EBD Blog

I’m asking readers of EBD Blog to help me identify important research questions about interventions for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. As I noted in a parallel post on LD Blog, these need to be BIG IDEA questions. What do teachers and parents need to know about how to help students with EBD?

Examples (just for provoking discussion): Continue reading ‘What do educators need to know?’

As the US House of Representatives prepares to make statements about and amend HR 4247, Representative Joe Courtney (CN, US) posted a statement on the blog maintained by the House committee that will debate the legislation. The post, “Rep. Joe Courtney: Congress Must Make Schools Safe Havens for Children,” touts Representative Courtney’s perspective on the legislation. There’s lots more about the proposed legislation via that blog and related resources. Take a look.

Also, read the actual proposed legislation, “Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act” and the position statements by the Council for Children with Behavior Disorders about seclusion and restraint and “Position Summary on Restraint and Seclusion.”

The US Congress is considering legislation to prevent abusive restraint and seclusion of students in schools. This is a welcome consequence of the highly visible reports about terrible abuses of students’ right to be free from harm. However, as much as I support this initiative, it is important to make clear that the laws (and regulations resulting from them) must be crafted carefully.

Here’s some text from the press efforts by the US House of Representatives about this important legislation. I follow it with a cautious support of the law.
Continue reading ‘US legislators consider law for preventing abusive restraint and seclusion’

Lord Jones of Cheltenham, a member of the the UK Parliament, has formally asked “what measures are planned to improve services for (a) children with serious emotional disturbance, and (b) adults with mental health illnesses.” The request is in response to recent UK report, Keeping Children and Young People in Mind – Full Government Response to the CAMHS Review that, in turn (and as the title shows), was a response to the government-sponsored review of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Keeping Children and Young People in Mind calls for a system of universal services, targeted services, and specialist services accompanied by support for them from local and national government agencies. Get a copy of Keeping children and young people in mind: the Government’s full response to the independent review of CAMHS and visit the Web site of the UK Department of Children, Schools, and Families for more about “services supporting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people.”

See the Parliamentary records for a written version of the request by Lord Jones.