SEBD students

SEBD

Students with SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL and BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES

by Marta Copeiro del Villar

"The teacher is always shouting at me, but I don't care. I hate English anyway. I can't do it. I just want to have fun with my friends".

SEBD students can be very difficult to teach. Their behaviour and attitude annoy and frustrate their teachers. It shows they have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

In order to get a clear idea of a student's needs, it is important to observe and record their behaviour in all classes and with a variety of teachers. Students can only be considered to have SEBD if they have problems across a range of subjects, with different teachers and at different times of day.

INDICATORS

Students with SEBD can:

1. Find it difficult to form and maintain friendships with peers and teachers2. Experience extreme mood swings 3. Become physically or verbally aggressive to teachers or peers 4. React negatively to changes to their routine or to teaching staff 5. Refuse to follow instructions 6. React inappropriately to correction or praise 7. Do things to attract attention (shouting, silly noises...) 8. Behave in a way likely to injure themselves or others (jumping on tables, leaning out of windows,...)

Do students with SEBD really need extra help or just extra discipline?

• Students with certain type of extreme behaviour are not coping in class and are not learning
• If normal classroom management isn't working with such students, this means they have special educational needs

Do punishments or extra discipline measures work?

• NO, if it's the only strategy used
• Students with SEBD are more vulnerable and troubled than they appear
• We have to see their behaviour as their communicative response to their problems
• Our attitude will have the greater impact on them

MAIN LAWS IN FORCE REGARDING SPECIAL EDUCATIVE NEEDS IN SPAIN

LOE/LOMLOE

Where the different types of Specific Needs of Educational Support are defined. Inclusive education principles, terms and resources

Articles 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

LOE 2/2006 MAY 3rd

ORDER 20/2019, April 30th

RESOLUTION of July 24th 2019

DECREE 104/2018, July 27th

Regulates the organization of the educative response for inclusion in the educative system.

Develops the principles of equity and inclusion in the Valencian Educative System.

Instructions for the application of procedures in ORDER 20/2019

RD 126/2014, February 28th

LOMLOE 3/2020 December 29th

ART. 14. Students with specific needs of educative support

SEBD STUDENTS' STRENGHTS

• They are very frank and direct in their responses and feelings
• They appreciate honesty and support from the teacher
• They recognize the effort when you invest time on them
• They have strong opinions and leadership

What can we do in class?

CLASS MANAGEMENT:

• Show we have high expectations on them, even when they're misbehaving

"It's great you want to join in the discussion. I just need you to remember to wait your turn"

• Mention any strengths they have and link this with the expected behaviour

"I know you are funny but you can be it without being unkind to others"

• Give them a "job" or responsibility as a normal part of our class routine, not as a reward

SEBD students find it difficult to work towards a reward and rarely achieve the target. It is easier for them to behave well in order to keep the "job" than to gain it.

• Students with SEBD can affect teacher's confidence and sense of competence.
• It is normal to feel rejected and disappointed when you can't manage your students in class.
• It is vital to develop self-care and self-management strategies to cope with students' difficult behaviour.
• If the adults remain calm and supportive, the students will learn to respond differently.

SEBD STUDENTS

HYPERVIGILANCE, reptilian brain activated

POSITIVE language and left brain tasks

ENVIRONMENT, caring adults

• Home context may have been uncertain, inconsistent or dangerous
• When children don't receive consistent, sensitive care, they learn not to trust adults
• They also develop high levels of cortisol (main stress hormone)

• First the brain needs to calm down with logical, no-risk activities, such as sorting, categorizing, putting things in order...
• We will let them know what we want them to do rather than what we dont want: "I need you to sit here now"
• We will notice and comment when they do the right thing.

• They have brains programmed to expect attack at all times, they are anxious and constantly checking for threats
• They will very quickly resort to a fight or flight response (lucha o huida)
• Rational thinking is impossible when the brain is in this mode

IDEAS TO PUT INTO PRACTICE IN ORDER TO...

Develop social and emotional skills

Develop trust

Develop empathy

• Inside and outside my head. Using a story or situation from the coursebook, our students will decide what they are saying and write it in a speach bubble. We will also ask them to write in a thought bubble what they might be thinking. Finally they will write in a heart bubble what each character might be feeling. Each of us will read the resulting story and share comments on it.
• We are teaching to empathize with each other by imagining character responses and students learn to understand each other better, strenghtening their relationship

• Start the class commenting on something positive a SEBD student said or did on the previous class
• Catch me being good. Make a card and make a tick on it whenever our students follow class instructions, activities, routines...
• Break the pattern. Stay calm when faced with an angry, defiant or upset student. Keep the focus on learning and redirect student behaviour rather than threating with sanctions

• What's my feeling? A student chooses a feeling and mimes it in front of the class while the rest try to guess it
• Read my face. Quickly check class mood by asking students about feelings answering just with their facial expressions
• Stories as metaphors. For SEBD students it is easier to talk about characters emotions in a story, play or video than to talk about themselves

Thank you