Teaching a Cognitive Behavioral Strategy to Manage Emotions: Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in an Urban Special Education Setting

The need to create classroom environments that are safe for all students persists. Students with emotional or behavior disorders, many of whom are not receiving special education services nor, perhaps, even qualify for them, have a serious effect on both the short term (teaching lessons) and long term (teaching these students to manage their lives) goals of our schools. The time and energy devoted to academics has supplanted the already little time spent on the social, behavioral and emotional needs of students. To address this dilemma, a mental health curriculum would seem to be integral to any school (reform) curriculum. This book presents a classroom mental health program that is designed to both address the emotional and behavioral problems of students and, more importantly, to provide the tools necessary to be able to prevent and manage them. The educational component of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)is concerned with examining the way attitudes, beliefs, and values influence feelings and perceptions. The author of this book sought to explore whether REBT could be successfully utilized in a special education classroom setting.