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Psycho-educational Approaches for Pre-service Teachers Regarding
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders and the Relationship-driven
Classroom
Michael J. Marlow, Justin Garwood, Christopher L. Van Loan, Appalachian State University, Boon, NC. USA (garwoodjd@appstate.edu)
Abstract Relationship building is an area of special education teacher preparation in emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) that has been overlooked in the recent past, but it has rich potential for improving the classroom environment, student learning, and behavior. The psycho-educational model, with its focus on relationships, was quite prominent in teacher education in the mid-1970s, but now plays a secondary role. Psycho-educators believe that for positive behavior change to take place the teacher must first develop a caring and trusting relationship with the child. A wide range of scholars has concluded that caring relationships in effect are the intervention for children with EBD. In the current theoretical article, we (a) describe the need for psycho-educational approaches within teacher education, (b) outline an undergraduate course introducing EBD to pre-service teachers, and (c) summarize results from multiple studies focused on the undergraduate EBD course and its relationship-based curriculum.
Introduction The psycho-educational model is rooted in the expertise and successful experiences of youth care work pioneers Fritz Redl and David Wineman (1957), and
William Morse (1985). Their hallmark action research with children experiencing emotional and behavioral disorders(EBD) showed that lasting behavior change is facilitated by high-quality relationships (Beker, 2009). Initiating and sustaining a relationship with the child is seen as the only context in which other interventions can succeed; relationship is primary in the psycho-educational orientation. Nicholas Long (2015), co-author of seven editions of Conflict in the Classroom with Morse, echoes that “ all significant student learning evolves from and revolves around meaningful teacher-student relationships ” (p. 12). Psycho-educational practice is pragmatic. It draws from a variety of educational and treatment frameworks in order to make available the greatest resources to serve children. It is neither exclusively behavioral, cognitive, nor affective in its focus (Brendtro & Ness, 1983). Psycho-educators believe that for positive behavior change to take place, the teacher must first develop a caring and trusting relationship with the child (Fecser, 2015). The teacher’s style is warm and friendly, while keeping his/her boundaries as a functional adult clear. By focusing on the relationship, the teacher is better able to access the internal not observable world of the child – her feelings, thoughts, perceptions of reality, and outlooks on life. Getting to know the child allows the teacher to choose which methods and techniques are best suited for working with that individual child. Ground rules are set and clearly communicated, and limits are placed on the child’s behavior. When the child displays unacceptable behavior, teaching appropriate behavior is the first line of intervention. Under the psycho-educational model, the use of punishment is viewed as ineffective. The teacher shows positive regard for the child’s ability to change for the better, actively teaching that everyone can change. “ Behavioral change comes not only from the manipulation of environmental variables... but from the development of a better understanding of oneself and others (the ‘psycho’ part), and the practice of new ways of reacting (the ‘education’ part)” (McIntyre, 2011). The child is taught new ways of feeling and thinking, and the tools of self-management (i.e., monitoring and reinforcing one’s own behavior).
The Importance of Teacher-Student Relationships When surveyed about what makes a teacher good at behavior management, students from around the United States all agreed that teachers’ efforts to establish relationships with them that were characterized by care and respect were crucial (Cothran, Kulinna, & Garrahy, 2003). Students with EBD are not often listened to in schools and they have become accustomed to feelings of isolation by both their peers and their teachers (Baker, 2005; Cefai & Cooper, 2010; Cooper, 2006). One study in Australia found that secondary students with EBD expressed a desire for more affective relationships with their teachers, ones characterized by patience and understanding (Capern & Hamond, 2014). The students wanted their teachers to connect with them on an emotional level and they wanted to know more about who their teachers were as people. Students with EBD were more interested in these emotional connections than were their peers who had been identified as gifted and talented (these students wanted more academic support). Another study with students with high-incidence disabilities, including EBD, reported that students who were dissatisfied with their relationships with teachers experienced higher rates of externalizing behaviors and anxiety (Murray & Greenberg, 2006). Decker, Dona, and Christenson (2007) examined relationship quality from both the teacher and student perspective and found that as quality improved, so too did students’ social and behavioral outcomes,
story form, and (e) identify characters in stories as symbolic models for their own future behavior. Members in the teacher education community have promoted narrative curricula as a lens for examining the relational dimensions of teaching children with EBD (Danforth & Smith, 2005; Long, Fecser, Morse, Newman, & Long, 2014; Saltzman, 2006). Teacher narratives can reveal the nurturing dimension of teaching and serve as springboards for ethical actions. These stories represent a view from the front lines of the reality of working with students with EBD and can be a powerful tool in preparing pre-service teachers for the job ahead. For example, a commonly used text for teaching about EBD has been Characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders of Children and Youth , which is now in its 10th^ edition (Kauffman & Landrum, 2012a). A companion text with the book focuses on case studies and stories of students with EBD and is designed to lead readers into rich discussions of actual issues from the classroom (Kauffman & Landrum, 2012b). Although all three authors of this paper have used these texts in their own teaching, we have also used non-fiction novels written by a special education teacher as the texts in an undergraduate introductory course on EBD in an attempt to present effective psycho-educational practice.
