Introduction.

The field of education is a very responsible and strategically important aspect of human life as it lays the foundations of intelligence, intellectual development and professionalism, shaping the future of all individuals. Nonetheless, there are students with disabilities and disorders who experience hardships in education and thus need a specific approach and attitude, special ways of instruction etc. One of such groups is the one of students with EBD – emotional and behavioral disorders. They are characterized by emotional instability, challenging behavior and resistance to change. Consequently, once placed in the regular classroom, they may experience challenges with studies and pose threat and problems for other students as well as the teacher. However, it is essential to remember that the EBD students have equal rights and opportunities with other children; they only need a specific approach to instruction and assessment, as well as some specific patterns for establishing student-teacher relationships. There is a set of prevention and intervention techniques that may help reduce the tension and discrepancies in the attitude and behavior of students in the classroom; to apply them effectively, a set of challenges with diagnosing, teaching and treating students with EBD have to be understood and constructively met.

Creation of a Team, Identification of Expertise Areas.

The prevention and intervention team that will be called the special education (SPED) team has to include the following members (at least one of each):  a special educator, a regular educator, an administrator and a parent. The reason for such inclusion is that the students with EBD are affected on various levels of their social interaction. Hence, it is the responsibility of each of mentioned individuals to create a comprehensive program of intervention and to ensure mutual support and coherence in actions.

A special educator is essential in the team because his/her area of expertise lies specifically within the field of handling students with EBD. He/she may advise some constructive techniques for parents to implement at home, or may detect the home problem that has to be solved at first, with the further continuation of intervention at school; it is true that no educator can help a student with EBD if the emotional disorder occurs because of family problems (Chaplain, 2003). In addition, a proper combination of special education intervention techniques in the overall school policy will help substantially reduce the threat of school risk factors for the EBD students.

The regular educator is needed in the team because of the vital importance of the primary prevention policies in every educational setting. Students with EBD are not always diagnosed before their coming to school, as symptoms may occur in the school setting already (Yell et al., 2009). Hence, the first staff member who will deal with the problem will be the regular teacher. He/she has to possess the basic knowledge of treating students with EBD, teaching them self-management and self-control techniques to be applied on a daily basis in the classroom (Mayer, Von Acker, & Lochman, 2008). It is only when the techniques do not work and the student’s state worsens that he will need a special education class.

The school administrator is an essential member of the team because he/she is the engine for school policy formation. First of all, it is necessary to eliminate the zero-tolerance and ambiguous rules of behavior from the school policy, as they threaten the emotional and behavioral stability of EBD students who feel discriminated. Secondly, the administrator is able to empower the educators in following the IDEA regulations and conducting relevant assessments, designing special educational programming etc. (Yell et al., 2009).

Finally, parents have to be the active members of the team for several reasons as well. First of all, they possess the fullest information about the essence of their children’s disorders. Secondly, as it was noted by Illback and Nelson (1996) , the wraparound approach is destructive for students, and it is essential to include parents in the early intervention stages before the institutional placement actually occurs. More than that, parents and family problems are often the primary cause of the EBD, so the school administration and special education staff may help solve the home problems, thus getting to the roots of the problem