Classrooms for Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed Students: Facing the Challenge

There is an increasing consensus among interested groups that the Education for the Handicapped Act has delivered less than was expected for the 374,000 children identified by the schools as having emotional and behavioral disorders (Forness, 1989; Knitzer, 1982). Drawing on a recently completed national study of public education for children la beled emotionally and behaviorally disturbed (EBD) by the schools, At the School House Door: An Examination of Programs and Policies for Children with Behavioral and Emotional Problems (Knitzer, Steinberg, & Fleisch, 1990), this article focuses on daily classroom life of these children and aims to do three things: It describes some of these authors' most prob lematic findings related to curriculum, behavior management, and mental health services; it highlights alternatives to the prevailing current practices that were identified; and it examines the implications of both the problems and the possibilities for practitioners, researchers, and teacher trainers.