ABSTRACT
Although professionals in special education have attempted to change the Education of the Handicapped Act regarding serious emotional disturbance (SED) to criteria more relevant to school functioning (Bower 1982; Huntze, 1985), the U.S. Department of Education has not seen fit to adopt either more relevant terminology or more acceptable criteria (Tallmadge, Gamel, Munson, & Hanley, 1984). In rebuttal to proposed changes in the law, the Department repeatedly expressed grave concern that withdrawn or depressed pupils in particular might not be well served and that certain proposed modifications “might have the effect of displacing the ‘quietly’ emotionally disturbed children” (Tallmadge et al., 1985, p. 118).
