(1)Biological brain damage/dysfunction: Broadly defined, biological risk factors are those innate or acquired characteristics of the child that place a child at risk of poor health. These factors can affect healthy child development at several levels: from the simple biological fact of the sex of the child, to genetic variants that are relatively common, such as those associated with attention deficit disorder, to brain damage, which can result from any number of causes, such as severe head injury. It is impossible to talk of nature and nurture as separate entities with respect to child development. Risk factors are not independent variables operating in a vacuum but may interact synergisticallyor in an additive fashion. Some environmental risk factors may lead to biological outcomes that put children at risk for ill health.( Allinder, R. M., & Oats, R. G. (1997)) For example, lead in the environment can result in lead poisoning which in turn is a risk factor for lowIQ, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders; unemployment and cultural displacement may lead to alcohol abuse which, for a pregnant woman, may translate later into fetal alcohol syndrome for her child. Fetal alcohol syndrome has been associated with learning problems, poor growth and disruptive behaviors.( Gansle, K. A., & McMahon, C. M. (1997))
(2) Family interaction: By definition, students with EBD invariably experience difficulty in their interpersonal relationships with peers and adults. Thus, social skills intervention is a standard component of virtually all programming for these students. Despite its prevalence, though, the effectiveness of social skills intervention is routinely called into question. In summaries of the intervention literature based on meta-analyses, social skills interventions have not shown promising effect sizes. One explanation for this overall view of social skills interventions as ineffective is that most interventions are generic in nature (e.g., packaged curricula delivered to an entire class or even an entire school).....................
