Emotional Disturbance (ED) Program
The students in Trumbull County Educational Service Center's (TCESC) Emotional Disturbance (ED) program exhibit specific characteristics over a long period of time and to a degree that affects the student's educational performance. The characteristics are as follows:
- Inability to learn that is not explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
- Inability to build or maintain interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. Inability is due to anxiety, depressed mood, avoidance, etc.
- Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (reflective of depression, anxiety, reality distortion, etc.)
- The pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
Across Trumbull County, there are currently 12 ED Units serving all 20 school districts. Nine of these units cater to students displaying externalizing behaviors, while the remaining three specialize in addressing internalizing behaviors. TCESC's Transitional Adjustment Program (TAP) caters to students whose inward-directed behaviors stem from phobias, anxiety disorders, chronic depression, or psychosis.
The management of social-emotional behaviors is customized for each student within the program. Additionally, TCESC offers a vocational self-contained ED Unit, where students spend three days a week in the classroom and two days in the field, acquiring vocational skills at various job sites under the supervision of intervention specialists, assistants, and counselors.
Students in classroom programs receive Valley counseling services five days a week, following a day treatment model that integrates counseling and academic instruction daily. TCESC also provides psychologist services once a week for half a day, along with related services such as speech and language therapy, work-study programs, adaptive physical education, and occupational therapy.