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This chapter summarizes issues related to the accurate and timely identification of students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBDs) as well as identifying need, planning interventions, and monitoring outcomes. First, we describe ongoing issues and concerns with accurate (e.g., minimization of false positives and false negatives) and timely (e.g., improved service delivery by being more responsive to students in need of special education) identification of students with emotional disturbance (ED). ¹ Next, we describe general assessment methods and considerations that may contribute to improved service delivery. We close this chapter with a discussion of the critical role that accurate and timely identification plays in the provision of opportunity and the attainment of free appropriate public education (FAPE) mandates.

Secondary-level students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have significant academic and behavioral difficulties that require expert instruction to improve school and transition outcomes. Tensions between free and appropriate public education (FAPE) and least restrictive environment (LRE) mandates occur in the planning and delivery of specialized instruction and supports to these students. In this chapter, we consider alternate conceptions of freedoms as they may relate to the provision of special education services. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling highlighted the importance of FAPE in consideration of the student’s individual circumstances. This emphasis on FAPE poses a significant challenge for teachers, who may be unprepared and insufficiently supported to be effective. As a result, it may be advantageous to organize effective practices according to a taxonomy that is based on the types of performance demands that are placed on students in secondary classrooms. The taxonomy we propose provides a framework to support teacher training and decision making. We provide an overview of the performance demands placed upon students with EBD in secondary grades. Examples of effective practices to improve student performance for each type of demand are provided.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have poor school outcomes and serious problems in life after school. Transition services are intended to promote more positive outcomes for these individuals and other students with disabilities. Recent trends in society and education appear to be changing the nature of the current generation of secondary students and young adults, potentially rendering aspects of traditional transition planning obsolete. We review these trends, transition guidelines, and current research and outline an approach that may have merit in dealing with transition for students with EBD in the twenty-first century.

Four reputed leaders for the coming years in the field of special education for individuals with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) each with a slightly different perspective on the field were asked to respond independently to a prompt asking what does special education mean for students with EBD and what is being done and how do we maintain tradition? The contributors' responses to the prompt are presented and then summarized across the essays. A remarkable consistency emerges across the independent essays. In addition to the tradition of providing a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment, the contributors identify needs to support teachers serving this population. Needs in teacher training and the expertise required to meet the needs of individuals with EBD are outlined as well as potential contributions of technology to carry out specific tasks. We conclude with a call for increased advocacy for use of the knowledge that we currently possess and that which will soon be discovered to support students with EBD as well as their teachers. We also note that the contributors' names are listed alphabetically to acknowledge the equality of each person to the final product.

The pejorative academic and social challenges experienced by students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are well documented. In an effort to improve student outcomes, schools often employ inclusive models of instruction and support. However, the implementation of inclusive models may result in students with EBD having fewer opportunities to develop essential skills and competencies rather than the provision of special education services that promote school and transition success. This may occur in instances in which stake-holders emphasize student placement in general education without giving equal consideration to the necessary specialized supports and instruction for students with EBD to be meaningfully included. The current chapter urges stake-holders to consider the degree to which inclusive practices for students with EBD also meet FAPE mandates. It is our contention that students with EBD will only benefit from general education settings to the degree to which this placement provides opportunities to develop academic, social, and adaptive skills.

The identification criteria, service provision, and prevalence rates of individuals with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) vary across state jurisdictions in the United States despite being governed by the same general rules. Therefore, it is unlikely that nations with different histories, economic circumstances, and attitudes toward social norms will demonstrate similarity regarding identification and treatment of individuals with EBD. The fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology provide conceptual frames for understanding how EBD might be considered across cultures. The present chapter reviews a number of these conceptual considerations. Although there is considerable evidence for variability across cultures, there is also evidence for a shared basis that appears to be part of human characteristics, regardless of culture. The chapter concludes by considering special education services in general as a subset of the education systems provided to all citizens in several nations with diverse cultures and economic situation.

In this chapter, we examine the current research on how technology is applied to benefit students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). First, we describe the iterative yet unpredictable nature of technological innovation to suggest that incremental successes are qualified by the creation of often unforeseen consequences. We then identify commonly used nonelectronic technologies in education to emphasize that the hoped-for advances in electronic technology have failed to deliver on their decades-old promise of educational revolution. We continue with our review of the literature on empirical studies examining how technology is used to support students with EBD. These findings indicate that the research design primarily employed in this field is single-subject. Examples of specific findings include web-based graphic organizers for student writing, virtual self-modeling for targeting student behaviors, and virtual coaching for teachers of students with EBD. We conclude by reviewing how leaders in the field of special education predict the field will change in the future. Overall, with an increased emphasis on research accessibility and practitioner-validated knowledge, and advances in neuroscience and artificial technologies, practitioners may hold a more central role to the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

This chapter reviews recent research regarding behavior interventions for young children. We first consider the implications of allowing maladaptive behavior to remain untreated in young children. The reasons that people may select for inaction are illustrated through a case example of an individual who manifested behavior problems that were allowed to continue through accommodations rather than being addressed through interventions. We then consider several examples of promising behavior interventions for very young children that can be carried out in home and preschool environments. Next, we review promising interventions that are appropriate for school-based settings. We conclude with the observation that while it is absolutely necessary to deal with urgent situations evoked by maladaptive behavior, it is critical to keep sight of the goal that we should always work to promote more mature, self-regulated, and acceptable behaviors across settings.

Providing specialized services to a specific population requires assessment and identification procedures to avoid providing services to those who are ineligible to receive them as well as ensuring that eligible individuals are provided the services intended for them. Education of the gifted is such a specialized service, and so, assessment procedures are necessary for this population. Special educational programs are not an entitlement for individuals who are gifted as they are for individuals with disabilities. Consequently, operational definitions and procedures vary widely across states and even across school divisions within states. Therefore, the present paper summarizes characteristics that are considered to be early markers of giftedness and discusses some of the ways that they can be assessed. Problems in assessment (e.g., ceiling effects on norm-referenced measures, and difficulties in assessing creative aspects of performance) are also discussed. In the absence of consistent definitions and formal measures that are able to tap aspects of the definition with reliability and validity, assessment and identification of individuals who are gifted is likely to remain an impressionistic task in which individuals are compared to poorly defined prototypes of what it means to be gifted.

Several criteria were used for this study to determine the relevance of the literature for the purpose of the review. First, all articles were required to be published in peer-reviewed journals. Next, all articles were required to be primary sources. Reviews of the literature found throughout the search procedures were used as supporting information, as well as the basis for this review. Only quantitative studies were included in this review; opinion papers and qualitative studies were not incorporated into the results. The participants in each study had to be identified as having a learning disability. Studies that included regular education students as a control or comparative group were included as long as the treatment group included students with learning disabilities. The students with learning disabilities were required to possess verbal deficits. Those studies that examined students with non-verbal learning disabilities were excluded from this review. All studies were required to be in English and conducted in the United States.