New Definition of 'Emotionally Disturbed' Sought

By Debra Viadero

BALTIMORE--Seventeen national organizations in the mental-health and special-education fields are proposing, for the first time in nearly 17 years, that the federal definition of "emotionally disturbed'' children be changed.

The groups are advocating a new definition in an effort to better target special-education services for such children, often considered among the most underserved of all disabled students.

Sometimes perceived simply as "bad kids,'' experts say, many emotionally disturbed children fall through the cracks because they do not meet the criteria of the current federal special-education definition. At the same time, they say, the existing definition may also be causing large groups of children to be mislabeled as emotionally disturbed when their problems may be less severe in nature or have more to do with cultural differences...