Puppets are special. Disorders and deficiencies to be treated
Behavioral disorders
We could say that they are students who have a certain refusal to be educated.
They present a history of pilgrimage to different medical and psychological services with a complex history of diagnoses.
We could include them in the definition of students with emotional and behavioral disorders presented by LEE KERN and GLEN DUNLAP in REEP and HORNER (2000):
- CI below average
- Deficiencies in academic performance
- Functional illiteracy
- Difficulty in social skills
- Bad interaction with classmates
- Low self-concept
- Bad relationships with adults
- Lack of responsibility or independence
- Difficulty expressing feelings appropriately
- Anxiety
- Problems adapting to change
- Lack of compliance and responsibility
- Aggression
- Improper disruption and verbalization.
Despite what may seem like it at times, they are not "tough" students. His emotional intelligence is touched, his personality is fragile. They can use confrontation to disguise their own fragility. They interpret reality (words, other people's attitudes, situations that occur,…) in a special way, as if it were something threatening.
Then his answer is also a threat, a rejection, an insult. They rarely accept a different interpretation of reality. They interpret conflicts only from their point of view. Surely they can't put themselves in the other person's shoes.
They have no empathy. When a conflict begins, it becomes very difficult for them to find a way out of the situation created. On the other hand, they seek to be accepted, to be pleasing to others, and to belong to a social group, even though they have difficulty achieving it as a result of their attitudes.
At times they try to do what is expected of them, but this behavior has no continuity. It is not a well-established behavior and any fact can change the situation again. They find it difficult to establish relationships based on trust (not trusting others), loyalty, respect, gratitude, responsibility, commitment. We observe fear and suspicion in the face of new situations and unknown sensations and insecurity in facing new challenges that may make it difficult for them to acquire and learn.
They show difficulty in processing the amount of stimuli produced by today's complex world so complex.
It seems that when there is too much stimulation too much unpredictability occurs and then this causes inappropriate behaviors.
In the most academic aspects, although they can read and write and use some mathematical operations, these skills are not very functional and have not reached the minimum work habits.
The main goal is to achieve the psychological well-being of each student and the family and the environment around them, improving as much as possible their social adaptation in their environment and trying to articulate a project for a viable future.
Academic learning is secondary and becomes the complementary tools that should help to achieve these basic goals.
Behavioral aspects should be worked on from the functional analysis of behavior, bearing in mind that “increasing fun in the classroom is the healthiest way to prevent problematic behaviors” (MCGEE, G; DALY, T ., in REEP and HORNER, 2000).
The intervention must be based on:
- Affective unconditionality.
- Constant positive verbal reinforcement.
- Ignore negative behaviors whenever possible.
- Help control and self-regulate their behavior by establishing routines.
- Facilitate activities where success is assured.
It would also be important to add to these efforts:
- Actions in the family environment: The family environment of these students needs help. The first thing this environment must perceive is that we are concerned about the student. We care about his emotional well-being and we notice that he is not well and we are willing to work to help him.
- Medical-psychiatric and psychotherapeutic actions: an important part of these behaviors have an etiological component of mental illness, therefore, the participation of the psychiatrist and the psychotherapist can be a key element.