Stories from the Front Lines of EBD Torey Hayden, a former teacher of children with EBD, has authored eight nonfiction books, which offer readers a richly detailed and realistically reported look at the day- to-day problems, successes, and struggles of teaching and counseling children with EBD. One Child (1980), Hayden’s first book, details the story of six-year-old Sheila, who finds herself in Torey’s self-contained classroom after being accused of critically burning a neighborhood toddler. Sheila comes to Torey in January as she awaits placement in a psychiatric hospital. Over the course of the next five months, Torey and Sheila form a relationship that changes both of their lives. Hayden’s other books include Somebody Else’s Kids (1982), Murphy’s Boy (1983), Just Another Kid (1986), Ghost Girl (1992), The Tiger’s Child (1995), which focuses on Sheila as a teenager, Hayden’s stories of classroom life place emphasis on the relationships between the teacher and students with EBD and stress the interpersonal dynamics and emotional connections involved in working with troubled children. Her stories speak to the power of relationship skills and they emphasize the relationship interface between a teacher and her students. Hayden was keenly aware that her method of educating children with EBD stood in opposition to more traditional teaching methods. “The courses, the professionals, all preached against getting involved. Well, I could not do that, I could not teach effectively without getting involved, and in my heart, because I did belong to the love-and-lost school, when the end came I could leave. It always hurt, and the more I loved a child, the more it hurt. But when the time came that we had to part or I had to honestly give up on the child because I could do no more, I could go. I could do it because I took with me, every time, the priceless memories of what we had, believing that there is no more one can give another than good memories” (Hayden, 1980, p. 204). The importance of relationships became apparent to Hayden when she was 18 while volunteering in a preschool program with disadvantaged children (Hayden, 2002). She had been given the task of working with Mary, a four-year-old, who, day after day, spent the whole time hiding beneath a piano. Hayden’s charge was to develop a relationship with the child and get her to come out. She began her relationship with Mary by lying under the piano with her and talking with her even though she never talked back and reading to her when she ran out of words. It was a
long slow process over many months, but eventually Hayden did form a relationship with Mary and get her to come out and speak again. The connection between a more positive interaction and the long hours Hayden spent apparently doing nothing more than talking and reading to Mary was not lost. The outcome spoke of the significance of human interaction, how much it matters to us that someone is willing to spend focused time with us, and that our problems tend to improve simply by being with people who respond with unconditional support in a time of need. To offer a child patience and understanding, teachers need to be able to regulate their own emotions. It would be easy for someone dealing with a child like Mary to experience frustration, impatience, and possibly even anger. Emotion regulation is important because it is associated with greater classroom management efficacy and it can protect teachers from feelings of burnout (Sutton & Wheatley, 2003; Tsouloupas, Carson, Matthews, Grawitch, & Barber, 2010).
Introduction to EBD for Undergraduates Psycho-educational Strategies for Learners with Special Needs has been used as an introductory course on the topic of EBD for pre-service special education teachers at the authors’ home institution for nearly 25 years. Table 1 contains a list of the 15 course objectives.
