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reflection
Emotional Behavioral disorder is a very broad topic when it comes to exceptionalities. It can be divided into three categories: externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, and low incidence disorders. Externalizing behaviors include aggressive and impulsive acts. Internalizing behaviors involve more withdrawn, lonely, and depressed attitudes. More specifically, we have learned that internalizing behaviors include anorexia or bulimia, depression, and anxiety. Low incidence behaviors are disorders that do not occur frequently, but can be very serious when they do happen. An example of low incidence behavior is schizophrenia.
Prior to researching this topic, we had the impression that emotional behavioral disorders only included anxiety issues and we only really knew about the externalizing type behaviors. We have learned about the many behaviors involved in this exceptionality and that will help us be able to recognize and deal with students when we deal with students who have this disorder. Some of the externalizing behaviors involve violating basic rights of others, has tantrums, causes property loss or damage, is hostile or defiant, or ignores teachers’ reprimands. Some internalizing behaviors include: exhibiting painful shyness, being teased or neglected by peers, depression, anorexic, tends to be suicidal, has excessive worries, and panics.
The readings we used for our paper and the information we gathered for our presentation really expanded our knowledge as future teachers because it not only introduced us to what this exceptionality is, but we learned many ways on how to deal with students that have these exceptionalities. We feel it is very important for us to be aware of emotional behavioral disorders in the classroom so that we can help the students feel at ease as much as possible and let them know we are there to help and support them in any way we can. Some of the things we can do to minimize stress and anxiety in the classroom are: provide a structured routine and advise students as early as possible if there will be a change, provide classroom jobs on a chart and rotate jobs every week, logical and consistent consequences, target behaviors by determining which behaviors to direct attention, during a serious behavior issue try to remove the audience, and provide choices and options for homework and projects. By learning these tips, it will enable us as teachers to help students that experience this exceptionality whether they deal with it everyday or every once in a while.
We discovered that this exceptionality has so many different components that it is hard to believe it can all be under one big title of “Emotional Behavioral Disorders”. A concern we have as teachers is how to recognize these behaviors. Some of the internal behaviors can be very hard to recognize. How are we supposed to know if a student is suffering from low self-esteem or if their peers are bullying them outside class? It is hard to help someone when they don’t come to you for help. Some students don’t want help, even if we are willing to give it to them. We think it will be challenging for us to initiate help and it may be hard to figure out if a student has an emotional behavioral disorder, especially if it is not in their cumulative record.
When reading these articles, I instantly thought of my own experience growing up. I suffered a great deal of anxiety any time my mother would leave me. This occurred whenever I felt uncomfortable, so you can only imagine how this issue was every year at the beginning of the school year. I learned to deal with this issue by learning relaxation techniques and learning to trust my environment. Anxiety is a natural reaction when it comes to sudden change in my life. My fears about school diminished in high school when I got really involved in sports and student council and I felt I had a lot of support from my teachers and classmates and felt very comfortable at my school. However, when I hit university, especially my fourth year, I started failing my midterms in one of my classes because I had such a fear of not graduating that I blanked out on tests, I knew the material like the back of my hand but just couldn’t solve the problems when it came to the test day. My professor had a big count down clock of how much time we had left and he would just stare at us the whole time. It came down to the final exams when I went to my doctor to see if there was anything she could suggest that would help. She wrote me a letter to write my exams alone, away from my teacher and the fearful gymnasium and I got to write in a private quiet room next to a very kind, patient, and understanding counselor that worked at the school and whenever anxiety would hit me, I was able to step back and take a break. I aced my exams, every single one of them, and ended up getting a high mark in the class, not to mention it was the most relaxing exam period I have ever had. It was incredible to see how a change in environment made such a huge difference.
Emotional Behavioral Disorders is a very important topic that all teachers should be aware of. We think it is important for teachers to understand the exceptionality and also know how to best accommodate students that have it so that they can flourish and learn to the best of their ability and be comfortable in their environment at all times.

