Emotional & Behavioral Disorders

Emotional & Behavioral Disorders

Introduction

Children and youth who exhibit serious emotional, behavioral, and social difficulties present substantial challenges to schools, teachers, administrators, parents, and peers. These challenges create chaotic school and classroom environments and cut across disciplinary, instructional, and interpersonal domains. It is well established that students exhibiting severe emotional and behavioral challenges are either underserved or unserved by educational and mental health systems in the United States (National Association of School Psychologists, 2002; U.S. Department of Education, 2002).

Although the U.S. Department of Education has consistently estimated the prevalence rate of emotional disturbance/emotionally disturbed (ED) in schools at 2%, the Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have consistently reported the prevalence rate of the disorder at less than 1% (Kauffman, 2001). The category of ED is not only underreported; it also shows the greatest variability in prevalence among states of any disability category (Hallahan, Keller, & Ball, 1986). This wide variability among states is most likely due, in part, to confusion, ambiguities, and differences in definitions and interpretations of the meaning of emotional disturbance.

Problems With the ED Category

The behavioral characteristics and needs of students with or at risk for ED have overwhelmed the capacity of schools to effectively accommodate these students. Schools have ironically been slow to recognize the educational needs and demands that these students pose to themselves, to the major social agents in their lives, and to society at large (Walker & Gresham, 2003). Estimates suggest that over 20% of school-age children would qualify for a psychiatric diagnosis and have mental health needs so severe as to require attention, treatment, and supports (Angold, 2000; Hoagwood & Erwin, 1997).

Response to Intervention (RTI) as an Alternative ED Definition

Traditionally, schools address students' academic and behavioral difficulties in terms of a predictable three-stage process that can be described as a “refer-test-place” approach to decision making. Students presenting with academic difficulties, behavioral difficulties, or both are referred by general education teachers to a child study team that offers recommendations for an intervention to solve the referral problem. These interventions are often not evidence-based and are frequently ineffective in resolving the referral concern (Gresham, 2006).

These ineffective interventions are then followed by an official referral to assessment personnel (e.g., school psychologists or educational diagnosticians) to determine whether the student meets eligibility requirements for special education under a designated disability category (e.g., ED or learning disability [LD]). Finally, if a team believes that the student is eligible for special education, he or she is placed into special education and an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is written (Bocian, Beebe, MacMillan, & Gresham, 1999).

This IEP, however, is typically not based on the assessment information that qualified the student for special education in the first place. That is, traditional special education eligibility assessment practices lack treatment validity (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1997; Gresham, 2002, 2006).

Conceptual Aspects of RTI

RTI is based on the idea of determining whether an adequate or inadequate change in academic or ...