Table 1. Course Objectives for Psycho-educational Strategies for Learners with Special Needs
Objectives
- Describe Torey Hayden’s relationship-driven classroom practice and how it differs from the three most common approaches to behavioral problems: the behavioral, market, and medical models;
- Describe how relationships are a process not a goal;
- Describe how process orientation – the ability to focus and work in the present – is at the core of a relationship-driven model of treatment and management of EBD;
- Describe the social skills needed to create strong and healthy bonds necessary for using rela- tionships as a medium of behavioral change;
- Describe the philosophical principles which underpin and inform all actions taken in a relation- ship-driven classroom;
- Describe laying the ground rules for a relationship-driven classroom;
- Describe how to respond when misbehavior occurs in a relationship-driven classroom;
- Describe how in a relationship-driven classroom, consequences are not the only appropriate re- sponses to discipline and control;
- Describe how to build opportunities for joy and enthusiasm, expression of feelings, stress re- duction and relaxation skills, and communication into a structured routine;
- Describe the importance of actively teaching relationship skills to children with EBD;
- Describe the importance of teacher-student relationships and teachers acting as functional adults while showing their warm and friendly side;
- Describe how the teaching of social skills that children need to make and keep friends and be a valued member of the group are built directly into the curriculum;
- Describe five strategies to strengthen the classroom group: concrete identification, deemphasiz- ing comparisons, group responsibility, group problem-solving, and group celebrations;
- Discuss the implications of a paradigm shift for teaching children with EBD, away from control models toward a relationship-driven orientation;
- Develop an ethic of helping and caring in working with children with EBD.
Multiple combinations of Torey Hayden’s books have been used as the primary source for class lectures and discussions. Teacher-student encounters in the books served as springboards for inquiry and self-examination and critique of theory
change. In the subsection that follows, we present an adapted version of the seven philosophical principles (Marlowe & Hayden, 2013, Chapters 2-3) that underpin relationships as a means of change that are highlighted to pre-service teachers using course texts to demonstrate the psycho-educational model.
Relationships are a Process People seem to emphasize one of two approaches, whether it is working with children with EBD or whether it is towards their life in general – goal orientation and process orientation. Most of us are, by necessity, a combination of both goal and process orientation. Goal-orientation is when your focus – that which motivates you to do something – is on the outcome. Often a teacher works with a troubled child because they have expectations of making him better by helping him achieve long- term academic and behavioral goals. Their focus is on the outcomes of these activities and achieving them possibly gives them their “reward.” However, the risk of being too focused on the future is overlooking the present. In process orientation, your focus – that which motivates you to do something
- is on the act of doing it (i.e., the process itself). You do what you do with an emphasis on the process of doing it_._ You work with the troubled child because you enjoy the act of being with the child. Your focus is on the process, and the act of doing it is where you get your “ reward. ” It is intrinsic in the actual activity. Process- oriented people are present oriented because the reward is in what they are doing right now. The risk of being overly focused in the present is to lose sight of long-term goals or objectives. It is important to differentiate between process and goal orientation because relationships are, by their very nature, process oriented. Relationships are continuously formed and maintained upon moment-to-moment interactions. They are ongoing and now. The relationship-driven classroom model is present oriented because relationships exist in the present. Thus, in order to use relationships as a way of changing behavior, one must be oriented to “ right-here - and-now ” as opposed to looking exclusively at the past or the future. The teacher is working within the environment, consciously assessing and modifying what is happening “ right now ” using relationship skills, intuition, emotion regulation, and the social milieu. For example, pre-service teachers who read Hayden novels would learn she is a process- oriented person more than a goal-oriented person. Hayden worked with children with EBD because she thoroughly enjoyed the process itself. She loved being in the “right-here-and-now” with the children. She did not have any set expectations from her interactions with children, therefore avoiding feelings of disappointment and burnout. If success happened for her children, she was happy for her children’s sake, but her fulfillment and enjoyment and, of course, self-regulating all of her pain and agony, were in the ongoing process of what she was doing. It was the process itself, or successful interactions, that delivered the pay-off for Hayden, rather than the ultimate goal of what she was doing. In Hayden’s experience (Hayden, 2001), it was goal-oriented people – those whose focus is primarily on the outcome of activities and achieving them that gives them their reward – who burned out. They are doing what they are doing for the outcome, and because children with EBD often show a lack of academic and behavioral improvement, they become discouraged and leave the field. Researchers have found that teachers’ personal characteristics, such as the fit between their personality and the demands of the job and the students, contributes to success and longevity in the field of EBD (Prather-Jones, 2011).
There is a Difference between the Person and the Person’s Actions People tend to form relationships with others who they believe accept them just as they are. Thus, a teacher wants to communicate to the child that they are okay with them in their current state. This does not mean accepting everything the child does, but it means making clear that the child himself is acceptable. Understanding the difference between the person and the person’s action is another way of saying this. Making the distinction between the person and their actions helps pre-service teachers understand that it is behaviors – actions of the body and the mind – that need to be changed, if they are troublesome, not the “you” part. None of us can change the “you” part of us. It lasts from birth to death. That is who we are. So, the focus on change is always on what we do or what we think in the relationship-driven classroom. A second part of this is teaching children that they are not good or bad, but instead, they are neutral. All children are capable of doing good things and bad things, but it is up to them to decide how to act. Children’s thoughts and actions are a part of them, and they are the part of them that they can control.
