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Abstract. For more than 30 years, scholars and practitioners have debated how to distinguish emotional disturbance (ED) from social maladjustment (SM) when determining special education eligibility and need. Scholarship on the nature of ED and SM has paid little attention to the legal parameters of practice despite the fundamentally legalistic nature of special education and resultant special education eligibility determinations. Accordingly, this study systematically reviewed and interpreted the published federal case law distinguishing SM from ED. This analysis of the idiosyncratic constellation of student characteristics and behaviors that courts held were relevant for proving SM or ED sheds light on the types of data school psychologists and multidisciplinary evaluation teams should consider during ED evaluations. The implications for practice and policy are discussed.
Schools are the primary providers of mental health services for children and youth (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2004), with many students with severe mental health needs receiving services and specialized instruction through special education. Emotional disturbance (ED; Office of Special Education Child With Disability Rule, 2012) is a federally recognized category of disability under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (2013) (IDEA), but it is defined vaguely and excludes social maladjustment (SM) as a basis for qualifying for services. For more than 30 years, scholars and practitioners have debated how to distinguish ED from SM when determining special education eligibility and needs (e.g., Bower, 1982; Forness, 1992b; Maag & Howell, 1992; Olympia et al., 2004; Slenkovich, 1992). A critical perspective missing from this discourse is the rule of law emerging from judicial decisions. Weinberg (1992) asserted that "there are no court cases to date which dictate or provide clarity on how to construe the meaning of [the] term social maladjustment" (p. 99). However, 22 years later, that is no longer true. It is necessary to acknowledge the implications of law in educational decisions because special education identification occurs at the nexus of science, professional ethos, and law. Accordingly, this study systematically reviewed and interpreted the published federal case law distinguishing SM from ED.
STATUTORY AND REGULATORY BACKGROUND
Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now called IDEA, in 1975 to ensure schools provided students with disabilities the specialized instruction, services, and ancillary supports they needed to receive...