This article summarizes a process model designed to help schools include students with complex social, emotional, and behavioral needs in general classroom settings. Challenges to inclusion of these students are identified, and the seven-step model is explained and illustrated through examples of systems change projects throughout New Hampshire.…

This comment on EC 600 431 addresses the debate about whether public schools are obligated to serve socially maladjusted children/youth. The paper conceptualizes the debate from a "system restructuring" perspective, which takes into account cultural and social forces and organizational structures, and concludes that antisocial individuals should…

The prevailing concept of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a medical one: those exhibiting significant problems in maintaining attention and restraining impulses are said to have a "disorder," which implies some sort of malfunction within the individual. What is needed is a "both/and" perspective: a perspective that…

This digest reviews and summarizes what is known about effective school-wide behavioral management systems. Emphasis in such systems is on consistency throughout the building and across classrooms with the entire staff, both professional and nonprofessional, uniformly implementing common strategies. Common features of school-wide behavioral…

This counterpoint to a comment (EC 601 662) about the authors' original paper (EC 600 431) argues that some educators' lack of tolerance for pupils who are socially maladjusted is not a valid reason for excluding those students from public schools and that change should be accomplished through system improvement more than through system…

This article describes Effective Behavioral Support, a systems approach to enhancing the capacity of schools to adopt and sustain use of effective processes for all students. Implementation across four major areas of the school system is discussed, including: (1) schoolwide; (2) nonclassroom; (3) classroom, and (4) individual student. A sample…

This monograph offers an introduction to providing an interagency "system of care" for meeting the needs of children and youth with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD). This approach focuses on meeting the individual needs of children with E/BD in their home communities and supporting family members as allies in the treatment process. Strategies…

A systems approach to educating autistic students which is employed as a working model in Dallas (Texas) incorporates individual needs within the context of the family and educational environments. Early childhood, elementary, and secondary issues are delineated in the three major areas of communication, socialization, and independent functioning.…

This paper outlines the changes that occur in family systems when a child is diagnosed with special needs and examines the structure of dysfunctional families in which there is a child with physical disabilities, including chronic illness; behavior disorders, including social maladjustment; learning disabilities; or mental retardation. (JDD)

This report describes achievements of a Linn County (Oregon) project to design, implement, and evaluate a county-wide comprehensive interagency model for achieving improved outcomes for children with or at risk of developing emotional/behavioral disabilities. The project stressed systems change, driven by full parent participation and interagency…