No One Chooses to be Unhappy We all want to be happy. If someone is behaving in a way, which leaves him or her unhappy, they are not doing it because they want to be unhappy. No child arrives at the schoolhouse door and says. “Geez, I think I’ll be depressed and angry today .” No child says, “Hey, what a fun place to have a panic attack. I think I will have one in this classroom when Teacher calls on me to read aloud.” No one is choosing to do these things_._ No one wants to be unhappy. So, if a child continues to do something that repeatedly makes him unhappy, it is because – for whatever reason – that child is simply not able to do differently at that point in time. If teachers accept the notion that no child chooses to be unhappy, then they must also recognize it is no longer solely the child’s responsibility to sort the problem out, but it is the teacher’s as well. If a load is too heavy for a child to carry, others standing around pointing fingers at him will never get it shifted. Instead, teachers can help. A teacher can show him how to shift his thinking and behaviours. They can encourage him. They can share the burden and model alternative thoughts and behaviours until he is strong enough.
Misbehaviour is a Teaching Opportunity If a child knew how to act in a desirable way, they would, because unhappiness is not desirable. However, if the child does not actually know how to behave the way a teacher expects, then the appropriate response from the teacher is to offer instruction and guidance in how to perform the desired behaviour. Many children in programs for EBD have known only maladjusted adults and dysfunctional relationships (Mihalas et al., 2009). They have little experience of adults modelling appropriate behaviour. These students are unlikely to possess the ability to self- correct their own problem behaviours and it is therefore unfair to expect them to without being offered direct instruction in how to do so (Marlowe & Hayden, 2013). In a relationship-driven methodology, the teacher-child relationship is used as an avenue through which to teach and model functional behaviour.
Pre-service teachers learn that black-and-white thinking does not allow teachers to be open to approximation when a child is learning a new behaviour. Binary thinking often results in two outcomes: success or failure. There is no room for compromising. In the relationship-driven classroom any approximation of a student's desired behaviour is noteworthy and it is up to the teacher to recognize and successfully reinforce even the smallest efforts. Binary thinking also tends to generate rules that have the potential for creating power struggles. If a teacher sets a rule and says, “Here’s the line. I dare you to cross it, ” they are setting up a power struggle immediately. They are challenging the child to disobey. The psycho-educational teacher saves those rules for those occasions when she has no other choice. More expansive rules allow a teacher to be more flexible in her interpretation and that way she can avoid a power struggle. Also, it allows one to accommodate special situations. In the One Child classroom, Hayden (1980) kept her rules open-ended or gray. She basically only had two rules with the first one being “ Do your best. ” Most children do have a sense of when they are putting forth their best effort – and yet it allows both the teacher and the child some leeway in interpreting and applying the rule. For example, if a teacher has a child who comes to school tense and anxious from a horrible night at home, doing his best that day may be different from doing his best another day. So, a teacher can stop at wherever he’s at and say, “You’ve done your best,” and be truthful. Open-ended rules allow you to accommodate more easily. The second rule was “Do not hurt anyone, ” which is more specific for safety reasons but it allows for flexible interpretations in instances of accidental behaviour. So “it is important when working with a relationship-based methodology that one have a clear understanding that the world is complex, and that it cannot always be reduced to clear-cut, comprehensible certainties….” (Marlowe & Hayden, 2013, p. 47).
Research on the Relationship-Driven Approach At the conclusion of the Fall 2016 academic semester, students ( N = 20) enrolled in the introductory EBD course completed a version of the questionnaire, the Torey Hayden Survey (THS; Marlowe & Disney, 2007). The THS was created to measure the influence of reading, discussing, and writing about Torey Hayden’s stories and relationship-driven classroom practice in pre-service teacher education. In addition to a text (Marlowe & Hayden, 2013), the three Hayden books used in this particular semester were One Child (1980), Somebody Else’s Kids (1982), and Beautiful Child (2002). The first part of the survey contained 20 Likert-type scale items (α = .88) designed to determine Hayden’s influence on the development of specific relationship skills. Relationship skills were derived from a text based on Hayden’s practice expertise (Marlowe & Hayden, 2013), which describes teacher skills needed to create strong and healthy bonds necessary for using relationships as a medium of behavioral change. Scoring ranged from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree). A score of three was a neutral value. Table 2 contains the survey items and descriptive data on student responses. The overall mean score on the 20 items was 4.65, with a range of 4.33 - 4.92. These responses suggested the course made a significant impact on pre-service special education teachers’ feelings about how to teach and manage children with EBD.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Student’s Responses about Torey Hayden’s Influence
“I read Torey Hayden’s books in my course, and as a result, I…” N = 20 M SD
- understand the importance of modeling appropriate behavior. 4.52 0.
