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Teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders face unique challenges in the classroom that are often not addressed in teacher preparation, which may result in diminished outcomes for teachers and students. The Integrated Literacy Study Groups professional development was designed to support the needs of teachers of students with or at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders by integrating components of social-emotional learning and literacy instruction. The present study uses structural equation modeling to evaluate how and to what extent teacher beliefs, targeted in training through collaborative work groups and coaching experiences, mediate the relationship between the Integrated Literacy Study Groups and student reading achievement. Among a sample of 74 elementary school teachers, we found a directional relationship such that training influenced (1) beliefs pertaining to action, (2) beliefs pertaining to self, and (3) student reading outcomes. Beliefs pertaining to self was a significantly stronger mediator of the relationship between professional development and student reading outcomes. We discuss potential reasons for these findings as well as their implications for the design of training of teachers of students with or at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the collective and differentiated effects of a remedial reading intervention, Corrective Reading Decoding Level B, on the reading skills and social adjustment of elementary and middle school students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD). Students were provided an average of three 40–45 min lessons per week over the course of nearly 4 months. Statistically significant reading skill improvements were found between students who received the intervention (n = 45) and those in the comparison condition (n = 23). The mean average basic reading skills of students with EBD (n = 10) improved from the low average range at pretest to the average range at posttest. Statistically significant differences were found between the posttest basic reading skills of students with EBD and their counterparts with LD (n = 35). Statistically significant reductions in the overall social adjustment problems and internalizing problems of participating students were found. The total problems of students with EBD moved from the clinical to the normal range at posttest. Except for performance on measures of oral reading fluency, students with EBD were significantly more responsive than their LD counterparts on measures of core reading skills, attention problems, ADHD Problems, and anxiety problems. Limitations, implications, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results from previous research suggest that there is a relatively small (albeit statistically significant) relationship between the externalizing behavior and academic skills of students with emotional disturbance (ED). Researchers have also found that the majority of these students have language deficits that hinder their academic performance. The purposes of this study were to investigate the mediating role of academic processing speed (i.e., academic fluency) on the relationship between: (a) The externalizing behavior and academic skills of K-12 students with ED; and (b) language skills and academic skills of students with ED. Results indicate that academic processing speed mediated the influence of both language skills and externalizing behavior on academic skills of this population. The findings, limitations, and implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]