Comparison of Educationally Labeled and Nonlabeled Adolescents With Emotional and Behavioral Needs

Epidemiologic research suggests a gap between prevalence estimates of students with emotional or behavioral problems and the actual number of students identified under the federal category of emotional disturbance (ED). To better understand issues related to the identification gap, we investigated the academic and behavioral functioning, school-based services, frequency of discipline incidents, and predictors of labels among 626 secondary age students referred for participation in a larger study due to emotional and behavioral difficulties. Students with special education labels (i.e., ED, specific learning disability [SLD], other health impairment [OHI]) were compared to those who did not have a school label. Analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between groups on standardized measures of emotional and behavioral functioning. Academic performance was the only distinction, with students with learning disabilities scoring significantly lower in reading and math than students with other disability types or without disabilities. Students without an ED label received significantly fewer services whereas students with an ED label received significantly higher rates of disciplinary actions. Finally, demographic data examined did not differentially predict receipt of a label.