Developed to provide an alternative system for identifying emotional disturbance in students, the manual begins by briefly reviewing problems in current identification approaches. An emotionally disturbed person is defined in the paper as someone who exhibits either too much or too little of a socially significant behavior. An approach is then described to quantify frequency of these behaviors and to compare these to frequencies of the same behavior in a reference group. Information is given on criteria for selecting an observation strategy (based on such questions as where, what and when to observe). Five ways in which data can be observed and reported in a graphical format are considered: frequency/time interval, rate, elapsed time, interval, and percentage. Possibilities for processing the observational data are suggested. The bulk of the paper is composed of appendixes listing observation strategies for commonly referred and observed behaviors (such as incomplete or unacceptable classwork or homework, crying, out-of-seat behavior and physical or verbal aggression); a sample tabulation form; examples of data recording; a summary of other techniques for interpreting behavioral data; and information on devleloping local norms. (CL)