reflection
hey everyone, here is the two page reflection, i used "we" throughout the article to make it seem like we all contributed to it! let me know what you think. i also added a blurb with some of my personal experience with dealing with anxiety... hope thats ok, if theres something missing or you want to add something, let me know, if not.. ill print it off!
THANKS!
-Amy

article summary
The main focus of this article is the different aspects of test anxiety and how it is a severe problem for numerous children and adolescents attending elementary and secondary schools. Test anxiety is such as issue because if it is not detected early on, then the negative effects that are caused by it will not be reduced and students will continue to suffer. An estimation of about 33% of elementary and secondary school students experience some test anxiety and thus they are more likely to not perform well academically. As a result, these students may drop out of school due to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and feelings of hopelessness or failure, and if the problem is not repaired they may experience suicide thoughts. The problem with the old ways of assessing test anxiety was that the only symptoms being assessed were those during a test and not those before and after a test. The authors stress that current research needs to be incorporated to deal with the anxiety problems students are experiencing and all symptoms need to be assessed, before, during and after a test has been assigned. As identified in this article, a new, highly structured way of assessing students is through the Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA) in which students in grades 4-12 must complete a 45-item self-report consisting of four test anxiety subscales and a Total Test anxiety scale. The four test anxiety subscales include: 1. Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention which measures inattentiveness and difficulty memorizing information when preparing and taking a test. 2. The Worry subscale which deals with the worries associated with taking a test such as predicting negative outcomes, etc. 3. The Psychological Hyper arousal which deals with the physiological symptoms associated with taking a test such as sweating, muscle tension, increase in heart rate or elevated respiration. 4. The Social Humiliation subscale which is the fear of not doing well on a test and thus acquiring negative reactions from significant others. 5. The Lie scale which describes “ideal test behaviour or performance” and 6. The Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety scale which assesses to enhance a student’s performance on a test. These tests were distributed to 696 students, of which 391 were female and 305 were male, ages 9 to 19. Results showed that females scored higher on the total test anxiety level than males meaning they experience more anxiety when given tests. Also, in order to increase the accuracy of this method of determining the anxiety levels in students, some further evaluation and assessments must occur.
Personally, I don’t feel that the hardcopy of these tests would be valuable to me as a teacher but the details of the tests could be useful for my own information. The anxiety felt by students in the classroom is something that should never be ignored as it can turn into a serious issue. As a future teacher, I want the best learning opportunities for my students and I definitely don’t want them to feel uncomfortable when being tested as I want their abilities to shine through. I think it is very important and useful as a teacher to realize that we must pay close attention to what happens to a student during a test but also, and just as importantly, what happens before a after a test is distributed. In using the details mentioned in the TAICA and the subscales as a guide, I can monitor my students’ behaviours to determine whether or not they are experiencing anxiety in order to attend to the problem before it accumulates to something much worse such as dropping out of school or suicide thoughts. I have learned that as teachers we must always pay attention to the little things and really get to know our students so that we can provide them with the greatest education possible!
References: Lowe, P.A., Lee, S.W. (2007) Factor Structure of the Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA) Scores across Gender among Students in Elementary and Secondary School Settings. Journal of Psycho educational Assessment, 26: 231. DOI: 10.1177/0734282907303773.

article summary
THIS IS ERICKS ARTICLE

Teaching Sociology, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Jan., 1978), pp. 151-166
Article Summary: Rachel Ann Rosenfeld

This article provides us with various aspects of learning situations from forms of examinations within the structure of a course as a whole in an effort to reduce student’s anxiety and, consequently, to increase the amount of learning done. Whether it is in the elementary, middle or secondary and even at the university level, examinations are often seen as a time of stress and anxiety. However, taking advantage of certain type of examinations can improve performance among high anxiety students. One of the simple ways of improving anxiety levels during examinations is how questions are presented. For example, if difficult questions are at the beginning of an exam, the level of anxiety may increase; affecting performance and the whole exam may appear difficult as a whole. Furthermore, the practical way for teachers to reduce anxiety and improve student performance would be easily placing easier questions at the beginning and more difficult ones at the end. In other words, teachers should construct exams by giving questions that gradually increases the level of difficulty and not otherwise. Another reason why anxiety is a critical aspect in student performance is that students with high levels of anxiety actually try to spend as less time as possible taking the examination. As Rachel Ann Rosenfeld states for elementary “private”school children: “Worrying about whether you did the right thing, while painful enough, is less painful than worrying about the right thing to do."
Another aspect that teachers should acknowledge is that motivation can be a good thing as it can be an anxiety booster as well. Emphasizing the importance of an examination can actually help students with high levels of anxiety. On the other hand, accentuating the importance of an exam for low level anxiety student can affect their performances, especially if the test is difficult. One solution that can be helpful for most students, whether they have low or high levels of anxiety, is spending fifteen or twenty minutes to help students how to take the examinations. For example, spending time before en examination on teaching test-taking skills, can help students lower anxiety because it gives them a picture of how the exam will look like and for the simple reason that they will have tips how to strategically overpower the “big Monster” that is presented to them. For this method, it is important to make students realize that they are some rational and painless ways to respond to an examination. On a more specific note, since students with high levels of anxiety spend less time completing an exam, this method can make students realize that they are ways of demystifying evaluations. The one key aspect that makes an immense difference in lowering anxiety levels among students is how enthusiasm and interest of the teacher can make such a difference. Teaching with differentiated instructions can actually make a huge difference in lowering anxiety levels. It is all about targeting the most students in our classes and making it environmentally friendly for learning. For example, giving a variety of instructional settings to students that can satisfy a variety of learning needs in any particular subject area is the key for reducing anxiety in classes and making learning the primary goal for teacher and students.


