My initital feelings about the EBD classroom

1.  What are your initial feelings regarding working with students with moderate to severe disabilities?  I am scared honestly because this is a new experience.  In the past working as a substitute teacher I have been in one EBD classroom.  The students were sweethearts until someone/something triggered them and set off their behaviors.  They taught me patience and perseverance because being in that classroom for one week and a field trip; I thought I would lose my mind. 2.  What do you already know about working with students with moderate to severe disabilities?  I know that they have outburst and can be physically challenging in some cases.  But, I also know that general education students fit the same bill. To me special needs children no matter the label can learn no matter the behaviors if you can find some common ground with them. 3.  What do you think you will learn from your community-based experience?  In the community-based experience there can only be knowledge gained in this area of Emotional Behavioral Disorder because it is mainly unknown territory to me.  The question for me is "will the knowledge gained from this experience be positive or negative?"  The reason I say this is because you will meet different people who might have a similar take on the classroom and others who will have an opposite take.  These people's attitude will have an effect on the students in the room.  To me the students are the most important people in the classroom and there needs have to be met.  I am hoping to learn strategies to take with me into my internship to help other students. 4.  How would you like to grow professionally over the course of your community-based experience?  Professionally it is my hope to gain a more mature approach to working with peers, parents and administration in this field.  I would like to learn how to interact with everyone including children in a manner that will be professional but comfortable.  In this experience I hope to learn positive interactions, teaching skills and appropriate strategies to teach children in this area.