If your child is having a hard time with their behavior at school due to mental health struggles, a traditional school may not offer the right support. In this article, you’ll learn what emotional disturbance is, how to spot it, and how alternative schools can help your child succeed in school and beyond!
If your child has been struggling with emotional or behavioral challenges for a while and it’s affecting their performance at school, they could be experiencing emotional disturbance.
Emotional disturbance is a condition that affects a child’s ability to manage their emotions, build healthy relationships, and learn effectively. For many students, traditional schools might not offer the right support to help them overcome these challenges.
Watching your child fall behind in school or have trouble keeping up because of behavior issues can be incredibly frustrating, especially when their school offers little to no meaningful support.
As parents, we do our best to help our children when they are struggling, but there is only so much you can do alone.
What you and your child really need is a team of caring educators who understand emotional disturbance (ED) behavior and the unique challenges it can cause inside and outside the classroom.
That’s why alternative schools, like Education Alternatives (EA), Ohio, offer programs that help students unlock their full academic potential by providing the advanced emotional and behavioral support they need to heal and grow.
If you think your child may be struggling with emotional disturbance, keep reading to find out:
- What is emotional disturbance and the signs to look out for
- How ED behavior impacts your child’s education
- How alternative schools, like EA, can support students suffering from emotional disturbance
What is emotional disturbance?
Emotional disturbance is a broad term that refers to a variety of different mental health disorders that affect a child’s ability to learn or build positive relationships with peers and teachers.
It encompasses a range of emotional and behavioral conditions that may cause ongoing difficulties in the classroom and beyond.
Your child may be experiencing emotional disturbance if they:
- Have learning difficulties that cannot be explained by “intellectual, sensory, or health factors”
- Struggle to build or maintain healthy interpersonal relationships with their classmates or teachers
- Exhibit feelings of depression or unhappiness for an extended period of time
- Develop physical symptoms or fears related to personal or school problems
If your child is dealing with any of the internal struggles we just mentioned, it could lead to negative ED behaviors that impact your child’s ability to learn, interact with others, and regulate their emotions.
It is important to remember that many kids who don’t have emotional disturbance might show some of these symptoms and behaviors at different times as they grow up. However, for children with emotional disturbance, the associated behaviors typically happen consistently over a long period of time.
Now, let’s take a look at some behaviors that may indicate that your child is experiencing emotional disturbance.
Common types of emotional disturbance behaviors
Emotional disturbance usually affects a child’s behavior, which can make things harder for them at school and in everyday life.
Paying attention to these behaviors is important because they can be signs of deeper emotional struggles. While they aren’t always caused by emotional disturbance, when ED behavior happens over a long time, it’s usually a sign that something more serious is going on.
Some common behaviors associated with emotional disturbance may include:
- Hyperactivity: Difficulty focusing, impulsiveness, or a short attention span
- Aggression: Physical or verbal aggression towards others or themselves
- Social withdrawal: Avoiding social interactions with peers
- Emotional dysregulation: Frequent tantrums or difficulty regulating emotions
- Low academic performance: Struggling to keep up with schoolwork or consistently underperforming academically
In a traditional school setting, these behaviors often result in phone calls home with little to no action taken to address the underlying cause.
But at Education Alternatives in Ohio, we take a different approach. With specialized programs and expert staff, we have the right tools and expertise to help your child thrive emotionally and academically.
How EA helps emotionally disturbed children thrive
At Education Alternatives, our programs, locations, and curriculum are specifically designed to support students’ emotional and behavioral needs as much as their academic growth.
Each of our 8 locations in the greater Northeast Ohio area provides a supportive environment that focuses on helping your child develop the critical social-emotional skills they need to succeed in school and all other areas of life.
But importantly – we also provide on-site therapy and psychiatry services, via our sister organization REACH Behavioral Health, to ensure your child receives the mental health support they need alongside their education.
EA’s Day Treatment Program
Emotional and behavioral health is prioritized in every program we offer at EA Schools. However, our Day Treatment Program is an innovative approach to education and an excellent fit for students dealing with emotional disturbance.
This school-day program looks and feels like a “regular school,” but it focuses on addressing the underlying challenges affecting your child’s behavior and ability to learn.
Our unique blend of education and therapy is ideal for students facing emotional disturbance because it provides both personalized academic instruction and the emotional support they are likely not receiving in a traditional public school.
In the classroom, our highly qualified teachers focus on fostering academic growth. With small class sizes and personalized, one-on-one learning, we ensure that your child learns in a way that best suits their individual needs.
The other half of the school day is dedicated to emotional development. Our mental health professionals from REACH Behavioral Health lead daily group therapy sessions to address each student’s emotional and behavioral challenges.
During these therapy sessions, students:
- Explore emotional triggers
- Learn effective coping strategies
- Practice interpersonal and social skills
By teaching students facing emotional disturbance how to manage their emotions in everyday situations, we help them build the skills they need for long-term success.
Treating ED behavior in the right environment
If your child is struggling with ED behavior, they may often feel misunderstood by their peers and teachers in a traditional school setting.
The atmosphere in which children learn plays a critical role in their ability to thrive, especially for those with emotional or behavioral challenges.
At EA Schools, we prioritize building a nurturing space where students feel understood and valued. Our guiding philosophy of unconditional positive regard is at the heart of this approach.
No matter what a student says or does, we always show each student support, kindness, and acceptance.
Even when students have emotional outbursts or a difficult day, we make sure they always know that we are on their side. For students facing emotional disturbance, having a team of supportive teachers and staff who believe in them can be truly transformative.
Over time, this approach helps students build trust with our team, feel more confident, and develop healthier ways to handle their emotions.
Find out how EA can help your child today!
If your child has been struggling with the symptoms of emotional disturbance, now is the time to get them the help and support they deserve.
With personalized academic and therapeutic support, Education Alternatives is committed to helping students build the social-emotional skills and confidence they need to succeed in the classroom and in life.
If you’re an Ohio parent looking for the right school for your child with emotional disturbance, contact us today!
Our team will be happy to answer any questions about how we can work together to set your child toward a brighter future.
Did you find this article helpful? Check out our other blogs to learn more about alternative education and find valuable resources for your family!