Investigation of Strategies to Motivate High School Students with Emotional Disabilities

Motivation is a driving force to get a task done. It is no different for students. In order to graduate with a high school diploma, students need to be motivated to complete the required assignments. Students with Emotional Disabilities (ED), who often have behaviors that make it harder for them to be engaged in class need something more than their same age peers to be motivated to work through their daily schoolwork. The investigator conducted a needs-assessment survey that gave further insight of what teachers currently know about motivating students with ED, their attitudes towards students with ED and motivational strategies they are aware of. The major findings from this research stressed that teachers do not have all the tools they need to successfully motivate students with ED. These results led to a handbook that provided strategies to use and materials to go along with the research.