Causal Factors and Potential Solutions for the Persistent Underidentification of Students Having Emotional or Behavioral Disorders in the Context of Schooling

Abstract

This article examines factors associated with the substantial underidentification, referral and service of the student population having emotional-behavioral adjustment problems in school. The identification of students as emotionally or behaviorally disturbed over the past decade is analyzed in terms of their absolute number and distribution across age-grade levels. These results are contrasted with those for students with autism, which show a highly divergent pattern in both level and distribution. The validity of the EBD categorical certification is evaluated in terms of its ability to identify a unique student subpopulation as distinct from students with social maladjustment and learning disabilities. The professional literature related to disincentives and barriers to the proactive screening and identification of students having behavior problems is discussed. Multiple-gating and universal approaches to the screening-identification of students with EBD are illustrated and some guidelines are offered as to their effective application in school settings. It is recommended that schools abandon the EBD certification process to focus instead on assessing behaviorally at-risk students along internalizing-externalizing and severity dimensions.