What is an Emotional Disability?
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Anonymous
| Can someone point me to a website that gives specific examples? So far I've heard severe anxiety is an emotional disability. But what else? I've also been told that a child with an emotional disability can only go to a school that supports ED's if the child is on grade level. We're in MCPS and. wondering if the ED program is a good fit for our DC. |
Anonymous
|
That's just an educational category for IEPs and in MCPS it can include a lot of things. The ED programs include kids with ADHD, anxiety, Asperger's, no diagnosis or another diagnosis. It really is a mix.
The ED programs are designed for kids at or above grade level. There are two other above or on grade level programs, one for Asperger's and one for GT/LD. I know people with kids without Asperger's but with other types of social communications issues have tried to get their children into this program but I don't know if they were successful. The GT/LD program won't take kids with behaviors so if your child is being looked at for ED that basically rules out GT/LD. The other programs (there are so few of them left) are really for kids who are below grade level. |
Anonymous
| Depression (although it is not often diagnosed in young kids as it looks different), bipolar (again, usually later in the teens/20's but it can be done earlier), oppositional defiant disorder, and many more. |
Anonymous
| I currently have three students who have ED along with other disabilities. My youngest brother has ED. I've come to feel like you have trouble defining it, but you know it when you see it. Generally, there's a level of distress or emotional dysregulation that is really extreme and impairs major life functions. My brother was explosively angry and perceived everything as a threat so he also was dealing with anxiety. I have had students who are self-injurious and ideate on suicide, mass tragedies, the world ending. |
Anonymous
| I don't know about the ED programs only being for kids on grade level. There was talk of sending my kid to one, at one point, and he is quite behind. |
Anonymous
|
ED (Emotional Disturbance) is a disability category under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act). It refers to behavioral health conditions (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, ocd, and the like) that have an impact on learning. ADHD is more often designated as OHI ("Other Health Impairment'), but you will find ED (or MD/Multiple Disabilities) used as the category as well, given that ADHD so often travels in tandem with anxiety and/or depression.
For IDEA, "impact" is not defined in relation to grade level; it means that the condition affects whether the student can access the education provided in the classroom. (In practice, though, different school systems and schools might bring up grade level issues, no matter what the law says.) |
Anonymous
I'm not in MCPS, but my child is in a center for ED and most classmates seem to have severe ADHD, but like the PP states, it's a mix. I've been very impressed with the center and the supports in place (positive discipline system, music therapy, art therapy, individual and group counseling, fun Fridays, etc.). Class size is very small. Most students are male. They do a good job at teaching students to cope with emotions appropriately and to develop good social skills. |
Anonymous
| In elementary programs in our area of MCPS, you usually don't see much beyond ADHD, anxiety, autism and maybe ODD. The mood disorders like bipolar aren't usually diagnosed until a child is much older. |
Anonymous
| ED programs are not supposed to include ADHD or ASD by clinical definition unless there is a comorbid disorder according to what I learned. Those are neuro-developmental disorders where yes, you can have anxiety, but it is not the same. I don't have time to look through my own notes, but from what I recall things like ASD knock out ED and actually too often kids with ASD are mistakenly labelled ED. Even kids with anxiety disorders don't get labelled ED unless it is really severe. |
Anonymous
| You are mixing up ED coding and the ED program as it is run by MCPS. Not all kids in the ED program are coded ED. And this district definitely labels kids with ADHD or ASD as ED. I don't know if it is usually the primary code or a secondary one. |
Anonymous
| Kids with ADHD or ASD are not ED. They may have challenging behaviors and emotional outbursts, but there is a neurodevelopmental disability that impairs social interaction. ED categories are intended for individuals with PTSD, trauma, etc. that respond to very different treatment methods. To put folks with an ADHD or ASD diagnosis in an ED program is wrong and would likely make behaviors worse. If they can't access the curriculum in a general ed classroom with support, then they should be in a specially designed autism or non-cat classroom with an appropriate level of academic challenge. |
Anonymous
It is against the law to use a child's label to drive placement. If the structures and supports in a program labeled "ED" are the right choice for a child who has an ADHD or ASD diagnosis, then that's where they should get placed. |
Anonymous
| I have a relative diagnosed as Emotionally Disturbed. Tutored at home at her county's expense. Severe aggression is primary symptom. |
Anonymous
Wrong. They should be in an autism/Asperger's or non-cat class. They are not ED, even if it's more convenient or cheaper to place those students in ED classrooms. |
Anonymous
| My child doesn't have an ED diagnosis but autism classroom and noncat were not good fits. I am glad we were offered the ED option. |