The book contains five papers presented at a 1979 topical conference on the definition of emotional disturbance and behavioral disorders in educational settings. The first paper, by F. Wood, is titled "Defining Disturbing, Disordered, and Disturbed Behavior." Topics covered include ambivalence about defining deviant behavior by special educators, elements of good descriptions of disordered/disturbed behavior, and a critical review of some illustrative general definitions. The second paper, "Administrative Definitions of Behavior Disorders--Status and Directions," by D. Cullinan and M. Epstein, considers types of definition, a survey of state definitions, problems with state definitions, problems with abolishing categorical state definitions, and recommended directions. Next, F. Wood and K. C. Lakin, in "Defining Emotionally Disturbed/Behaviorally Disordered Populations for Research Purposes," review the research literature and analyze primary labels in the reports as well as operational definitions (determined either by setting/program, nomination/referral, rating scale, and clinical diagnosis). J. Kauffman provides "An Historical Perspective on Disordered Behavior and an Alternative Conceptualization of Exceptionality" with sections on the historic authority of the medical field, adulthood vs. childhood disorders, distinctions among categories and labels, and early twentieth century descriptions. He offers an alternative conceptualization of exceptionality which evaluates deviance in terms of the interrelationship among individual behavior, the environment, and cognition. The final paper is titled "Autism--Symptoms in Search of a Syndrome" and is by R. Neel. After a review of the history of the autism label and the research to date, the author concludes that it is possible to identify the autistic syndrome but that there is no educational reason to separate an autistic child from other handicapped children. (DB)