In response to United States special education law requirements, this study attempted to differentiate emotionally disturbed and socially maladjusted students using parent ratings on the FACES III and a newly developed interview measure of primarily internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Forty mothers of students in special education and 40 mothers of students in court schools rated the target student and a close in age sibling. Data showed differences in family typology between the groups. Mothers rated socially maladjusted students similar to siblings but did not rate emotionally disturbed youth similar to siblings. Study results also indicated the importance of peer influence and age of problem onset for multidisciplinary teams to consider in evaluations of emotional disturbance. (Contains 8 tables.)