Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD)

Children with SEBD cover the range of ability but generally behave unusually or in an extreme fashion in a variety of social, personal, emotional or physical circumstances.

Their behaviour may be evident at:

The Personal Level
Low self image, anxiety, depression or withdrawal, resentment, vindictiveness or defiance.

The Verbal Level
May be silent or may threaten, interrupt, argue or swear.

The Non-Verbal Level
Clinging, truancy, failure to observe rules, disruptiveness, destructiveness, aggression or violence.

The Work Skills Level
Inability or unwillingness to work without direct supervision, to concentrate, to complete tasks or to follow instructions.

Many such pupils are unable to trust or to form relationships with peers and adults. Whether or not a child is considered to have emotional and behavioural difficulties will depend on the nature, frequency, persistence, severity or abnormality and cumulative effect of the behaviour, in context, compared with normal expectations for a child of the age concerned.