Bibliograph
Ann Rosenfield, R (1978). Teaching Sociology. American Sociological Association. Sage publications. Mcgill University

article summary
Although worry is a normal part of life, excessive worry leads to problems with anxiety. Anxiety can negatively impact the live of those who suffer from it: research has shown reduced achievement in school, lower attendance and difficulty developing relationships in students with anxiety issues (Stallard, 24). Programs have been created to help those affected by anxiety and have shown positive results when they are taught in schools. Prevention seems to be the key with anxiety and the programs in the schools were created to share anxiety-reducing strategies with all students and also offer intervention for students who are already having anxiety problems.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a method regularly used to reduce anxiety problems. CBT can be defined as: “A structured form of psychotherapy that focuses upon the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour” (Stallard, 27). In people with anxiety, maladaptive thoughts cause the feeling of anxiety and then they change their behaviour to help deal with that anxiety (eg. avoiding the anxiety-causing situation). CBT has many steps to promote healthy thought and to develop ways of coping with anxiety-producing situations. The results of CBT are promising, but it is usually limited to a clinical situation (Stallard, 28).
The FRIENDS for Life Programme was developed to try to bring CBT to the classroom level. In this program, “the key cognitions and behaviours associated with anxiety are targeted and directly addressed” (Stallard, 29). When students are able to recognize their anxiety-producing thoughts, they are in a better position to be able to exchange these thoughts for more positive ones. Rather than avoiding certain situations, students are taught ways of coping with the situation. FRIENDS is an acronym used to help students remember the different steps they can follow to decrease their anxiety. It includes: noticing feelings, relaxing, checking one’s thoughts, exploring ways to cope, rewarding coping, developing skills and a goal of success (Stallard, 29). Studies have consistently shown significant improvement of anxiety after the FRIENDS program, with greater success with younger children. Further research is needed to solidify the results of this and other similar programs.
From what is presented in this article, it is evident that there are benefits of including anxiety-reduction strategies in our curriculum. Although the actual number of students in classrooms who suffer from anxiety is relatively low, everyone can benefit from CBT strategies. The article also mentions other programs beings used in the UK to encourage the well-being of students. One way or another, individuals trained in this type of intervention should be able to help students prevent and cope with their thoughts and feelings to be able to live a happy life.

References
Stallard, P. (2010). Mental health prevention in UK classrooms: the FRIENDS anxiety prevention programme. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. 15(1). 23-35.

How the work was distributed
I would just say we had 5 people doing articles, 1 person putting it all together and writing a intro and conclusion, and one person do the reflection with everyones ideas. Then say we all read the whole paper.
Do you think that will do?

