Maybe ED is right for me!?

Since working with a student a few days this week, I am thinking of studying and possibility working with emotionally disturbed children. While I know that this could be one of my "the answer is so easy" moments, I think that I have an idea of what these children (or this child at least) needs. My 2 cent analysis of this child is that his troubles are with lack of secure attachment, basically he has not had stable adults in his life. Furthermore he has been exposed to adults who use carrots and sticks to try to get what they want from him, more likely more of the later than the former.

I stand by Alfie Kohn's assertion that punishment and reward are not sustainable means for building teaching relationships. The reason in the case of ED children is more clear than with any other cases. With this student and I would bet with most ED children, all the sticks are broken and the carrots needed are too sweet for school. We do not have the means to punishment enough(nor would we want them) to be significant for this child who seems to shrug it all off. Likewise, the only carrot sweet enough seems to be excessive free time. We don't want to be in the business of babysitting.

I think that what these students need(and all students for that matter) is a reduction in the use of carrots and sticks and more of what Alfie Kohn calls Caring Communities and more interesting approaches to teaching. The Caring Communities concept is basically about building relationships that connect students to others. Defining interesting approaches to teaching is a bit harder, but a good starting place is answering the question "why do I want to be here?" from the perspective of a student is a good place to start. While most of us did not rebel against our teachers, I am sure that we all have examples of boring and interesting teachers.

If school for this student was a place where he learns interesting things and where he is connected to others in meaningful caring ways, perhaps this student would prefer school and reduce escape/avoid behavior. At least that is what I attribute my small successes last week to, my attempts to show the student that I genuinely care about him.

It is very important that I mention that others who had worked with this student did not have the one-to-one time that I had with this student. Fortunately, if I were to get a job as a certified ED teacher I would have that one-to-one time.