It sounds as though this teacher equates a behavior problem with willful behavior that a child can change if she is motivated by negative consequences.
This is not the case, and a BEHAVIOR PROBLEM will qualify a child for an IEP JUST AS FAST AS AN EMOTIONAL PROBLEM--and sometimes faster. BOTH are the same category under IDEA (ED; formerly SED)--so this is a semantic argument they are choosing to have at your child's expense. I KNOW my ex-difficult child had emotional problems but if they wanted to call him EBD, fine with me--as long as he qualified to get the legal protection, and I got the leverage I needed to force changes that teachers were unwilling to make. Missing so much class time is a negative educational impact in and of itself.
Martie
