whether inspired by Calvin, depressing social statistics or by neuroscience indicating the crucial nature of early nurture and care. The children and young people with whom we work are not condemned to travel along a pre-ordained track. A cynical view would suggest the direction of such a path: inherited genes or flawed parenting engender attachment, communication and interpersonal difficulties in the two- to four-year-old child; the six- to eight-year-old child exhibits learning difficulties in primary school, which steadily transform into severe behavioural difficulties as the young person navigates secondary (‘high school’) education; the teenager becomes increasingly disaffected, alienated and is likely to proceed on leaving school to a life not in education, employment or even training (NEET).⁴ Criminal status might constitute the peak of this crescendo of unfortunate unmet needs.

Fortunately, this negative trajectory, as many chapters below affirm, can be interrupted and the child diverted into more positive directions, through the application of tested theory to interventions—and troubled young lives can be transformed. Damage to social, emotional and cognitive development is sometimes repairable and young people can be helped by skilled professionals to embark on ‘normal’ pro-social and more successful life paths. Thorough formative assessment, interacting with well-honed educational and social programmes can make a positive difference. Essential work with troubled families, smoother multi-agency (‘wrap-around’) care and the professional development of staff working in schools can also be effective counterweights. The challenges are often formidable but not insurmountable.

Where possible, intervention will be grounded in extensive, well-designed and -executed research, but, as often remains the case (given the expense of such research), practice also needs to learn from accounts of the experience, garnered over generations, of skilled and caring practitioners. It is therefore appropriate for this volume to include a variety of material. Some chapters are firmly rooted in data-driven research; others reflect theory which might invoke criticism for not citing measurable evidence. Other chapters, looking at relatively new areas, are supported by qualitative research that is limited in scope. Some chapters are written by academics, who are well versed in research, psychometrics and statistics, but choose to adopt a more philosophical tone as they explore the usage of terms or speculate on future needs. Other chapters, reporting ‘promising’ models of school practice, are supported mainly by the testament of school inspectors, proponents of the model and parents.

If the editors had only chosen material for this Companion that was extensively tested and underpinned by ‘hard’ statistical research data, they would have had to exclude much knowledge and experience with which educationalists, policy-makers and researchers, in the editors’ view, should be conversant. We remain dubious of the ostensibly sensible claim that all educational practice should be ‘evidence-based’, when, in practice, the means of gathering ‘evidence’ is often flawed. In short, professional accounts of the ‘art and craft’ of working with children with EBD and examples of small qualitative research are appropriately included in this book.

Although the Companion is designed to be of interest to academic researchers, it is also intended to be an accessible resource for policy-makers and practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding EBD. The editors are mindful that many readers will ‘dip into’ this volume, focusing on chapters of particular interest to them, indeed on occasion will access and sometimes purchase electronic versions of perhaps only one or two chapters. Hence, each chapter is designed to ‘stand alone’.

While this collection of chapters is substantial and addresses a wide range of issues, there were limits to the book’s length and important areas had to be excluded. History was one casualty. Much can be learnt about the art and craft of teaching and caring for children with EBD as well as about policy by studying the past. History can help understanding of the present and the avoidance of repeating earlier mistakes (Kauffman 2001). As long ago as 1906, the Englishman Lord Acton, claimed ‘History must be our deliverer not only from the undue influence of other times but from the undue influence of our own’ (Carr 1961: 44). It can demonstrate how ‘good practice’ is being ignored; highlight that ideology (such as faith in ‘full inclusion’?) can blind professionals to uncomfortable evidence. It also highlights factors associated with effective practice, seen on both sides of the Atlantic—and Pacific—which endure through time. Readers who wish to look at the history of EBD in England are referred to Cole (1989, 2005) and Cole and Visser (1999); for history in the USA to Kauffman (2001); and in Germany, to references at the end of Chapter 9 in this volume.

Another omission is residential care and education. This inter-disciplinary approach was once the bedrock of provision but is now unfashionable and arguably undesirable given child abuse scandals in various countries, practical difficulties in staffing and maintaining well-ordered communities, fears about ‘contagion’ (disturbed children learning more abnormal behaviours from their peers in a close community), and the expense of operating this model. Unsurprisingly it is used less frequently in Western countries, including England (Cole et al. 2003), but is still a necessary part of provision for a minority of children with EBD in the view of the England government (Department for Children, Schools and Families 2008) and Willmann (Chapter 9, this volume). It is difficult but possible to provide high-quality, residential environments (Cole et al. 1998). When done well, this approach can ameliorate deep EBD through sharing the care and development of troubled young people between struggling families and teachers working closely with social pedagogues or skilled residential social workers (Cooper 1993). The attention of readers is drawn to pioneering work on environmental therapy and creating therapeutic milieux, and to helpful concepts such as ‘life-space interviewing’ and ‘emotional first aid’. The routine events of daily life—that is, how adults help a child wake up, prepare for school, share mealtimes, experience break times and leisure, relax in the evening and go to bed—can be used by skilled practitioners to nurture a child, to build feelings of security and belonging, and to develop social—and indeed cognitive—skills (see, for example, Redl 1966; or Cole et al. 1998).

Given the clear overlaps between mental health difficulties and EBD, there could have been material, beyond Stallard (Chapter 14, this volume), devoted to helping children who are anxious, depressed, have eating disorders and who self-harm. Too often the needs of such children, who also have EBD, are overlooked (Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department of Health 2008). Cole and Knowles (2011) discuss mental health issues and EBD from an English perspective.

A chapter on restorative approaches (extending Wearmouth, Berryman and Glynn, Chapter 31, this volume) would also have been welcome. The advantages and disadvantages of psychometric testing, solution-focused therapy and motivational interviewing (mentioned in Leadbetter’s Chapter 15, this volume), or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy or positive psychology (see Cole and Knowles 2011) would have justified treatment. More might have been offered on how educators and support workers can engage pupils with EBD in the classroom or work with families to develop parenting skills. It is likely that readers, particularly those from countries other than the UK, would suggest a long list of other potential subjects.

Further important topics were covered at an international conference in Oxford in September 2010 (see Visser 2011).

As it was, prioritisation was necessary, so the editors of this Companion invited writers from contrasting countries to focus on topics which, in the light of our extensive research, were considered to give a rounded overview of key aspects of understanding and responding to EBD. Contributors to Section I were asked to consider why there was a need for the label, what it meant (including its intersection with ADHD), both to those ascribing the label and those in receipt of it, and to try to quantify the number of children identified. At least brief coverage of the important links between EBD and gender, social disadvantage and juvenile crime was also needed (the links between minority ethnic groups and EBD is covered later, in Chapter 31). We also sought to outline the range of provision made for such children and to ask how far those with the label could be included into ‘regular’ (‘ordinary’) classrooms in ‘mainstream’ schools (see Chapter 9).

The theoretical content and coverage of early child development in Section II reflect the editors’ recognition of the usefulness of encouraging practitioners and policy-makers to bring a ‘biopsychosocial’ perspective to t...