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Differentiating Social Maladjustment From Emotional Disturbance: An Analysis of Case Law
Amanda L. Sullivan, PhD, is an associate professor of school psychology at the University of Minnesota. She received her doctorate at Arizona State University. Her research interests include education and health disparities affecting children and youth with disabilities.
Shanna S. Sadeh graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, clerked for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and practiced complex litigation before joining the University of Minnesota School Psychology PhD Program.
University of Minnesota
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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.
Received: April 11, 2013; Accepted: January 14, 2014;
