DETERMINATION of SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

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DETERMINATION of SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE (SED) and EDUCATIONALLY HANDICAPPING CONDITIONS

A psychologist will: evaluate the child's personal, social, and emotional status for students referred for a suspected emotional disturbance that is educationally handicapping in nature. A period of observation of the student and consultation with staff and parents is an integral part of this process.

For coding purposes: there must be a condition other than social maladjustment, as judged by the psychologist, to warrant a determination of an emotionally disturbing condition. Emotionally Disturbed, by definition, is distinguished from the delinquent (trouble with law) and the socially maladjusted/behaviorally disorder child.

The psychologist makes this determination through clinical judgment of the observable behavior combined with information found within the testing situation and relevant factors in the home and school environment.

The above will be done in reference to DSM IV.

Definition - Seriously Emotionally Disturbed

"Seriously emotionally disturbed" means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance:

1. An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;

2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;

3. Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances;

4. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression;

5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms of fears associated with personal or school problems.

6. The term includes students who are schizophrenic. The term does not include students, who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they are seriously emotionally disturbed.

DETERMINATION of a CONDITION of SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

STUDENT NAME:                                                                 DATE:

1. Determining if a condition of emotional disturbance exists.

This student currently manifests the following condition:

DSM IV:

DSM # Classification:

A condition of emotional disturbance is:

Not likely to be present if there is exclusive evidence of the following behaviors:	At risk to be present if there are features of:
a. disruptive	a. excessive anxiety
b. anti-social	b. paranoia
c. anti-authoritative	c. psychosis
d. socially inappropriate	d. distorted thinking
e. at variance with acceptable	e. phobias
standards of behavior	f. depression
	g. other personal/social dysfunctions
	h. schizophrenia

If no condition is present then a child cannot be considered educationally handicapped due to a serious emotional disturbance.

Student Name has / has not been found by a psychologist to have a condition of emotional disturbance and therefore can / cannot be considered educationally handicapped by the team under the provisions of IDEA and/or the NY Standards.

If the student can be considered by the team to have a condition of emotional disturbance the team should complete the Characteristic Checklist.

Characteristic Checklist

2. Once a condition is determined to be present, that condition must exhibit one of the 6 characteristics

STUDENT NAME: DATE:

IDEA states that:

1. An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or other health factors:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

3. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

4. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

6. Schizophrenia:
a. Is this over a long period of time?	Yes	No
b. Is it to a marked degree?	Yes	No
c. Is it adversely affecting educational performance	Yes	No
(Report card/achievement tests)?
Comments:

In order for a student to be eligible for Special Education he/she must meet all of a, b, and c under one or more of the above Characteristics. (Note: if only a, b, or b, c or a, c applies he/she is not eligible).

If the student can be considered by the team to have a condition of emotional disturbance that manifests one of the 6 characteristics, the team should complete the DETERMINATION OF SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE AND EDUCATIONALLY HANDICAPPING CONDITIONS.

DETERMINATION of SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE and EDUCATIONALLY HANDICAPPING CONDITIONS

STUDENT NAME: DATE:

The Condition of Emotional Disturbance is:

DSM IV:

DSM # Classification:

The Characteristic manifested is:

Characteristic Number: (More Than One Characteristic May Apply)

The characteristic meets the following criteria:

A. Is this over a long period of time? YES NO

If yes, elaborate with details:

B. Is it to a marked degree? YES NO

If yes, elaborate with details:

C. Is it adversely affecting education performance? YES NO

If yes, elaborate with details:

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