article summary
Unfortunately, many children suffer from anxiety disorders during their school years. According to Mychailyszyn et al. these problems with anxiety do not end or go away, but rather, they worsen over time. They explain that people with childhood anxiety disorders may suffer from things like depression; substance use and they may even attempt suicide later in life. This article focuses on three main disorders that children are generally faced with: separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia. Mychailyszyn et al. believe that with the right treatment children facing these problems will have a better chance at a happy and healthy life.
Separation anxiety is characterized by an “inappropriate and excessive anxiety regarding separation” (Mychailyszyn et al. 223). Generalized anxiety on the other hand is “excessive and persistent anxiety and worry across a number of domains” (Mychailyszyn et al. 223). The third disorder, social phobia, is “characterized by a marked and persistent fear of performance or social situations” (Mychailyszyn et al. 223). Although they are all a little bit different Mychailyszyn et al. explain that the three disorders are frequently researched and usually treated in a similar manner among youth.
There are many ways of assessing for anxiety in youth but the “gold standard of assessment is a multimethod, multi-informant approach” which means collecting information from many people through various different means (Mychailyszyn et al. 225). This is because if you chose to assess in only one way there are things that can be missed very easily as well as things that can be incorrectly conveyed through one means or another. Mychailyszyn et al. believe that this approach presents a fair and thorough evaluation of the child. Some examples of types of assessment would be: interviews, observations and parent and teacher rating scales (Mychailyszyn et al. 226).
Mychailyszyn et al. suggest that cognitive-behavioral therapy is a very effective treatment for childhood anxieties. One program in particular that is focused on through the article is the Coping Cat program. They explain that, although more research is needed, there is evidence that suggests that school based cognitive-behavioral therapy can be very successful if done properly. This is because children spend a great deal of their time in school and things that happen at school elicit many of the symptoms of their disorders.
The program Coping Cat is a program that “blends cognitive and behavioral strategies to help youth cope with anxiety” and is based on a progression of numerous sessions (Mychailyszyn et al. 227). The article explains the program as having the ability to teach children how to manage their anxiety and basically face their fears without the stress. They believe that this program would work well in the schools because by having school staff provide treatment to students they avoid the age-old stigma associated with having to seek clinical help for a problem (Mychailyszyn et al. 225).
This article is important because it breaks down very clearly the types of anxieties that children suffer from and ways in which people assess their disorders. It helps to understand that not everyone is going to grow out of their disorder and that without the proper attention things may only get worse for these individuals. The article also suggests that help may be given to children in schools so that they are not drawing attention to themselves by seeking help in the community.

References
Mychailyszyn, M. P., Beidas, R. S., Benjamin, C. L., Edmunds, J. M., Podell, J. L., Cohen, J. S. and Kendall, P. C. (2011), Assessing and treating child anxiety in schools. Psychology in the Schools, 48: 223–232. doi: 10.1002/pits.20548

Articles
Stallard, P. (2010) Mental health prevention in the UK classroom: The FRIENDS anxiety prevention program. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 15(1) 23-35

article summary
Anxiety is something that people deal with on a daily basis and can be described as “a perceived notion of psychological distress which occurs due to the expectation of a disconcerting and potentially threatening event” (Larson et al. 3). Schools today in America are testing more often and this places pressure and stress on students to perform well, a sub-type of anxiety called test-anxiety (Larson et al. 3). “Test anxiety can produce a physiological hyper-arousal, interfering with students’ mental processes” and hindering their ability to perform, not only during the test, but in the days and weeks before it. (Larson et al. 3) The anxiety a child feels can cause behavioural problems, raised body temperature, muscle spasms, nausea, cramps, faintness, as well as many other symptoms (Larson et al. 4).
There are two particular relaxation techniques that can be used in schools to help students increase their focus and reduce anxiety: deep breathing and muscle relaxation (tensing and relaxing of different muscle groups) (Larson et al. 5). Researchers have found that children as young as nine are capable of learning these techniques in a short period of time (Larson et al. 6). The students in the experimental group of this study were taught these techniques in ten sessions spread out over five weeks (Larson et al. 8).
After the study, students in the experimental group showed a significant decrease in their post test anxiety scores, and those in the control group who received no training had no difference in their anxiety scores (Larson et al. 11). This study helped to show that, as tests continue to be used and cause students to feel anxiety, parents and teachers need to understand that children are experiencing pressure to succeed at young ages (Larson et al. 14). It is important that adults understand that there are relaxation techniques that can be implemented into classrooms to help students reduce their stress levels so that anxiety issues do not continue to progress (Larson et al. 14).
This article is important as it not only provides strategies for teachers to use in their classrooms, it makes it clear that anxiety is something that people of all ages suffer from. Most adults may find it hard to believe their nine year old would feel stress or pressure when they have to write a test in school, but it is important that everyone understands it happens.
When a child feels pressure to study and do well on a test, they may not realize that what they are feeling is test-anxiety because they have never been talked to about it. If teachers started to address these feelings in their classes, students may understand why they experience the emotions they do before a hard test. Teaching students about relaxation techniques is an easy and effective way to help a child stay focused and relaxed when a test is approaching. Implementing these strategies can be easily done and it is not something that has to take a lot of time. Once the students learn how to breathe properly and how to tense and relax their muscles, they are techniques that can be practiced once a week to keep them fresh in the students’ minds.


References
Larson, Heidi A. ; El Ramahi, Mera K. ; Conn, Steven R. ; Estes, Lincoln A. ; Ghibellini, Amanda B. “Reducing Test Anxiety Among Third Grade Students Through the Implementation of Relaxation Techniques. “ Journal of School Counseling, v8 n19 2010. 19 pp.

article summary
post your finished article summary here for brenda to put together