Psychiatric/neurodevelopmental diagnoses have expanded in number and scale with increased influence over matters of education and upbringing. One of the most common psychiatric diagnoses among children and adolescents is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The dominant perspective of ADHD is biomedical, where ADHD is defined as a…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) present some of the greatest challenges faced by educators, and experience some of the most problematic outcomes. To increase the likelihood that students with EBD will be successful in school and in life, practitioners should implement effective interventions. Trustworthy research is the…

Functional assessment and functional analysis are processes that have been applied successfully in work with people who have developmental disabilities, but they have been used rarely with students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. In the present study, five students in elementary school programs for severe emotional disturbance…

Steven R. Forness is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research has primarily focused on early detection and eligibility of children with psychiatric disorders for special education services in public schools. As part of an ongoing oral history…

Dr. Frank Gresham provides his reflections on a long and productive career in providing support to children with significant challenges. Dr. Gresham also provides his thoughts on the future of the field.

Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) are educated in restrictive placements at higher rates than students in other disability categories due to their challenging behavior and inability to function in the general educational environment (Bullock & Gable, 2006). The increasing utilization of alternative programming to educate…

This small-scale pilot research project investigates the prevalence of Speech Language and Communication Difficulties in a sample of children attending a Youth Offending Service in the UK. Using the CELF-4, approximately 90% of the sample displayed some form of language difficulty and, overall, this population displayed mild to moderate…

In this the third part of an oral history of education of students with emotional and behavioral disorders, 15 first-generation leaders were asked to forecast the future of the field and to advise persons entering the profession. Their videotaped conversations were transcribed, were analyzed, and are reported here together with some discussion of…

In intervention research, treatment fidelity is defined as the strategies that monitor and enhance the accuracy and consistency of an intervention to ensure it is implemented as planned and that each component is delivered in a comparable manner to all study participants over time. Reviews of the literature in special education and other…

This paper examines several major problems confronting special education for students with emotional and behavioral disorders; identifies successful practices and programs; explores factors that contribute to continuation of inadequate practices; and presents recommendations for improving educational practice, policy, research, and professional…