The position paper of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders critically reviews objections to special education service for children with conduct disorders and concludes with a series of recommendations for improving the assessment and identification of all children with behavioral disorders. (DB)

The article critiques interpretations purporting to distinguish between serious emotional disturbance (SED) and social maladjustment (which is excluded from the federal SED definition). An interpretation of social maladjustment based on social deviance is proposed to more clearly determine eligibility for services under provisions for the…

Ratings of 224 students with serious emotional disturbances by 40 teachers indicated that conduct disorders were very prevalent, were correlated with other problematic aspects of temperament and classroom competence, and co-occurred with other types of behavioral problems. Implications of the study for making eligibility decisions for special…

The article addresses the exclusion of social maladjustment from the federal definition of serious emotional disturbance and proposes a limited interpretation which would prevent the inappropriate exclusion of students with antisocial behavior from special education services. Briefly discussed are related issues of identification and programing.…

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…