- am better able to see things from the perspective of the student. 4.64 0.
- know how to listen to students when they talk to me. 4.88 0.
- understand the importance of commitment to the student. 4.72 0.
- understand how to discipline with fairness, honesty, and compassion. 4.60 0.
- understand the importance of spending focused time with the student. 4.75 0.
- am better able to feel affection for students. 4.49 0.
- understand how to recognize power struggles and disengage from them. 4.35 0.
- know how to show my human side to students. 4.89 0.
- know how to set realistic expectations for students. 4.52 0.
- am able to not prejudge the student. 4.41 0.
- am better able to avoid vindictive consequences. 4.88 0.
- am better able to build in opportunities for joy and enthusiasm in the class. 4.90 0.
- am better able to indulge in laughter and humor with students 4.76 0.
- understand how to encourage and teach optimism. 4.63 0.
- am more open to approximations when a student is learning a new behavior. 4.28 0.
- understand why to avoid sarcasm, ridicule, and embarrassment. 4.92 0.
- understand how to articulate worries I perceive the student having. 4.33 0.
- am better able to respond positively to students’ behaviors. 4.87 0.
- understand how to promote a classroom climate where failure is not a major source of humili- ation, distress, or punishment
4.62 0.
Part two of the survey contained the following four open-ended questions, which assessed Hayden’s influence on participants’ professional attitudes and practices:
- How strong an influence was Hayden compared to other influences, practices, and texts used to prepare you to teach?
- Did reading Hayden permanently change your attitudes and beliefs about students with disabilities? Why or why not?
- How did reading Hayden help you to develop your identity as a teacher?
- What adjectives do you use to describe the qualities you see in yourself that remind you of Hayden? Every student indicated (a) Hayden was a strong influence compared to other learning experiences, (b) reading the books reinforced/improved their attitudes about students with disabilities, and (c) reading about Hayden helped them to form a teacher identity. Table 3 contains a summary of student responses to the first three questions. Phenomenological analysis (Colazzi, 1978) indicated the pre-service teachers recognized themselves in Hayden’s character, which led them to feel as if they were the same as Hayden. They reported analyzing their own attitudes and practices against the frameworks of her beliefs and behaviors. Regarding the fourth question, the following five adjectives appeared on at least 75% of student responses: patient , compassionate , caring , stubborn , and determined.
teachers’ perceptions of the long-term influence of having enrolled in the undergraduate course where Hayden’s books served as course texts. Although basic questions of the THS surveys were similar, the number, wording, and the order in which questions were presented were slightly different on each administration. Equivalence and stability over time were evaluated by comparing participant responses across the two surveys on paired relationship skill questions using a Pearson product moment correlation. For the nine paired questions, the mean response of participants in the first administration ( m = 4.17) and the second administration ( m = 4.34) resulted in a Pearson’s r of .988. The t - test indicated that this level of correlation was not significantly different , (t ( 8) = - 2.08, p < .0.07) (Hoffman et al., 2015). The response rates for the 10-year and 20-year surveys were 61% and 53% respectively, above the minimum rate of 50% suggested by Dillman, Smyth, & Christian (2009). Participants had means of 4.10 and 8.44 years of teaching experience in the 10-year and 20-year surveys respectively. Levels of agreement for having read the Hayden texts and developing specific relationship skills ranged from 3.98 to 4.67 with a mean of 4.27 for the nine relationship skills in the first administration (Marlowe & Disney, 2007) to 4.07 to 4.54 with a mean of 4.33 for the 25 relationship skills in the second administration (Hoffman et al., 2015). Regarding Hayden’s influence on their current teaching compared to other teacher preparation experiences, 83% (Marlowe & Disney, 2007) and 95% (Hoffman et al., 2015) of the teachers reported Hayden was a very strong influence. Responses were coded strong when participants used the word strong or words or phrases tantamount in meaning: powerful, wonderful , extremely invaluable. In addition, 82% (Marlowe & Disney, 2007) and 93% (Hoffman et al., 2015) of the teachers reported Hayden’s teacher lore reinforced/improved their attitudes toward children with disabilities, and 95% (Marlowe & Disney, 2007) and 94% (Hoffman et al., 2015) of the teachers indicated that reading Hayden’s novels had a positive impact on their own identities as teachers. Hayden was cited as a model for teacher skills needed to build relationships with students including