Skills

To gain more information about the skills needed and used by teachers of students with serious emotional disturbances (SED), 19 teachers of students with SED were surveyed to determine the amount of time, level of importance, and perceived adequacy of training received on 20 teacher competencies in 6 major task areas. In addition, follow-up interviews were conducted with eight respondents to see if further information might be obtained regarding teachers ' actual practices, feelings, and needs in their respective classrooms. Teacher perceptions regarding the importance of some competency areas appeared to be affected by level of teaching experience and level of education. However, while all 20 competency areas were found to be of at least moderate importance, behavior management skills were found to be significantly more important. Counseling skills were used in the classroom with great frequency