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…

The best social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum can be difficult to implement when students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are unregulated and unprepared to engage in instruction. Daily mindfulness practices can help students with and at risk for EBD regulate their emotions and behaviors and be prepared for…

Self-advocacy skills enable active student involvement in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) planning process. However, some students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) lack appropriate self-advocacy skills and may require specific instruction in how to prepare for and participate in their own IEP. Special educators may have…

Goal setting is used to track progress on academic and behavioral outcomes. It can also be extremely effective in monitoring progress toward social and emotional learning (SEL) goals. In this article, we provide an overview of effective goal setting in the classroom to support SEL skill acquisition and development, and practical examples of how to…

Preservice teacher candidates acquire and develop numerous competencies in their teaching programs, including how to teach writing. Effective writing instruction is critical across all ages and content areas, especially when working with students with and at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders, making it an important aspect of teacher…

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…

Video modeling (VM) is a powerful and effective tool to support skill acquisition and generalization for students with and without emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Video models can include adults, peers, and the very students at which skill development is directed. This article provides a definition of VM and descriptions of its varying…

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…

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…

Cooperative group activities in classrooms provide an opportunity for children to learn and demonstrate relationship skills, particularly when clear expectations and explicit instruction are provided. Relationship skills are one of the five competency areas of social and emotional learning. This article provides directions and illustrations for…

Many students who experience difficulty with mathematics may also require behavioral support. We suggest educators create an appropriate scope and sequence for mathematics intervention by focusing on the critical mathematics content. Educators can then design the intervention with a common session structure. Finally, educators can embed and…

Successful math word-problem solving is difficult for some students. Getting the right answer involves students engaging correctly in an amalgamation of actions. Schema instruction is an instructional approach aimed at supporting students in identifying the underlying math problem structure to yield an appropriate solution plan. The focus of this…

Guided practice within explicit instruction has been shown to be an effective method for teaching academic and behavioral skills to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The support provided through guided practice allows students to acquire new skills confidently and successfully. This article provides practitioners of students…

Professional development in research-based early reading intervention and curriculum materials is not consistently available to special educators working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This article provides practitioners serving elementary school students with and at risk for EBD with a variety of options for…

Teaching self-determination to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) may empower them to become self-regulated problem solvers. This article, using the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), outlines a framework for teachers to facilitate mathematics instruction and goal attainment relative to in-school and…