Concern is growing over the limited academic progress in special education students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). We know little about how academic and behavioral factors interact in these students to affect their academic functioning. Therefore, potential associations were investigated over the course of one school year for…

Students new to a self-contained middle school for students with emotional disturbance (ED) were followed during their first year to assess the effectiveness of the program on school functioning and psychopathology. Measures for academic functioning (grade point average and subject failures), attendance (absenteeism and lateness), and disciplinary…

Types of reading disabilities (RD) have not yet been investigated in students classified with emotional disturbance (ED). The prevalence of RD and differentiating characteristics were examined in 118 middle school students attending a self-contained school for ED students by defining RDs with reading standard scores less than 85 on the two…

Special education, elementary school students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) were investigated for neuropsychological deficits with the NEPSY battery. Over half (54%) scored two or more standard deviations below the test mean on at least one of the four functional domains, especially Language and Attention/Executive Functions. The NEPSY…

Universal measures of school functioning/impairment (i.e., grade point average, subject failures, absenteeism, disciplinary referrals/suspensions) were examined over the course of 1 school year for a cohort of 89 special education students classified as having emotional disturbance (ED) who were taught in a unique public school program. On average…

The fields of child psychology and psychiatry have not yet established the clinical presentation in school of children and adolescents who have been diagnosed as having a depressive disorder. To address this issue, the authors used teacher ratings on scale oriented to the third, revised edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental…

The teacher version of the Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4T) investigated prevalence of DSM-IV symptoms in 852 boys (ages 6-12) with emotional/behavioral disorders refereed for psychiatric consultation, in special education, referred to an outpatient clinic, or in regular education. Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and…

The prevalence of learning disabilities (LD) was studied in 233 students (ages 6-16) newly identified with behavioral disorders. Overall, 53.2 percent met at least one LD definition, ranging from 15.9 percent for low achievement to 42.9 percent for regression. Almost one-quarter showed overlapping between low achievement and discrepancy…

A study investigated variables that differentiated 75 successful and 76 unsuccessful students (ages 6-16) with serious emotional disturbances (SED). Four variables emerged as significant predictors of the unsuccessful outcome group: increasing enrollment age, presence of conduct or opposition disorder, lower verbal IQ, and absence of depressive or…

The Teacher's Report Form (TRF) was investigated over 3 years for its practical ability to track outcomes in 89 elementary students with emotional disturbances. The students whose placement changed to less restrictive settings demonstrated significant improvement on consecutive TRF's in academic performance, classroom functioning, and aggressive…

Evaluation of 170 boys, aged 6 to 11 years, who were referred for serious emotional disturbance (SED) indicated they were typically characterized by limited mental health and educational intervention, noteworthy family stressors, and externalizing psychiatric disorders, especially attention deficit disorder. Findings support revision of Public Law…

The severity of dysfunction in 97 boys (ages 6-11) with serious emotional disturbance was rated in school and home environments. Teachers rated subjects higher than outpatient boys with psychiatric disorders and general population boys. Parents' ratings were somewhat less serious but still higher than for general population boys. (Author/JDD)

The Achenbach and Edelbrock parent and teacher checklists were evaluated with boys, ages 6-11, with either severe emotional disturbance, psychiatric outpatient status, or in the general population. Logistic regression analyses showed the Total Problem scales of both checklists to be the most efficient and economical scales for classification.…

Students who entered special education for serious emotional disturbance (SED) during elementary (n=78) or secondary school (n=95) were followed up eight years later. Results found the secondary students were more likely to have two years of SED services, be placed in SED centers, and to have an unsuccessful outcome. (Author/CR)