self-awareness, acceptance, affection, flexibility, fairness, commitment, seeing from the other point of view, joy, enthusiasm, trustworthiness, being respectful, and tolerance. Compassionate , caring , and patient were the most oft-cited adjectives in both surveys when current teachers listed qualities they saw in themselves that reminded them of Hayden (Marlowe & Disney, 2007; Hoffman et al., 2015). The same three adjectives were mentioned by a majority of the students from the Fall 2016 semester. Similar to the findings from the four short-term studies, the structure of the experience of reading Hayden that emerged from a phenomenological analysis of the four open-ended questions in both long-term studies were one of identification with Hayden’s character, leading to ways of feeling about teaching and students and ways of knowing about teaching (Marlowe & Disney, 2007; Hoffman et al., 2015). Participants referred to Hayden’s character as an ego ideal, reported seeing the world of the classroom through Hayden’s character, and reported taking into themselves attributes of Hayden’s character. Participants also reported rereading Hayden’s stories to renew positive feelings the stories engendered, to gain insight into their own lives as teachers, and to help with difficult teaching situations (Marlowe & Disney, 2007; Hoffman et al., 2015).
Discussion The field of EBD is at a critical point in its history (Farmer et al., 2016). Recently, there have been system-level changes within schools in an attempt to better meet the needs of students with EBD, including school-wide positive behavior supports, wraparound services, and inter-agency collaboration (Mihalas et al., 2009). Although these initiatives have resulted in positive effects for students, and every indication is that these efforts should continue, there needs to be an equally strong and parallel focus on building relationships at the teacher-student level (Decker et al., 2007; Long et al., 2014; Murray & Greenberg, 2006; Solar, 2011; Van Loan & Marlowe, 2013). “Teachers who value and develop caring teacher-student relationships provide schools with a solid foundation to build on when implementing more systems-based approaches ” (Mihalas et al., 2009, p. 110). Although affective goal setting does not often occur in teacher education, developing an ethic of caring may need to take on a larger role in pre-service preparation (Noddings, 2005). Teaching children with EBD involves helping them in many ways. A wide range of scholars has concluded that caring relationships in effect are the intervention for children with EBD (Applestein 2017; Brendtro, Mitchell, & McCall, 2009; Craig, 2008; Danforth & Smith, 2005; Long et al., 2014; Perry & Szalavitz, 2006; Van Loan & Marlowe, 2013). It should come as no surprise that the etiological condition most often mentioned in the histories of problem children is the lack of adequate adult care (Salavitz & Perry, 2010). As Redl (1966) repeatedly stated, discipline with troubled youngsters is an issue of care, rather than control. The writings of Redl (1966) and his psycho-education colleagues contain many time-tested truths. One of these truths is that children absolutely require love and affection. The children must get plenty of love and affection whether they deserve it or not; they must be assured of the basic quota of happy recreational experiences, whether they seem to “have it coming” or not. In short, love and affection, as well as the granting of gratifying life situations, cannot be made the bargaining tools of educational or even therapeutic motivation, but must be kept tax-free as minimum parts of the youngster’s diet, irrespective of the problems of deservedness (Redl & Wineman, 1957, p. 303). This passage captures the essence of the psychoeducational orientation and the gold standard against which psycho-educators must measure any intervention (Fecser, 2015). Hayden’s stories meet the standard: children who came under her care received an abundance of love and affection regardless of whether they deserved it or not. Affection was not a commodity to be traded in the classroom market for acceptable behavior. Hayden did not break off the relationship when the child did something irksome or alienating; instead, she used the incident to help the child learn to behave more appropriately. Teacher education programs may need to place more emphasis on future teachers’ understanding of the emotional needs of students with EBD in an effort to promote better relationships between these students and their teachers (Mihalas et al., 2009). Hayden’s stories demonstrate the power of a caring teacher. The stories provide insight into how teachers would need to think and what kinds of skills they would need to develop in order to form and maintain positive relationships with students with EBD. The stories are encouraging because they demonstrate that a teacher can successfully build relationships with and teach children who are extremely resistant
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