Making sense of reports on the incidence of behavior disorders/emotional disturbance in school-aged populations

A review of estimates of the incidence of emotional disturbance/problem behavior in school-aged children leads to the conclusion that schools should anticipate a need for alternative programming for the 2–3% of their students predicted to have recurrent or persistent problems in adjusting to school situations. In addition, there is a need to assist teachers in dealing with the stresses created by the high incidence of transient problem behavior affecting 25–30% of the total school population. Some programming possibilities are suggested.