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What’s behind the behavior?

There are many different causes and factors that can affect behavior — from various mental health or medical conditions to a student's social-emotional skills. The reported prevalence of students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) among school age children is consistently verified as being between 6% to 10%. Unfortunately, research suggests that students with EBD are underidentified with less than 1% receiving special education services.

By adolescence approximately 40% of individuals will have experienced mental distress significant enough to warrant diagnosis (Kim-Cohen et al., 2003). Despite the prevalence of mental disorders in the nation's children, 75% to 85% of children and youth in need of mental health services do not receive them (Kataoka, Zhang, & Wells, 2002).

We've compiled some resources to help you as you develop a behavior management protocol in your school or district. Please feel free to share any of them with your colleagues.