为有“情绪障碍”的学生提供的独立教室需要为有行为和情感障碍的学生创造一个结构化和安全的环境，以学习与同龄人和成年人互动的适当方式。自足计划的最终目标是让学生退出普通教室并加入普通教育人口。有特殊教育工作者支持的SED学生可能会被纳入普通教育课堂。在许多情况下，当学生的行为使他或她自己处于危险之中，或者威胁到典型的同龄人时，他们可能被置于独立的环境中。有时，当儿童由于暴力或破坏性行为而引起执法注意时，他们可能会从某种形式的监禁返回到住宿计划。根据学生，同龄人和教师的安全，通常根据LRE（最不受限制的环境）做出决定。由于这些特殊的安置非常昂贵，许多学区寻求自足的计划，以帮助严重情绪障碍的学生重新进入普通教育人口。结构，结构，结构：你的教室需要散发出结构。书桌应该成排，均匀间隔（甚至可以测量并用胶带标记每个点），并且应该对齐，以便学生不能相互面对面。相信我，他们会尝试。需要清楚地显示课堂规则和强化图表。确保所有材料或资源都很容易获得，并且您的教室布局需要尽可能少的移动。患有情绪障碍的学生将使用铅笔削尖作为惹恼邻居的机会。例行程序：关于我是Harry Wong的优秀着作“学校的第一天”的奉献者这一事实，我毫不遗憾，这本书为教室创造顺利运作创造了条件。你教授惯例。你练习例程。您确保每个人（甚至您）都遵循惯例并以保真度执行它们。例行程序要求教师预测他或她将遇到的各种挑战。对于新教师或新情感支持教师来说，要求一位资深的特殊教育工作者帮助他们预测您在情绪障碍项目中遇到的各种问题是明智的，这样您就可以建立一些可以避免这些陷阱的例程。强化和后果：自成一体的教室需要富含强化物。它们可以是首选项目，首选活动以及对计算机或媒体的访问。明确指出这些强化剂可以通过遵循规则和适当的行为来获得。后果也需要明确界定和明确解释，因此学生知道这些后果是什么以及在什么情况下实施。显然，学生不能被允许遭受“自然后果”（即，如果你在街上跑，你会被汽车击中），而是应该经历“逻辑后果”。逻辑后果是Adlerian心理学的一个特征，由育儿与爱与逻辑的共同作者Jim Fay推广。逻辑后果与行为有着逻辑联系：如果你在咆哮中撕破你的衬衫，你就会穿上我丑陋，不合身的衬衫。令牌经济：彩票系统在普通教育课堂上运作良好，以奖励和加强适当的行为，但情绪障碍教室的学生需要不断加强适当的替代行为。可以通过将其与个人行为计划（BIP）或行为合同相关联来识别目标行为来设计令牌经济。强化需要是你的学生真正发现足够重要的事情：虽然“适合年龄”是当天的口头禅，但如果行为极端，最重要的因素必须是它的作用。创建适当的强化物的菜单，学生可以从中选择。选择或设计可与替换行为配对的强化物。例如，带有一定数量积分的特定天数，学生可以在午餐室与合作伙伴一起吃午餐。具有一定数量的积分的特定天数也可以使学生有机会邀请典型的同伴在ED室中玩游戏
Self-contained classrooms for students designated with “emotional disturbances” need to create a structured and safe environment for students with behavioral and emotional disabilities to learn appropriate ways to interact with peers and adults. The final goal of a self-contained program is for students to exit and join the general education population in regular classrooms. Students with SED’s may be included in general education classrooms with support from a special educator. In many cases, when a student’s behavior puts him or herself at risk, or threatens typical peers, they may be placed in self-contained settings. Sometimes, when children have come to the attention of law enforcement because of violent or destructive behavior, they may return from some form of confinement to a residential program. Decisions are often made on LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) based on the safety of the student, peers and teachers. Because these special placements are very expensive, many school districts look to self-contained programs to help students with Severe Emotional Disturbances re-enter the general education population. Structure, Structure, Structure: Your classroom needs to exude structure. Desks should be in rows, evenly spaced (maybe even measure and mark each spot with tape.) and should be aligned so that students cannot make faces at each other. Trust me, they’ll try. Classroom rules and reinforcement charts need to be clearly displayed. Be sure that all materials or resources are easily available, and that your classroom layout requires as little movement as possible. Students with Emotional Disturbances will use sharpening a pencil as an opportunity to annoy a neighbor. Routines: I make no bones about the fact that I am a devotee of Harry Wong’s excellent book, The First Days of School, which lays out ways to create routines for a classroom to run smoothly. You teach the routines. You practice the routines. You make very sure that everyone (even you) follow the routines and execute them with fidelity. Routines require a teacher to anticipate the sorts of challenges he or she will meet. It’s wise for new teachers or new emotional support teachers to ask a veteran special educator to help them anticipate the kinds of problems that you will meet in an Emotional Disturbance program, so you can build routines that will avoid those pitfalls. Reinforcement and Consequences: A self contained classroom needs to be rich in reinforcers. They can be preferred items, preferred activities, and access to the computer or media. Making it clear that these reinforcers can be earned through following rules and appropriate behavior. Consequences also need to be clearly defined and clearly explained, so students know what those consequences are and under what circumstances they are put in place. Obviously, students can’t be allowed to suffer “natural consequences,” (i.e. if you run in the street you get hit by a car,) but instead should experience “logical consequences.” Logical Consequences are a feature of Adlerian psychology, popularized by Jim Fay, co-author of Parenting with Love and Logic. Logical consequences have a logical connection to the behavior: if you tear up your shirt during a rant, you get to wear my ugly, ill-fitting shirt.A Token Economy: A lottery system works well in general education classrooms to reward and reinforce appropriate behavior, but students in an Emotional Disturbance classroom need ongoing reinforcement for appropriate, replacement behavior. A token economy can be designed in a way that connects it to individual behavior plans (BIP) or a behavior contract to identify target behaviors. Reinforcement needs to be things that your students actually find important enough to work for: although “age appropriate” is the mantra of the day, if behavior is extreme, the most important factor has to be that it works. Create menus of appropriate reinforcers from which students can choose. Choose or design reinforcers that you can pair with replacement behaviors. For example, a certain number of days with a certain number of points, and the student gets to eat lunch in the lunch room with a partner class. A certain number of day with a certain number of points might also earn a student the opportunity to invite a typical peer to play a game in the ED room.