Sometimes, despite the most perfectly delivered writing lesson implemented with fidelity, students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) do not make the progress expected by teachers or themselves. In these instances, teachers may individualize and differentiate for students with EBD not making adequate progress by purposefully…

Fractions are an imperative skill for students to master to achieve success in future mathematics concepts and classes. Yet many students, especially those experiencing math difficulties and/or characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders, continue to exit elementary school without a concrete foundation of fractions skills required to…

Performing newly acquired skills over time (i.e., maintenance) and across settings and stimuli (i.e., generalization) is central to what students need to accomplish in preparation for life beyond the classroom. Students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), need opportunities to practice for the purposes of maintaining…

Students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) struggle to acquire and develop writing skills. To support their students' unique needs, it is important for teachers to monitor student writing progress to make instructional decisions based on data. In this article we describe methods for progress monitoring focused on…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often struggle to apply self-determination skills. Teaching self-determination skills within the context of writing allows students to amplify their voice and communicate with others. This article describes how writing instruction and lessons on self-determination skills may be combined to…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) may benefit from specific instruction on ways to prepare for and participate in their own Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. In this article, we describe the application of a research-based self-directed IEP process that can be used by educators to effectively foster…

Fluency in math facts and procedures is critical for math achievement overall and often challenging for students with emotional and behavioral disorders to develop. This article describes how to implement two complementary and evidence-based practice strategies, incremental rehearsal and Cover-Copy-Compare, to build declarative and procedural…

Visual activity schedules (VASs) are an effective, efficient intervention designed to promote positive language and behavioral development for elementary students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). However, VAS design and implementation varies widely in the extant research, prohibiting the ease of implementation in…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders struggle with learning and retaining many aspects of mathematics. Tasks requiring conceptual understanding and reasoning are especially challenging. Given these difficulties, it is essential that teachers use techniques designed to support mathematical learning. We explain how to infuse…

Currently more than 400,000 youth are placed in foster care across the United States. Between 33% and 50% of these children receive special education services. Nearly half of foster care youth with disabilities are identified as having emotional and behavioral disorders, in part due to their exposure to maltreatment including neglect, substance…

The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) sequence of instruction is an explicit methodology for teaching mathematics using multiple representations of concepts. Learning concepts through multiple representations fosters conceptual understanding and mathematical thinking. This article describes how a special education teacher used explicit CRA…

Check-in/check-out (CICO) is an evidence-based practice for addressing the behavioral needs of students with and without disabilities from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The CICO intervention is easily adapted to address other areas of need, beyond behavior, including academics and social integration, making CICO appealing for all school…

Some students with disabilities, particularly those with emotional and behavioral disorders, may struggle with transitions, demonstrating inappropriate behaviors during them. Visual supports, previously determined to be an evidence-based practice for students with autism, is a proactive classroom management strategy addressing transitioning. In…

Teachers of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) may face obstacles and feel isolated when implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) programming with students. The teacher study group (TSG) offers an effective way to overcome barriers and improve SEL. These groups provide a gathering space for teachers to…

The term "self-regulation" (SR) refers to a set of specific cognitive skills necessary for students to independently manage, monitor, and assess their own academic learning and behavior. Students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often lack these skills. This article provides educators with step-by-step…