This study of 182 secondary special education students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders investigated their classification by their school districts, in particular how well they were distinguished and represented by their federal categories. The districts used four classification groups (emotional disturbance, other health impairment…

This introduction to a special issue on postmodernism and behavior disorders discusses problems with the definition of postmodernism, including the trend for people to label whatever they wish as postmodern, the inability to separate postmodern from the modern, and the subjectivity of defining which ideas are about "reality" or "truth." (CR)

This response to "Behavior Disorders: A Postmodern Perspective" (David Elkind) rejects the postmodern notion that there can be no common narratives and proposes three possible metanarratives that could be useful in thinking about behavioral disorders: democracy, spirituality, and the notions of Nick Hobbs. (CR)

The position paper discusses issues surrounding definition and identification procedures used for students with behavior disorders. Five recommendations address the need for revision of the federal definition, elimination of arbitrary exclusions, focus on sources of data collection, alternative models of service delivery, and priority needs for…

Argues that, at any give time in history, our conceptions and theories of behavioral disorders reflect the basic social and cultural tenets that prevail. It describes how our contemporary conceptions and theories of behavioral disorders mirror the postmodern themes of difference, particularity, and regularity. (Author/CR)

A study examined comorbidity of the five federal definition characteristics among 1,352 students already identified as having emotional disturbance (ED). The extent of comorbidity of ED characteristics was related to the criterion for deviance and to each of the selected student variables, particularly school level and educational placement.…