A Cognitive-Ecological Approach to Serving Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Application to Aggressive Behavior

Abstract

In this article we present a cognitive-ecological model for understanding and preventing emotional and behavioral difficulties and propose directions for school-based intervention programs, particularly with aggressive children. In the cognitive-ecological framework, intervention efforts should target certain cognitive skills (e.g., skills that encourage attention to multiple cues in a setting) and knowledge structures (e.g., normative beliefs about appropriate responses to conflict) across multiple contexts that change over time (e.g., classroom, peer, school, family). We also emphasize the importance of coordination among contextual influences so that children learn consistent, cross-context standards that encourage prosocial and socially competent behavior. Practitioners working with students who exhibit emotional and behavioral difficulties should strive to integrate efforts at modifying cognition as well as context in the service of promoting behavioral change that maintains over time and across situations.