Prevalence: The Extent of the Problem - What is the prevalence of students with emotional and behavior disorders? - What percentage of these students are being served by special education?

Who Has the Disorder? Does T.J. have an emotional or behavior disorder? Does he need special education intervention or other forms of help? T.J. is 11 years old. He has no particular academic difficulties and his IQ is 115. Teachers describe him as difficult to manage (teasing, talking out loud, fighting, and temper outbursts). T.J. doesn’t have close friends. His parents are not interested in his progress at school. He is failing most of his academic subjects.

The Meaning of Prevalence and Incidence Prevalence: Number of individuals with X disorder in a population. The number of students with emotional or behavioral disorders or mental retardation. Incidence: Number of new cases of X disorder in a population. The incidence of pregnancy, suicidal behavior, drug and alcohol use among students in public schools.

The Meaning of Prevalence and Incidence Prevalence and incidence estimation is important for those who plan for intervention programs districtwide, statewide, or at a national level. Problems in estimation: The lack of standard definition; Estimation, false positives, and false negatives; Social policy and economic factors.

The Meaning of Prevalence and Incidence Reasonable estimates of prevalence: – 3 to 6 percent of the population is believed to have behavior problems that require special education interventions.

The Meaning of Prevalence and Incidence The percentage of students served under the seriously emotionally disturbed category has been declining since 1986 for the following reasons: No clear definition of SED eligibility exists in the law. The operational definition of SED differs from state to state. The economic realities: Serving 2 percent would require several more billions of dollars in one year. Shortage of adequately trained personnel. Stigma of labeling a child as “severely emotionally disturbed.”

Factors Affecting Prevalence and the Placement of Services EBD is not identified at the same rate across age groups: Identification is more likely at a later age than the early school years. Emotional or behavioral disorders are not identified in the same proportion across all ethnic groups.