The importance of teacher-student relationships for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

Barriers to School-Based Mental Health Resource Utilization Among Black Adolescent Males

“…Findings from this study suggest that a large number of Black adolescent males in the current study are making use of SBMHRs, with nearly half of the adolescent males in this study (43%) using at least one SBMHR. Teachers are most commonly the first point of contact for SBMHR utilization (Zolkoski, 2019 ), but given the cross-sectional design of this study, the direction of the relationship is not known, meaning it is not known if the participants are seeking support from teachers first and then seeking other resources or vice versa. However, previous qualitative studies have found that Black adolescent males often identify teachers as an initial step toward utilizing formal mental health resources (Lindsey et al, 2006 ; Lindsey et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Participants’ mental health resource use was assessed with a dichotomous outcome variable generated from the previously multiple-choice question, “Which school resources have you used in the past year to help with stress or related concerns?” Response options originally included school mental health resources such as “school psychologist,” “school social worker,” “teacher,” and “school nurse.” Since this study examines the overall utilization of any school-based mental health resource, and to avoid issues with multicollinearity, the dichotomous outcome variable was developed by combining the resources into one question with a 1 or 0 option, 1 indicating yes, a participant had used at least one school mental health resource in the past 12 months and 0 indicating a participant had not used any of the identified school mental health resources in the past 12 months. For the purposes of this study teachers are included as a mental health resource because previous research has identified the important role that teachers have in identifying and addressing student mental health needs (Zolkoski, 2019 ). Black students, especially, often prefer informal mental health support over formal mental health support (Lindsey et al, 2017 ; Walker, 2021 ).…”

Remote Learning Strategies for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

“…The criticized diagnostic criterion of EBD also relies on the severity of externalized behaviors and level of disruption to their academic instruction, as such a large percentage of students with EBD may not consistently receive the necessary services they need to be successful. In addition, data indicate that teachers are not well prepared to meet the needs of students with EBD (Zolkoski, 2019). This is particularly concerning because students with EBD tend to have a more difficult time regulating their emotions and maintaining peer and teacher relationships both in and out of the classroom when compared with their peers without disabilities (Henry, 2020).…”

“…The criticized diagnostic criterion of EBD also relies on the severity of externalized behaviors and level of disruption to their academic instruction, as such a large percentage of students with EBD may not consistently receive the necessary services they need to be successful. In addition, data indicate that teachers are not well prepared to meet the needs of students with EBD (Zolkoski, 2019).…”

“…Students with EBD may associate certain class activities (e.g., math, specific reading lessons) or times of the day with negative emotions and lash out inappropriately due to a lack of ability to express their emotions (Lamport et al, 2012). When provided with clear expectations, there may be fewer challenges when completing a task (Zolkoski, 2019). Desired behaviors exhibited by students should be explicitly praised and undesirable behaviors should be addressed directly (Lamport).…”